The people described in the responses are incredibly fortunate.

They have a full-time nanny, SAHP or grandparents who help.

I WFH, nanny and part time preschool. Nanny @28/hour 40 hours, preschool $800. We would need more than 40 hours if DC didn’t go to preschool. You can use extra hours for date night depending on how you set up the hours with the nanny.

Notes:
1) nannies want 40rs +, you will have a hard time finding a part time nanny based on my experience
2) Most of these part time programs are not year around and have a break in the summer and winter holidays

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I work full time. We have a nanny.

Do you mind sharing how much you spend on prek and nanny ? Do you have to adjust the nanny hourly wage up for reduced (less than 40) hours? I’m having trouble finding a nanny for less than full time.

Dp. We paid our nanny full time, including the hours our son was in day care. We only did it for about 9 months, but with taxes and everything our nanny cost us about 70k per year and pt daycare was less than 1000$ per month. It’s very expensive.

I like PT preschools for that exact reason. A FT caregiver at home (SAHM, grandparent, nanny, or au pair) to step in if the kid is under the weather. Fewer illnesses bc people don’t send their kids to school sick

Most of the families at our PT preschool have a SAHP. Just a few have a nanny or grandparent that covers the rest of the workday.

SAHM here, although I think all the other kids in DC’s class have nannies.

Anonymous wrote:DH and I work full time. We have a nanny.

Do you mind sharing how much you spend on prek and nanny ? Do you have to adjust the nanny hourly wage up for reduced (less than 40) hours? I’m having trouble finding a nanny for less than full time.

DH and I work full time. We have a nanny.

Anonymous wrote:SAHM. Part-time preschool is great! Gets the child some socialization and allows me plenty of time with my kids before full-day K.

Yes - I really like it too. Currently a SAHM and it’s tough, I can’t wait to go back to work! But like OP, I vastly preferred the half day programs to the full day ones I found, so I’m extending the SAHM years.

In my kids part time preschool classes, most kids have nannies or au pairs. Some have SAHPs. And some utilize aftercare or have grandparents picking up.

Can you share some of the ones you’ve found? We’re in the early stages of exploring too.

SAHM. Part-time preschool is great! Gets the child some socialization and allows me plenty of time with my kids before full-day K.

Yes. Those part time pre-schools are mostly for families with a SAHP or other family member. Sometimes it's a family that has a full time nanny and a much younger kid and a nanny, and the older kid goes to the part time pre-school.

We did part time pre-schools when my kids were young and I was a SAHM. We were not wealthy--by DCUM standards we were probably dirt poor. We made sacrifices.

what do you do for the hours they are not? Nanny? SAHM?

Just starting to explore pre-school options and realized that all the ones I really liked only offer part-time programs at the 18 months/2 year old mark - 2, 3, or 5 half days a week. The full day programs I found seem to be not as good - higher staff/children ratios, less developed or established programming, less varied schedule, shorter outdoor time etc. And this is personal but the vibe I got from the full days programs was more commercial/chaotic, the children seemed less calm and attached to the caregivers.

Which leads me to wonder what do the families who put their children in these lovely part-time preschool do for the rest of the time? It's a significant amount of time if they are only doing 2 or 3 half days. It also makes it harder to find a part-time nanny to cover those hours. Not to mention the expense of paying for pre-school + part time nanny at a higher rate. Or the holistic "cost" of staying at home through the part-time pre-school years.

So are these families just very well-resourced financially? Or have local help like grandparents to cover the remaining time? Please share how you make it work.