If you love your nanny, how'd you find her (or him)?

[Anonymous]

We are huge fans of daycare but situation has changed where with two kids, the commute for drop off and pick up and the sick days etc. are just too much. I'm thinking of hiring a nanny ideally to start at the end of the summer, as my oldest will be starting K and my youngest will be getting ready to turn 2.

Did you go through an agency? I have a neighborhood mom's list-serv and people periodically announce when they are moving on and would like to recommend their soon-to-be-available nanny. I've also had a friend find her nanny on Craig's List which seemed crazy to me but it worked out!

Any tips on where to begin and what issues to think about would be great. We are prepared to pay significantly more than what we are paying now ($3200 a month for two kids in daycare) but don't know where to begin with costs. We'd need someone 50 hours, for our youngest, and then a bit of morning and a few hours in the afternoon for the older one in school.

I don't know what is typical, in terms of if people expect the nanny to take the child in the car? We live in the close-in burbs just under a mile from the metro, and are near a couple of parks, but would be nice if the nanny could take her to the library, etc. Just not sure what the norm is.

[Anonymous]

Craigslist.com

[Anonymous]

Believe it or not, my family found me on Craigslist. I've been with them for nearly 4 years.

[Anonymous]

We found our fantastic nanny through a neighborhood listserv. She knew half the families on the street and had provided child or geriatric care for 2 of them. She's a gem.

FWIW, I really don't think your financial adjustment will be too painful if you're paying $3,200 now for daycare. It's not going to be cheaper (assuming you'll be paying the nanny legally, so incurring taxes, etc...) but the sticker shock should be pretty minimal. And the benefit of not having to worry about pickup and dropoff is HUGE.

And absolutely you can find a nanny that can drive the kids - you just to be sure to search for that, be clear about it in your ad/postings, etc... You want to think about whether you'd have the nanny use your car or whether you require the nanny to provide his/hers for use, how you'll be handling mileage and gas reimbursement, checking for a clean driving record and appropriate insurance, etc...

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Thanks all! Is 8 am to 6:30 pm too many hours to expect someone to work?

Yikes - I know that is a long day, we live fairly close in but between 45-50 minute commutes and a 9 hour work day that's the best we can do. I'm hoping to find a more flexible situation in the next year, but this is what we have right now. The thinking is that with the nanny, at least the kids don't have such a long day. We had a dream scenario where my husband worked super close to our home for years, but he really hit a wall with that job, and was very lucky to find another job with great flexibility and much better pay. It is a better situation for so many reasons but the commute means that we are both working in the city now and it's tough for childcare (but at least they are in the same center now, when they are in two different locations next year it will be even harder).

The other option is to find a home daycare or full day preschool near my older one's school (which seems doable given the number of options), and hire someone PT to fill in - like 2-3 days a week, pick the kids up and take them home so that we could work until 5:30 and not have to stress about pick up from two locations. Just don't know how doable that is and might make more sense just to get a FT nanny.

[Anonymous]

8 am to 6:30 is not too long a day. My nanny has to work longer than that when DH is traveling. There's no driving involved for our family, because we live in the heart of the city, with mass transit options a-plenty. But our nanny does have a license and experience driving.

[Anonymous]

Our nanny works 8-6, Monday through Friday.

[Anonymous]

care.com - she had no nanny experience but worked at a daycare. love her!

[Anonymous]

Mothers of Multiples group

[Anonymous]

An agency.

OP, your hours are perfectly reasonable! Do take the time to calculate how much OT she'll be working (anything over 40) and what that will mean for her wages, but nannies very often work 50-60 hour weeks for the reasons you describe: coverage of parents' commute and the long work days in many professions. Not a problem at all!

[Anonymous]

Care.com, and sittercity before that.

[Anonymous]

You could post on here, or care.com, craigslist is ok too,believe it or not! Also there are a great deal of nannys that will work well over 40 hours a week and various days and hours if the compensation is right.

[Anonymous]

Ive found all my full time positions that have lasted 3+ years on Craigslist. My employers often joke how their friends think they are crazy for hiring someone off that site yet I've been with then 3yrs and their friends are constantly looking for a new nanny.

[Anonymous]

A nanny finder website.
Hrs are ok - not Possible for you and DH to split the time a but though to reduce it? Personally I would preference a nanny who lived closer with long hours like that.

[Anonymous]

OP,
That is a long day, but not shockingly long (you will want to be sure she gets a break somewhere to avoid burnout--maybe allow DC2 a half-hour of tv during school hours or something so she can have a few minutes relatively uninterupted.

We used an agency (Your Child's Nanny) because I just didn't have time to do all my own background stuff.

Take into account overtime and factor in vacation and sick days for the nanny if possible. I think most people do two weeks vacation (one of your choice and one of hers) and 3-5 days sick leave. I don't think it will be impossible to find someone for relatively close to what you pay now, and a nanny can be such a help. I work long hours, too (at one point the nanny was working 65 hours a week) and it has been so helpful to have the kids in our home living a normal routine vs. having to pick them up and squeeze the routine into a brief period at the end of the day. When I get home, the kids' laundry is washed and dried (not always folded, but whatever), their toys are mostly put away, homework is done, they have taken a bath and gotten into pjs, and dinner is ready to eat. All I have to do on work nights is feed them and play until bedtime. SO much easier than trying to check homework, make dinner, do bath and jammies, eat and do bedtime between 6-8.

Our nanny also runs errands (she takes the kids and makes it an adventure), so most of the grocery shopping is taken off my plate, along with random things like pharmacy runs, or restocking on food and diapers at Babysaurus. Not all nannies cook, clean or do errands, so be sure to think about what tasks might be most helpful and discuss with potential hires.