Afternoon babysitter & possible preschool pickup?

[Anonymous]

I'm wondering about people's experience hiring a part time, regular babysitter for afternoons and possible preschool pickup.

We're looking at a half day preschool that we really like for our kids (2 and 4), but the catch is that the 2 year olds end their day at 11:45am and the 4 year olds end their day at 1:00. Currently both parents WFH and we could swing it, each doing one pickup. But my husband is looking to change jobs, so that could change. And if I'm stuck doing both pickups it's doubly problematic since 2 year old really needs to go down for his nap before 1pm. We do have a local grandparent but I'm trying not to lean too heavily into that.

I only work part time but we would likely want an afternoon babysitter a couple of days a week anyway. I know it can be challenging to find part time regular care, so I'm wondering what people's experience as been.

- Where to look for part time regular care (2-4 afternoons a week for 3-4 hours each day)? We've hired college students in the past but are also new to this area (Silver Spring).
- Have other people tried having the sitter pick up a kid and travel home, or would it make more sense for sitter to come to us and I run back for the second pickup?
- Competitive pay. $35/hour?
- Have you had luck finding reliable care for this kind of schedule? I'm used to having a very flexible work situation but with the two school pickups I feel nervous about being overly reliant on an outside caregiver's dependability in this situation.

TIA. I know I'm rambling.

[Anonymous]

Just curious if the daycare could keep the 2 year old until 1pm and just have them take their nap there instead of at home? That way you would only have to do one pickup. Like you said most people don't want those hours. Either they are full time and can't or don't want to be tied down to those hours.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

So we did something similar. Our DD went to pre k 3 days a week and it ended at 2pm. We needed childcare on 2 of those days. One of my mom friends had her kid at the same school so she picked up DD with her kid and we paid her. They actually went to the sane ES school so we kept this arrangement going for 3 years ( Covid changed it) Tour situation might be more challenging because of the different ages and times though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just curious if the daycare could keep the 2 year old until 1pm and just have them take their nap there instead of at home? That way you would only have to do one pickup. Like you said most people don't want those hours. Either they are full time and can't or don't want to be tied down to those hours.

Good luck!

See the thing is, OP didn't say it was a "daycare"--she said "pre-school." Some pre-schools are definitively not "daycare."

[Anonymous]

No, I never found reliable care and I had just one easy boy and was paying $30 an hour with 20 hours guaranteed.

What you’re asking for are the most sought after hours and no one can live on part time. The sitter will leave you the instant she finds full time work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, I never found reliable care and I had just one easy boy and was paying $30 an hour with 20 hours guaranteed.

What you’re asking for are the most sought after hours and no one can live on part time. The sitter will leave you the instant she finds full time work.

Thanks. This is my concern of course. I know know one can live on those hours but not everyone needs a job to live on, if there’s a reason they want to be part time (college kids and sometimes nanny moms). Although these are probably worse hours than I’ve offered before and the demand for this kind of schedule will be high, so I get it. Maybe I should rely more on family backup.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So we did something similar. Our DD went to pre k 3 days a week and it ended at 2pm. We needed childcare on 2 of those days. One of my mom friends had her kid at the same school so she picked up DD with her kid and we paid her. They actually went to the sane ES school so we kept this arrangement going for 3 years ( Covid changed it) Tour situation might be more challenging because of the different ages and times though.

The school did mention they have a few families in this position, so perhaps we just need to get out there and meet them and start sharing the responsibilities. If it works that would be great.

[Anonymous]

I recommend against doing this. It will stress you out, and adding the daily pickups will conflict with work more than you and DH want to believe. Find someplace where both kids can be picked up at the same time. If you only worked PT until 11:45 then I could see it.

You can find some kind of sitter to do some number of days, but it will be a shaky arrangement and will fall apart when you most need it. This is not the right preschool for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, I never found reliable care and I had just one easy boy and was paying $30 an hour with 20 hours guaranteed.

What you’re asking for are the most sought after hours and no one can live on part time. The sitter will leave you the instant she finds full time work.

Thanks. This is my concern of course. I know know one can live on those hours but not everyone needs a job to live on, if there’s a reason they want to be part time (college kids and sometimes nanny moms). Although these are probably worse hours than I’ve offered before and the demand for this kind of schedule will be high, so I get it. Maybe I should rely more on family backup.

Also, TBH, there aren't a lot of college kids in Silver Spring. There are a lot of people scraping by who need FT income to survive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, I never found reliable care and I had just one easy boy and was paying $30 an hour with 20 hours guaranteed.

What you’re asking for are the most sought after hours and no one can live on part time. The sitter will leave you the instant she finds full time work.

Thanks. This is my concern of course. I know know one can live on those hours but not everyone needs a job to live on, if there’s a reason they want to be part time (college kids and sometimes nanny moms). Although these are probably worse hours than I’ve offered before and the demand for this kind of schedule will be high, so I get it. Maybe I should rely more on family backup.

Also, TBH, there aren't a lot of college kids in Silver Spring. There are a lot of people scraping by who need FT income to survive.

Thanks, this is helpful.

[Anonymous]

You are setting yourself up for a revolving door of sitters (and likely gaps between each in coverage)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are setting yourself up for a revolving door of sitters (and likely gaps between each in coverage)

I'm getting this consensus!

This has kind of been life for our family for the last 2 years and in a lot of ways we've really liked it given that we both have very flexible jobs (and I'm pretty light on the part time end). But yeah I'm concluding no way no how should we expect a reliable person to cover pickup. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

There is nothing this preschool offers that is worth the machinations you’d need to go through to do this. Find a full time preschool/daycare and forget about this one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is nothing this preschool offers that is worth the machinations you’d need to go through to do this. Find a full time preschool/daycare and forget about this one.

I hear you but to be clear part time is actually what we want. We don't need or want full time, and the part time options just seem limited.