Fair rate for 3 under 3?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God some of these responses are crazy.

Start by talking to your nanny. The person above saying "I wouldn't do it for $200!" actually has a point - some nannies would not be interested in twin infants and a 3 year old. Is she interested in this job? Are there things that you can do that would make her happy? Hear her out. I would think you would want the 3 year old in preschool a big chunk of the day before you're done with your maternity leave, that would be the big thing that would help. How long is your leave? Big difference between 12 week old twins who are essentially still newborns, and six month old twins who have been sleep trained and put on a schedule.

I would think, an established nanny who is happy with her employer, a three year old in part day preschool you can walk to, and twin 6-month olds on a good schedule, you could probably pay $30-$32 per hour. And the extra week PTO is a good idea!

You need to start that rate as soon as she is helping at all with the twins. Presumably, in your case, that's day 1. If you can watch both twins completely on your own during the nanny's work day, and she literally doesn't so much as hold a baby or wash a bottle, then you can wait to up the salary until you hand the babies over. (That's what we did when we were adding a singleton). But presumably, with twins, you need her help from jump.

Thanks for this response. Yes, although we haven't told most family / friends yet we told the nanny because we think we have a good relationship with her and wanted to let her know early, to give her time to make sure she'd WANT the job (and she sees a lot of me, and I've been pretty sick). She said she'd be happy to stay. We emphasized it would be a lot of work, and she didn't seem too fazed. Our plan would be to pay her the higher rate as soon as the babies arrive, because even if I'm home full time I know I will need her help. We are very torn on preschool timing for the toddler. Really concerned about his adjustment from only child to new reality and don't want him to undergo too many transitions at once. Also worried about the daycare / preschool constant illness horror stories I hear. Open to advice on that front.

PP here.

How long is your parental leave and how old precisely will your older child be when the twins arrive? Those would both impact my answer. Would you be looking at a standard preschool that starts on august/sept? If so, especially if he’s close to 3, there’s something to sending him now.

Thanks again. My leave is 3 months, but I might (might) have options to fudge another week here or there. He would be 2 yrs 3 months. The place we're looking has "rolling" off wait list (he's not on one yet) and traditionally more spots at normal school year start.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God some of these responses are crazy.

Start by talking to your nanny. The person above saying "I wouldn't do it for $200!" actually has a point - some nannies would not be interested in twin infants and a 3 year old. Is she interested in this job? Are there things that you can do that would make her happy? Hear her out. I would think you would want the 3 year old in preschool a big chunk of the day before you're done with your maternity leave, that would be the big thing that would help. How long is your leave? Big difference between 12 week old twins who are essentially still newborns, and six month old twins who have been sleep trained and put on a schedule.

I would think, an established nanny who is happy with her employer, a three year old in part day preschool you can walk to, and twin 6-month olds on a good schedule, you could probably pay $30-$32 per hour. And the extra week PTO is a good idea!

You need to start that rate as soon as she is helping at all with the twins. Presumably, in your case, that's day 1. If you can watch both twins completely on your own during the nanny's work day, and she literally doesn't so much as hold a baby or wash a bottle, then you can wait to up the salary until you hand the babies over. (That's what we did when we were adding a singleton). But presumably, with twins, you need her help from jump.

Thanks for this response. Yes, although we haven't told most family / friends yet we told the nanny because we think we have a good relationship with her and wanted to let her know early, to give her time to make sure she'd WANT the job (and she sees a lot of me, and I've been pretty sick). She said she'd be happy to stay. We emphasized it would be a lot of work, and she didn't seem too fazed. Our plan would be to pay her the higher rate as soon as the babies arrive, because even if I'm home full time I know I will need her help. We are very torn on preschool timing for the toddler. Really concerned about his adjustment from only child to new reality and don't want him to undergo too many transitions at once. Also worried about the daycare / preschool constant illness horror stories I hear. Open to advice on that front.

PP here.

How long is your parental leave and how old precisely will your older child be when the twins arrive? Those would both impact my answer. Would you be looking at a standard preschool that starts on august/sept? If so, especially if he’s close to 3, there’s something to sending him now.

Thanks again. My leave is 3 months, but I might (might) have options to fudge another week here or there. He would be 2 yrs 3 months. The place we're looking has "rolling" off wait list (he's not on one yet) and traditionally more spots at normal school year start.

PP again. Three month old twins and a 2.5 year old, that's definitely tough. Can you husband/partner take any leave? I think there's a big difference between three months and, say, five months. Especially with twins, I'd really be seeing if he could take a chunk of time after your leave runs out - maybe 10 weeks? Even unpaid? That could get you up to five months.

I think especially if the nanny is in charge right from 3 months, and the 2.5 year old is home full time, you're going to need to go up to $35. And it's tough to go down. I would say if you can get your toddler into preschool and your husband can take 10 weeks off, you'd be okay with more like $32.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God some of these responses are crazy.

Start by talking to your nanny. The person above saying "I wouldn't do it for $200!" actually has a point - some nannies would not be interested in twin infants and a 3 year old. Is she interested in this job? Are there things that you can do that would make her happy? Hear her out. I would think you would want the 3 year old in preschool a big chunk of the day before you're done with your maternity leave, that would be the big thing that would help. How long is your leave? Big difference between 12 week old twins who are essentially still newborns, and six month old twins who have been sleep trained and put on a schedule.

I would think, an established nanny who is happy with her employer, a three year old in part day preschool you can walk to, and twin 6-month olds on a good schedule, you could probably pay $30-$32 per hour. And the extra week PTO is a good idea!

You need to start that rate as soon as she is helping at all with the twins. Presumably, in your case, that's day 1. If you can watch both twins completely on your own during the nanny's work day, and she literally doesn't so much as hold a baby or wash a bottle, then you can wait to up the salary until you hand the babies over. (That's what we did when we were adding a singleton). But presumably, with twins, you need her help from jump.

Thanks for this response. Yes, although we haven't told most family / friends yet we told the nanny because we think we have a good relationship with her and wanted to let her know early, to give her time to make sure she'd WANT the job (and she sees a lot of me, and I've been pretty sick). She said she'd be happy to stay. We emphasized it would be a lot of work, and she didn't seem too fazed. Our plan would be to pay her the higher rate as soon as the babies arrive, because even if I'm home full time I know I will need her help. We are very torn on preschool timing for the toddler. Really concerned about his adjustment from only child to new reality and don't want him to undergo too many transitions at once. Also worried about the daycare / preschool constant illness horror stories I hear. Open to advice on that front.

PP here.

How long is your parental leave and how old precisely will your older child be when the twins arrive? Those would both impact my answer. Would you be looking at a standard preschool that starts on august/sept? If so, especially if he’s close to 3, there’s something to sending him now.

Thanks again. My leave is 3 months, but I might (might) have options to fudge another week here or there. He would be 2 yrs 3 months. The place we're looking has "rolling" off wait list (he's not on one yet) and traditionally more spots at normal school year start.

PP again. Three month old twins and a 2.5 year old, that's definitely tough. Can you husband/partner take any leave? I think there's a big difference between three months and, say, five months. Especially with twins, I'd really be seeing if he could take a chunk of time after your leave runs out - maybe 10 weeks? Even unpaid? That could get you up to five months.

I think especially if the nanny is in charge right from 3 months, and the 2.5 year old is home full time, you're going to need to go up to $35. And it's tough to go down. I would say if you can get your toddler into preschool and your husband can take 10 weeks off, you'd be okay with more like $32.

Oh, and that young, I wouldn't worry too much about the timing on preschool. I would avoid starting from about a month before baby is born until baby is about a month old. A month is eons to a kid that little, so outside that window, I think you'd be fine.

[Anonymous]

$30/hr from the day the twins come home. Send the 3 year old to part-time preschool now and increase to full-time in a year.

Everyone will be sick, let's face it. And yes, extra week PTO to prevent burnout.

Absolutely no housekeeping or laundry while taking care of 3 babies.

[Anonymous]

We had 3 under 2.5 about 10 years ago (including twins). Definitely doable. Just has to be the right person. Some people can handle it. Some can’t. Low $30s sounds right to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had 3 under 2.5 about 10 years ago (including twins). Definitely doable. Just has to be the right person. Some people can handle it. Some can’t. Low $30s sounds right to me.

Look, good nannies are getting $30 for one child. So low 30’s for three? That’s a hard no.

[Anonymous]

Op, we are in Bethesda and found Nannies for our 3 kids (although they were 3 under 4 yrs) for $26-30/hr, but they wanted 45 hrs per week guaranteed. One stayed for 3 years and one for 4, so the pay was competitive.

The trick is really finding the right nanny. Some do like being busy and having a “pack” of kids to take care of - we ended up using an agency to find good candidates.