DiGio

Jo'sEnglish, you're right, it is not gerund, but Continuous form of a verb as I was taught, and you all here tell it is the spoken English. Good to know I laugh correctly when receive email from Commercial Director of HSBC asking me why was I needing him. Anyways, so, what's wrong with written 'Et cetera' versus pronounced 'excetera'. My colleague here with perfect received pronunciation (i.e. what you call Queen's English) tells me it is just the English being lazy. Is it easier to pronounce 'ks' rather than 'ts' that drives the English to be so lazy? :) Also, calling "I am loving", "I am wanting" idiomatic expression I believe is also incorrect, no? Idioma is a Greek word meaning special phrasing, and implies figurative meaning. For example, in English to pull one's leg means to tease the person, not literally pull the leg, or to kick the bucket means to die. Without knowing the idiomatic expression it would not be possible to have a meaning if the expression is translated into another language. I am loving means I love, I am wanting means I want - it means what it means, and just used in a wrong in-existent form. I agree with I was sat instead of I sat, or 'Great fun was had by us' - why not just simple we had fun?

I believe the quality of service any employee provides does not depend on how one pays them. It does not matter whether I earn ?28k, ?50k or ?100k - I will work with the same level of responsibility, care and self-motivation, because this is in my character to deliver things as best I could do. Since I signed the contract, I expect myself to work hard. Same with any nanny, if montassa paid ?10 net and now happy about the results, it is because she was lucky to find a nanny that did a perfect job with her kids, not because she paid ?10 and hour. BTW, wanted to share a story a colleague told me over my nanny hunt. Very often, nannies take children for a play-dates, and very often, if parents are full-time working ones, nannies organise these play-dates themselves, usually with other nannies they met on the playgrounds. Many parents are very happy with this as we think children only benefit from it. One common practice among nannies, my colleague told me, is to take a child for the whole day, so that the child eats and naps at the date-house and they come home before parents are back from jobs. In reality, the colleague said, that some nannies drops the child at another house and leave to get some of their personal business done. Next time, the nanny will return the favour. It is fine if you do not mind, but I personally thought, I wouldn't like such a date.

I would not speak for all people of my professional background and if someone blames them I would not stand up and get offended. If people are unhappy it means something even if it is not related to myself personally. Likewise, I cannot get why lildeakin84 is getting so gross over the parents' comments. If this is what they feel about their nannies why do YOU get insulted. If you think you are underpaid and very sure all of your friends earn ?10 and hour, why get frustrated and not go and search a higher salary - which is what we parents do when we cannot afford nannies that cost NET 10 quids/hour - we look for another job. I do not doubt you are a good nanny and do all activities you describe in your posts and am envious of your employer, but for 1 nanny like you I see about 10 nannies dumping children in the buggy and sitting on the benches drinking coffee and discussing their salaries and gossiping about their employers and calling them names, every time I take my child out to the playground. Will you get offended for their behavior? Just because you work in someone's home does not mean you are not employee like ourselves and why does it by default entitles you to the food I do not get. Again, I do not mind nannies eating in the house, but I do not understand your point on why you are entitled for it. I, myself, work in the office the building of which owned by the company's owner, but I do not have access to his food, sadly, and I never get offended my contract did not foresee free lunches. Apart from my education on which I spent thousands of pounds, I still pursue certificates - again sometimes employers pay for them, sometimes I pay myself. By no means it is employers' duty, and even more, if I am to leave the cost will be taken off my salary on pro-rata basis. So why OFSTED is a parent's responsibility if it helps nannies to be more employable? I think this is something parties could discuss. Without being personal, I think sticking up for all nannies out there, good or bad, and bring all these points has no ground.

Hi Everyone, This is a very interesting topic and for my family, who is in search of a nanny at the moment, is very useful. All nannies I spoke quote ?10 per hour. My family is multi-cultural, so we consider different nannies, speaking one or another language, and not knowing English is also acceptable. I happened to speak to some who are illegal and they quote this ridiculous price as well. By just doing simple math, ?10/per hour NET makes ?2383.33 net a month on top of which I have to pay NI and Income tax. Most of the nannies have first aid and police check, and some of them have other certificates which are obtained by completing part-time college courses. I earn NET slightly more, but the variance would go to pay nanny's taxes and NI contribution. And I have a master degree from the red-brick university, I am a mid-level manager and though I do not change anyone's nappies I do work hard to be able to provide my child with home that it has and education in the future. Why on Earth I have to pay nanny's food? My employer does not repay me cost of my lunches. If I am to pay a nanny a salary which is considered to be quite high on the UK level, why cannot she afford her own sandwich? I am by no means scrooge over the food, but some nannies eat just a loaf of bread and a bit of ham and cheese as someone stated here, some nannies DO eat a lot. I have had 2 unfortunate nannies that were eating more than my husband and I used to consume during the whole week. One of the nannies used to bring some food, cook herself a lunch and dinner while child sleeps, mess up the whole kitchen, pack her dinner and take it home. After 10 hours of my work and commuting I was coming home to find my messy kitchen and clean after the nanny. It is true that nanny's job is not the easiest one, but then do not forget, that we parents have to deal with nanny's upbringing, their educational and cultural level, listen to their views as even though we are their employers, the relations between nanny & parent is slightly different than any other employment relations. We have to deal with cleanliness of the nanny and sometimes turn a blind eye when find dirty baby clothes in the wardrobe so that she treats the baby well while we are away and not in control of her actions. Another point on average salary - most of nannies derive this amount from talking to each other. My previous nanny told me that it is a common practice among nannies to ask each other about the salaries, conditions they are treated and other benefits they get. Which is fair I think. But... it happens that the nannies that earn more look down to those who earn less, and encourage to go and ask for more. Nannies are human beings and some of them also add up a little extra to what they actually get or have - guess it is just a human nature. And with regards to 19th century staff - when I watch period drama, I sometimes think that some mades live back then better than I do now - mades would make lady's hair and mend the dressing and there was some kitchen girl that cleaned the dishes and washed the floors. I am now in 21st century and do laundry, iron, cook and wash my dishes and floor all by myself. I don't think referring to nannies being treated as 19th century servants has any ground.

Hi Everyone, We recently moved to WD and I tried to search for the activities for 1 year olds. Most of activities I found are for 2 y.o. and older children. Can you recommend anything? Thank you, DiGio

I am the foreigner and it strikes me how native speakers speak. If in language schools we were taught that certain verbs cannot be used in gerund form, then in the newspapers, adverts, friends, neighbours, TV presenters etc, my work's employee communication emails I see and hear "loving", "wanting", "needing". And this is spoken and written by those who consider themselves "white English from upper class" - or is it also some kind of a local dialect?

Hi, We are new in the area. Our baby used to go to WaterBabies classes in Bayswater, but now it is too far to travel. I see that the closest is Lewisham Hospital, but is there other WaterBabies pools easy to travel to that you Dulwich mums&dads would advise? Thank you!