Mom Defends Taking Family Vacations with a Nanny — but Admits She Pays an 'Inconvenience Fee'

The mom of two opens up about how she navigates travel arrangements and time with her kids

One woman on TikTok is giving insight into her life as a stay at home mom with a full-time nanny helping her out — including on lengthy family trips.

Jen A. Miller works from home managing her house and miscellaneous other projects, as she explains on her TikTok account, @jenamillerco. In one video, the mom of two opens up about traveling on a month-long trip with her husband, children and nanny.

"She has traveled all over the world with us, including several of these month-long trips," Miller shares. "I feel like we have a pretty good system in place."

Noting the group plans to fly together in economy on this trip, Miller continues to explain that their nanny serves as a "extra pair of helping hands" as they travel.

"I could not imagine handing over the kids and being like, 'Okay good luck on this flight.' Like could she do it? Of course. But would it be a good experience for her? No."

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Miller says that for the ease of keeping everyone together, the family predominately stays at Airbnbs and other rentals.

"A really big reason for that is that we always want to guarantee that our nanny has her own room. She pretty much sticks to a 40-hour work week. The difference is that when she travels those hours are much more in flow than when we are aren't," Miller says.

"On some days, I will take the kids for the first half the day and then our nanny will take over after they wake up from their naps. There also might be mornings where I want her to start for the day and I pick up from her. So it just flexes."

Miller is aware that people have criticisms about traveling with a nanny, feeling like that's family time.

"I have had people say to me like, 'Why would you bring your kids on vacation if you're not going to spend any time with them?' To which I say like one, I don't really consider these long trips vacations. They're more like us going some place to live, work, play for a while," she notes.

She adds, "We just got back from a two-week vacation where we did not have our nanny with us. By the end of that trip, we left feeling so burnt out. When we do travel with a nanny, it gives us that much better of a balance, where we all feel much better about our days."

Miller also points out that her nanny is compensated for the extra time away. "Our nanny gets her regular payroll salary plus and additional 75 dollars per day travel per diem [and] all of her expenses are covered when she travels with us."

The family says the extra compensation is an "inconvenience fee," with Miller pointing out, "I think that this is truly really important to remember — this is our vacation. This is not her vacation."

When a commenter takes offense to that last line, Miller clarifies, "That totally came out weird. We want her to have as much fun as possible. I just meant we understand she’s working even if work might be in a new place. She gets her own separate vacation time."

Some people who have worked as nannies in these situations applaud Miller. "I was a live in for 8yrs," one writes. "When we traveled they sat first and I sat with the kids in economy. I also worked way more hours for the same pay. I know she is grateful how considerate you are to her."