Nanny/ babysitter during Quarantine?

[Anonymous]

We are considering a sitter. Spouse works in healthcare and must go in. I can work at home but am very ineffective with a young toddler. I and very nervous about bringing someone in. I some leave saved but not sure if it’ll cover the duration of this, and I don’t know how long it’ll last.

[Anonymous]

Ours still comes but I would not recommend hiring someone new at this time. If at all possible, extend your maternity leave for a couple of months so you can enjoy with kids.

[Anonymous]

Get a live-in nanny who has self-quarantined.

[Anonymous]

Our nanny still comes too. Everyone is comfortable with a different level of risk and some have clearly stopped having their nanny, but the shelter in place orders allow for child care as essential, if you are comfortable with it. Might not be ideal from a health perspective, but it is allowed if that would help you.

[Anonymous]

Can anyone weigh in on this now? We need help- just can’t do 2 jobs and 3 kids including a 3 month old without help! Are people hiring nannies/ babysitters yet? Is anyone letting grandparents help if everyone has quarantined?

[Anonymous]

I think it is different for everyone. Some seem to be really strict, some a little more lax. It seems to come down to personal comfort levels, since the guidance from state and federal is so variable.

We have a sitter coming and have had her since the end of March (son was in preschool before). It is not this crazy lockdown, she only comes here via sanitized pod and only gets one grocery delivery a month which she picks up using a sanitized glove and then immediately showers and washes her clothes yada yada. If that gives folks comfort, great, but reading all those hoops gives me MORE anxiety. She comes to our house, she lives at her house, everyone washes hands upon arrival. This works for our family.

[Anonymous]

We hired a laid off preschool teacher. She comes 3 mornings a week and it helps a ton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are considering a sitter. Spouse works in healthcare and must go in. I can work at home but am very ineffective with a young toddler. I and very nervous about bringing someone in. I some leave saved but not sure if it’ll cover the duration of this, and I don’t know how long it’ll last.

Our sitter will not come anymore if one of us starts leaving the house to commute to an office again - so you may want to be up front with your sitter that your spouse is exposed daily.

[Anonymous]

Again, live-in nanny who has quarantined...

[Anonymous]

Our nanny still comes. She’s been with us for the past year.

Both DH and I are working from home, remotely, and the nanny takes care of our 1 year old during business hours M-F.

We absolutely need our nanny while both of us are working.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone weigh in on this now? We need help- just can’t do 2 jobs and 3 kids including a 3 month old without help! Are people hiring nannies/ babysitters yet? Is anyone letting grandparents help if everyone has quarantined?

Have a nanny coming. And a lot of families I know do too because things are going to be like this for awhile and employers are becoming less understanding the longer this goes on.

We wrote up a stay at home agreement with nanny where we all agreed to the same rules for our households. This way nanny feels safe coming to our home and we feel safe having her here.

[Anonymous]

Trust is a big issue with sole provider in home child care. You have threads all the time about nanny cams. You can't install a nanny cam on the nanny. I've had relationships with employers whom I've worked for over an extended period in time (at least a year or more) where I think we both would have been able to trust each other to do the right thing when outside of each other's presence but that's hard to do with a new person. I understand what the WFH parents are going through right now. Also think about the fact that you asking someone to care for your children without being able to do extracurricular activities, have play dates or go to playgrounds or libraries and both parents are working in the home. It's a lot to chew on. I'm a nanny and I have continued working but before all of this I was going to find a new family. I since suspended my search until things blow over a bit. Just my two cents and good luck OP! Kids are wonderful but challenging

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Time to switch to being a full-time mom. This is a one-year glitch in history Give your attention to your kids.

Working moms ARE full time moms. With better outcomes for kids to boot!

Oh Jesus - I'm a working mom and take zero offense to "full-time mom."

[Anonymous]

Try family/grandparents first if they exist and you can all reasonably quarantine. Next option is nanny. Try your best, be reasonable, and don’t feel bad about it.

[Anonymous]

“Switch to being a full-time mom” for a year? Maybe that’s a practical option in the Republic of Utopia.