After five years of nannies, I can honestly say I've never regretted opting for this type of childcare - even if my bank balance has. But despite the greater measure of control a parent has through having a sole employee working in their house, things don't always go as we'd like.

I've loved the way my nannies have given hours of fantastic one-to-one care to my children, but I've also had my share of unhappy surprises and heard some disturbing tales. Of course what's worrying is that, if I hadn't been working from home, I wouldn't even know about some of these…

1) Eat you out of house and home