Questions about care at sitters' home. What is the "appropriate etiquette"?

[Anonymous]

Hello ladies! I am hoping to find some helpful advice in here on what is right and what is wrong when it comes to caring for your children at sitter's home.
Here is my situation:
I have a 1 year old boy and I drop him off M-T (1pm-5pm) at his sitter's house. She cares for him and many other kids. The amount of kids she has dropped off daily is very random, but I would say she has about 6 regular kids. There was a time when I counted 9 kids. My son is the youngest one. She was the first sitter I spoke with and she was referred by a friend who knows her for a long time. She is extremely loving with my son and I trust her a lot.

I am a nanny in Bethesda and I work M-T (2pm-7pm) total of 20 guaranteed hours weekly and I drop him off at his sitter at 1pm on my way to work and I have someone else pick him up at 5 as I work unit 7pm. I live far away and between the commute to work and dropping him off I get out of my way the total of 40 mins besides my regular 40 mins commute to work with no traffic. With that being said, it is not a very convenient set up as far as the driving and the time I spend on the road and my mother picking him up, but I do it for the price and because I trust her. She charges me $25 for the whole day but DS only goes for 4 hours and sometimes even less. I feel so blessed and lucky to have found her because she is trustworthy and of course because of the price. BUT, I have also said some things I don't like on her and the things I see when i go to drop off my son.

That is the background on my childcare set-up (thought it was important to mention those details) but my question is this--- What is the "appropriate etiquette" when you have a sitter who cares for your child at her home with all this other children (sometimes 9)? When I don't work I get paid, but what is the right thing to do? Pay her or only pay for the days he goes?

I have been off work for almost 3 weeks due to my bosse's vacation, I am getting paid and I paid her for 1 week and a half because that is what she asked for, to pay half the time. When my son doesn't go, I still pay her, I pay her for the 4 full days regardless if he goes or not. But I have been told this is not expected when the sitter cares at her home and for many other children. I am confused on what to do as I want to do the right thing. I guess I am looking forward to know what is expected and what is not when you sit for more than 6 kids at your home.

Any comments?

TIA

[Anonymous]

I would consider this a potentially dangerous and definitely un-ideal situation and find a LICENSED provider.

They aren't necessarily going to be a lot more expensive for P/T.

[Anonymous]

Most provides are going to charge you full time, especially for a child under the age of 2. They are only allowed 2 children per adult under the age of 24 months. They can't afford to turn away a full time child for a part time child.
She cannot be declaring all those kids as income because its not legal. I think with a situation as you have described she only gets paid if she has your son. Make sure you give her plenty of notice when you don't need her though. Maybe if its last minute you could still pay her, and if its planned ahead then you don't.

Can you find a any job closer to home that is full time where you can take your son with you?

[Anonymous]

I am not ready to take the pay cut for bringing my child to work, plus I prefer not to mix my personal life with work. I am looking for another childcare provider closer to my house where the commute and the extra $$ on gas and extra time won't be that much of a problem anymore.

I dont think I shouldnt be paying either due to the fact that she cares for 8 kids more.

i am just not happy with the set up anymore. I think it is time to move on.

[Anonymous]

She charges me $25 for the whole day but DS only goes for 4 hours and sometimes even less.

You are paying $6 per hour for actual time or $3 for booked time (full day)and you think this is too much??? I don't get it. Nannies here love to claim that if you are not paying well over $15-20 an hour then you are getting a crappy, criminal nanny who will neglect your kids. As a nanny you then turn around and take advantage of someone else. This sitter has 8-9 kids because people are only paying her $3 an hour.

[Anonymous]

Goodness. Why would you want your child in an environment like this? You're deliberately taking advantage of someone who is unskilled and unlicensed. $25/day?! Where are your morals?

[Anonymous]

Let me get this straight. You don't think this is working out because of your commute and needing to pay her when you don't use her. You don't see any safety issues with this setup. You must be a terrible nanny if you have this level of bad judgement. Your employers are not getting their money's worth paying you to be in charge of their kids.