If your child is 6 or older, you can check out HopSkipDrive. It's an app for childcare pickups. We had very good experiences using this service, and eventually found someone reliable so we went off-app with her.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no one who would be willing to work 5 hours a week every week who I would trust with my kids. I agree with pp- beg the after care provider

I did this all throughout college. I’m still in touch with the family 30 years later. I still get together with the kid (now in his 30s) to hike with our dogs. Pay well and you can find a student to do this.

Honestly, this makes me not want to find someone like you - someone 15-20 years older than my child who continued to want spend time with them as they went through puberty and beyond. Gives me shades of “Stealing Home”.

You clearly don’t have a history of good multi generational relationships. I’m still close with several families I used to babysit for, as well as much younger and older cousins, aunts, etc. My husband’s much younger cousin was 14 when I met her. We’ve remained close for 20+ years even though she lives out of town and we are flying up for her baby shower in a few weeks. Your attitude is why people are lonely and can’t find a village.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no one who would be willing to work 5 hours a week every week who I would trust with my kids. I agree with pp- beg the after care provider

I did this all throughout college. I’m still in touch with the family 30 years later. I still get together with the kid (now in his 30s) to hike with our dogs. Pay well and you can find a student to do this.

Honestly, this makes me not want to find someone like you - someone 15-20 years older than my child who continued to want spend time with them as they went through puberty and beyond. Gives me shades of “Stealing Home”.

Anonymous wrote:
We hired a PT nanny. She did school pick up and got kids to their sports practices.

The best paid assistance.

Fast forward one of our college kids now helps out two families during the Summer in this capacity.

I did this as a PT job in college for a family that lived in my college's town. It's harder in Nova because there aren't many colleges around.

Ask around at the school if any teachers can do it, or ask classmate's parents if anyone could take your child home with them for a couple hours (for pay).

Anonymous wrote:You need an Au pair who drives. Just suck it up and get one.

I prefer paying for a full-time nanny. Au pairs save a little money, but we hated the loss of privacy, and we have a big home... It's personal preference.

We've kept our nanny on as the kids entered school - we have to guarantee her $35/hour for 35 hours a week. We once lost her for a period of time and our life felt like total chaos, so we jumped on the opportunity to bring her back and give her the time and money she needed to make it work. We rarely use all 35 hours that we pay for.