Пока родители на работе, за малышкой присматривает няня и пишет маме сообщения.

Here пока means while.

So:

• Пока родители на работе = While the parents are at work

A common confusion is that пока can also mean until in other sentences, but in this sentence it clearly means while because it introduces a situation happening at the same time as the main action.

Because Пока родители на работе is a subordinate clause, and in Russian subordinate clauses are normally separated from the main clause with a comma.

Structure:

• Пока родители на работе, = subordinate time clause
• за малышкой присматривает няня и пишет маме сообщения. = main clause

So the comma works much like in English:

• While the parents are at work, the nanny looks after the little girl and writes messages to the mother.

На работе is the normal Russian expression for at work.

Russian often uses prepositions in ways that do not match English literally. Here:

• на работе = at work
• not в работе

Some fixed location expressions in Russian simply use на, and this is one of them.

Also, работе is in the prepositional case because it follows на in a location meaning.

In the present tense, Russian usually omits the verb to be.

So:

• родители на работе literally looks like parents at work
• but it means the parents are at work

You do not normally say есть here.

This is very common in Russian:

• Она дома = She is at home
• Я в школе = I am at school
• Родители на работе = The parents are at work

Because the verb присматривать requires the pattern:

• присматривать за кем? / за чем?

That means за + instrumental case.

So:

• dictionary form: малышка
• after за with присматривать: за малышкой

This whole phrase means:

• присматривать за малышкой = to look after the little girl / baby girl

This is something you mostly have to learn as part of the verb pattern.

Russian word order is more flexible than English word order.

Both of these are possible:

• за малышкой присматривает няня
• няня присматривает за малышкой

In this sentence, putting присматривает before няня sounds natural because the sentence first sets the scene and then presents what is happening. It can also put a little more focus on the action.

English usually needs a stricter order, but Russian can move parts around for emphasis, rhythm, or information flow.

Because родители is not the subject of присматривает.

The subject of присматривает is няня, which is singular.

So the structure is:

• Пока родители на работе = while the parents are at work
• няня присматривает... и пишет... = the nanny looks after... and writes...

The parents are only part of the time clause, not the doers of the main actions.

Because мама is the recipient of the messages, so Russian uses the dative case.

• писать кому? = to write to whom?
• маме = to mom

So:

• пишет маме сообщения = writes messages to mom

Compare:

• Я пишу другу = I write to a friend
• Она звонит сестре = She calls her sister

In both cases, the person receiving the action is in the dative.

Сообщения is the plural form of сообщение meaning message.

Here it is the direct object of пишет, so it is in the accusative plural.

For inanimate nouns like this, the accusative plural looks the same as the nominative plural:

• nominative plural: сообщения
• accusative plural: сообщения

So:

• пишет сообщения = writes messages

Because the same subject, няня, applies to both verbs:

• присматривает
• пишет

Russian often does this, just like English:

• The nanny looks after the child and writes messages to the mother.

You do not need to repeat она unless you want extra emphasis or contrast.

So the sentence naturally means:

• the nanny looks after the little girl and writes messages to the mother

with няня understood as the subject of both verbs.

Russian present tense here describes an ongoing or usual situation.

The sentence means something like:

• whenever / while the parents are at work, the nanny is looking after the child and sending updates

Both verbs are imperfective present:

• присматривать → присматривает
• писать → пишет

Imperfective present is used for:

• ongoing actions
• repeated actions
• general/habitual situations

So this is very natural here.

Not necessarily.

Сообщение can mean:

• message
• text message
• written message
• update

In modern everyday usage, many people will understand сообщения as messages on a phone, but the word itself is broader than just text messages.

So the sentence suggests she is sending the mother updates, probably by phone, but the wording itself does not force only one interpretation.

Yes, that is also possible, but the meaning shifts slightly.

Compare:

• Пока родители на работе = while the parents are at work
• Пока родители работают = while the parents are working

The first focuses on their location/state: they are away at work.

The second focuses more on the action: they are working.

In many contexts, both would be fine, but на работе is a very natural choice if the point is simply that the parents are away and the nanny is taking care of the child during that time.