Is it possible to also hire a driver to take the kids to and from the apartment? Look into some of the bus drivers that may have been laid off. I bet a lunch lady would also be willing to come to the apartment and cook lunch. This is shaping up to be an excellent project!

It seems like an awful idea. At that point you might as well hire a nanny, find a share at someone else’s house or join a small in home

Yes, it would be more than crazy.

Could you have the kids and caregivers at your home and use the rental apartment to work? Instead of your Mom, what about a nanny for both kids? You and DH leave each day to “commute” to the work rental apartment. Much easier to furnish a rental apt with the few basic things an adult needs to work vs all the things kids would need to be busy and entertained all day.

I get the impulse but this is going to end up way too complicated way too fast.

I would try to join a nanny share where the other family is the full time host.

OP here-
Re: my mom as one of the caregivers... You're right, she is almost 70, and that is not fair. I guess I could hire a nanny for the say 1 2 days a week it would be our turn to cover supervising. With 1/4 rent and a nanny for 1-2 days, I still think it would be cheaper than what we were paying for preschool, $1700.

Just trying to problem solve this crazy situation.

Anonymous wrote:OP, I don't know if this is legal or not, but I don't blame you one bit.

Thank you. This is really hard. I was not expecting her preschool to just close.

OP, I don't know if this is legal or not, but I don't blame you one bit.

I would do a nanny share with your one friend, so your kid has one friend but less exposure to covid and less insanity for you logistically. As for space, Honestly maybe now is the time to just move to a 2-plus-den. Or just rent an office space via We-Work or similar. You and spouse can share. Our nanny has the kids outside for a good chunk of time each day (even in this weather), and they are the same age group as your DD. They go outside for about 2 hours right when she gets here at 8:00, then they get back and play and are sometimes loud from 10-11:30 and we just plan for that and if we have a call we go sit in the car. 11:30, one watches a show with headphones and the other does a little mini “school” project of some kind, then they switch (so pretty quiet) then they do lunch and like a quiet time where they have to sit quietly with a stack of books. By then it is like 2:30 and they go for a short walk then there is another window of “loud time” from 3-4, then they quiet down and do some art projects or reading books together. So we just have to plan around the problem times.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are you doing with the baby? Daycare I assume if you said you and Dh work?
So why doesnt your 3 yr old go to daycare alongside baby sibling?

My mom is fortunately able to come every day and watch our baby. But she can't watch our 4 year old at the same time; it's too much for her. Also, we do not feel comfortable having either of our kids do daycare right now.

You won't do daycare (where there'sfairly stringent guidelines), but having a bunch of 3 yr olds and a rotating door of parents/caretakers/nannies is fine with you?

It would be 4 families total, like a "bubble." At least two of the families (me and a friend) would be using caregivers that are part of their family. That's fewer people than they would interact with in daycare, no?

Whatever you want to tell yourself.

So, you're throwing your mom (whose supposed to watch just the baby ?) into the mix as "caregivers" rotatation?

On a side note, I'd double check you aren't crossing the line into subletting/subleasing. You're collecting (partial) rent from 3 different unrelated people. Not sure if that's allowed in your building.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not daycare, since there’s no payment. You could argue that it’s a co-op, and I would suggest talking to someone about insurance. Also, who will sign the lease and have all the legal/financial responsibility?

OP here - I guess I would sign the lease, though if I could get in serious trouble for this, I wouldn't do it it all. I was thinking the worst case scenario is that we get kicked out we don't get our deposit back. If that's the case, I'm willing to eat the $1,700 or whatever.

But I know zero about this, so anyone's legal expertise is welcome.

If you get kicked out, it is because you are breaking the lease. You could be responsible for a lot more than the security deposit- potentially the whole year. Or the other families drop out and now you are responsible for paying the whole thing alone. Or there is damage to the place beyond wear and tear, so now you are responsible for that also.

You are exposing your mom to all of these families’ covid risk.

These are the risks that jumped to my mind. I don’t think you could get in serious legal trouble, though. Even if it’s an illegal nanny share (depends on jurisdiction) I don’t think anyone would come investigate this.

Anonymous wrote:Thats a nanny share and no its not legal as its an in-home day care that needs to be licensed.

Is it really in-home day care if no one is getting paid? What if all the caregivers are family members?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are you doing with the baby? Daycare I assume if you said you and Dh work?
So why doesnt your 3 yr old go to daycare alongside baby sibling?

My mom is fortunately able to come every day and watch our baby. But she can't watch our 4 year old at the same time; it's too much for her. Also, we do not feel comfortable having either of our kids do daycare right now.

You won't do daycare (where there'sfairly stringent guidelines), but having a bunch of 3 yr olds and a rotating door of parents/caretakers/nannies is fine with you?

It would be 4 families total, like a "bubble." At least two of the families (me and a friend) would be using caregivers that are part of their family. That's fewer people than they would interact with in daycare, no?

Thats a nanny share and no its not legal as its an in-home day care that needs to be licensed.