Shared-care role guide
Mother’s help duties & responsibilities
A mother’s help normally works alongside a parent: shared childcare, simple child meals, light household tasks and errands. Regular sole-charge childcare should be stated explicitly rather than assumed.
What does a mother’s help do?
A mother’s help supports a parent with childcare and manageable practical household tasks. Duties can include playing with children while the parent handles another child or task, preparing simple meals or snacks, helping with school or nursery logistics, children's laundry, tidying after children's activities and ordinary errands.
The role is not automatically a sole-charge nanny position. A household can agree occasional or defined sole-charge periods, but if independent childcare is a substantial recurring part of the job, the family should compare a nanny brief rather than relying on the mother’s-help label. Likewise, light household help should not quietly become a full housekeeping workload.
Mother’s-help duties checklist.
Use the real family routine to decide which duties belong in the job description.
Keep three boundaries visible.
Mother’s-help roles become confusing when shared care, sole-charge childcare and household work are allowed to drift into each other.
What can a typical mother’s-help day look like?
When is a mother’s help the wrong role?
The role should change when the household's primary need has changed.
A nanny is usually clearer when one person will routinely be responsible for the children while parents are working elsewhere.
Compare maternity-nurse or nightly newborn support if the job centres on a defined postnatal period and specialist newborn routine.
A housekeeper or cleaner may be more accurate if the practical household workload dominates the job.
Reduce scope, increase hours or split the work rather than expecting one light-support role to absorb two full jobs.
From our work
We ask where the parent will be before deciding whether a mother’s-help brief is realistic.
Filipino Domestic Services' current mother’s-help service is built around shared care. The household brief therefore needs more than the children's ages and working hours. We ask what the parent will be doing during those hours, when the employee is expected to take responsibility for a child independently, which household tasks recur and how school or nursery times shape the day.
That detail prevents a familiar problem: a family describes a mother’s-help role because a parent is currently at home, but the actual schedule contains several regular periods where the employee is the only adult responsible for the children. In that situation the job may be closer to a nanny role and should be described accordingly.
We use the same approach with household tasks. Children's laundry, tidying and simple practical support can fit around shared care; a substantial whole-home cleaning and ironing schedule may not. The useful question is not whether a task can ever be done by a mother’s help, but whether all the recurring duties fit the hours while the childcare responsibility remains safe and clear.
Compare the adjacent roles before finalising the job.
The mother’s-help boundary becomes clearer when you compare shared care with nanny responsibilities.
Questions about mother’s-help duties.
What are the main duties of a mother’s help?
Shared childcare with a parent, simple child meals, children's laundry or tidying, school or nursery support and manageable practical household tasks can all fit. The exact list should reflect the family routine and working hours.
Can a mother’s help look after children alone?
Defined sole-charge periods can be agreed, but the role is normally shared care with a parent. If regular independent childcare is a major part of the week, compare a nanny role and describe the responsibility honestly.
Does a mother’s help clean the house?
Light household help can be included, particularly child-related tidying or practical tasks. A substantial whole-home cleaning workload is a housekeeper or cleaner responsibility and should not be hidden inside a mother’s-help brief.
Can a mother’s help cook?
Simple child meals and agreed food preparation can fit. If the household expects regular full family cooking, state it separately and make sure it is realistic within the hours.
What is the difference between a mother’s help and a nanny?
A mother’s help normally works alongside a parent in shared care. A nanny can have regular sole-charge responsibility for the children. The exact working pattern, not the title alone, should decide which role fits.
Can a mother’s help work full time?
Yes, but full-time hours do not change the shared-care definition automatically. The household should still state when the parent is involved, which childcare is sole charge and how the practical household work fits the schedule.
Define who is responsible for the children at each part of the day.
That one step usually makes the shared-care boundary much easier to write into the household brief.