Logistics

[Anonymous]

We currently have a nanny for our daughter who will start full-time preschool/daycare in the fall, at which point our nanny's employment with us will end. When we let her know we were expecting another baby in late December/early January, she indicated that she wanted to "wait for us" and could help us with anything we needed her to. We are happy with her and would love to employ her for our second child until she is old enough to start at preschool.

Our dilemma is that we won't need full-time help for at least 6 months. I will be searching for a new job so the timeline is uncertain. I know our nanny will need full-time employment, so here are the options we have thought of:

-We employ her full-time and eat the cost, knowing that our daughter is with someone who we know and trust, and who our older daughter also knows and trusts. The nanny could then help with drop off/pick up of our older daughter and handle sick/school closing days. This would be huge because it would allow me to establish myself at my new job without having to worry about sick days (DH will also be starting a new position next spring).

-We employ her part-time and another family who needs temporary part-time help employs her for 6 months, at which point we would provide a full-time position.

-We start a full-time nanny share immediately, knowing we will still only use part-time hours until baby is older and I find a new job (downside to this is that she would not be able to care for our older daughter when school is closed or she is home with a mild illness).

-We tell her are needs and timeline are unknown, and not to count on a position with us. We would then search for a new nanny when ready. Aside from losing out on a great nanny, the downside to this would be the difficulty in finding someone who can start part-time and then transition to full-time.

Please help me think through this. I am doubtful of having her start at all in January, because I know baby will need to spend a lot of time with me for breastfeeding, but I know she will need to start a job by then. I have tallied potential hours for non-child care related tasks, but the max hours for that would be 10-15 per week. Add a couple of hours of child care per day, and that still only brings us to a max of 25 hours.

What would you do? While we are not wealthy, we can make the full-time pay work since it would only be for about 20 months.

[Anonymous]

I'd eat the costs to maintain her FT. That kind of stability in the mist of so much upheaval will be priceless. Believe me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We currently have a nanny for our daughter who will start full-time preschool/daycare in the fall, at which point our nanny's employment with us will end. When we let her know we were expecting another baby in late December/early January, she indicated that she wanted to "wait for us" and could help us with anything we needed her to. We are happy with her and would love to employ her for our second child until she is old enough to start at preschool.

Our dilemma is that we won't need full-time help for at least 6 months. I will be searching for a new job so the timeline is uncertain. I know our nanny will need full-time employment, so here are the options we have thought of:

-We employ her full-time and eat the cost, knowing that our daughter is with someone who we know and trust, and who our older daughter also knows and trusts. The nanny could then help with drop off/pick up of our older daughter and handle sick/school closing days. This would be huge because it would allow me to establish myself at my new job without having to worry about sick days (DH will also be starting a new position next spring).

-We employ her part-time and another family who needs temporary part-time help employs her for 6 months, at which point we would provide a full-time position.

-We start a full-time nanny share immediately, knowing we will still only use part-time hours until baby is older and I find a new job (downside to this is that she would not be able to care for our older daughter when school is closed or she is home with a mild illness).

-We tell her are needs and timeline are unknown, and not to count on a position with us. We would then search for a new nanny when ready. Aside from losing out on a great nanny, the downside to this would be the difficulty in finding someone who can start part-time and then transition to full-time.

Please help me think through this. I am doubtful of having her start at all in January, because I know baby will need to spend a lot of time with me for breastfeeding, but I know she will need to start a job by then. I have tallied potential hours for non-child care related tasks, but the max hours for that would be 10-15 per week. Add a couple of hours of child care per day, and that still only brings us to a max of 25 hours.

What would you do? While we are not wealthy, we can make the full-time pay work since it would only be for about 20 months.

This is what I would do. You found her when you needed her, and you will find someone else -- possibly her. Since you're laying her off, she may decide to go on unemployment for a period of time, do some temp work, and then come back to you. Or, you have time to find someone new. If you do have some extra money, I would sign up with MetroParent Relief or another agency for those days you might need someone if your old nanny is unavailable.

You're talking about dropoffs and pickups, but it also sounds like you're out of a job? Is that right? Are you looking now, or planning to wait until the baby comes? Can you be your backup care until the baby comes. or are you working? That's unclear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We currently have a nanny for our daughter who will start full-time preschool/daycare in the fall, at which point our nanny's employment with us will end. When we let her know we were expecting another baby in late December/early January, she indicated that she wanted to "wait for us" and could help us with anything we needed her to. We are happy with her and would love to employ her for our second child until she is old enough to start at preschool.

Our dilemma is that we won't need full-time help for at least 6 months. I will be searching for a new job so the timeline is uncertain. I know our nanny will need full-time employment, so here are the options we have thought of:

-We employ her full-time and eat the cost, knowing that our daughter is with someone who we know and trust, and who our older daughter also knows and trusts. The nanny could then help with drop off/pick up of our older daughter and handle sick/school closing days. This would be huge because it would allow me to establish myself at my new job without having to worry about sick days (DH will also be starting a new position next spring).

-We employ her part-time and another family who needs temporary part-time help employs her for 6 months, at which point we would provide a full-time position.

-We start a full-time nanny share immediately, knowing we will still only use part-time hours until baby is older and I find a new job (downside to this is that she would not be able to care for our older daughter when school is closed or she is home with a mild illness).

-We tell her are needs and timeline are unknown, and not to count on a position with us. We would then search for a new nanny when ready. Aside from losing out on a great nanny, the downside to this would be the difficulty in finding someone who can start part-time and then transition to full-time.

Please help me think through this. I am doubtful of having her start at all in January, because I know baby will need to spend a lot of time with me for breastfeeding, but I know she will need to start a job by then. I have tallied potential hours for non-child care related tasks, but the max hours for that would be 10-15 per week. Add a couple of hours of child care per day, and that still only brings us to a max of 25 hours.

What would you do? While we are not wealthy, we can make the full-time pay work since it would only be for about 20 months.

This is what I would do. You found her when you needed her, and you will find someone else -- possibly her. Since you're laying her off, she may decide to go on unemployment for a period of time, do some temp work, and then come back to you. Or, you have time to find someone new. If you do have some extra money, I would sign up with MetroParent Relief or another agency for those days you might need someone if your old nanny is unavailable.

You're talking about dropoffs and pickups, but it also sounds like you're out of a job? Is that right? Are you looking now, or planning to wait until the baby comes? Can you be your backup care until the baby comes. or are you working? That's unclear.

OP here. I currently freelance part-time from home and am in school full-time. I'll need to take two classes after the baby is born in order to finish my degree, and then I'll be looking for employment with an organization as opposed to the freelance work I've been doing.

We will not be employing the nanny from September 2016, when her contract ends, through December. We can handle drop off/pick-up and sick days, just as we have been. We would only start her employment once the new baby is here. Another factor I did not mention in my OP is that I will have those 2 classes to complete and would really like to do so in the spring semester if I can swing it. It will all depends on precisely when the baby comes. Due date is at the end of December, so could be as early as mid-December, and the school semester starts on January 9th.

I am prepared to wait to take the classes if I need to, or to only take one. It just depends on when the baby comes, if we are all healthy, etc. As you can see, there are a lot of unknown factors here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We currently have a nanny for our daughter who will start full-time preschool/daycare in the fall, at which point our nanny's employment with us will end. When we let her know we were expecting another baby in late December/early January, she indicated that she wanted to "wait for us" and could help us with anything we needed her to. We are happy with her and would love to employ her for our second child until she is old enough to start at preschool.

Our dilemma is that we won't need full-time help for at least 6 months. I will be searching for a new job so the timeline is uncertain. I know our nanny will need full-time employment, so here are the options we have thought of:

-We employ her full-time and eat the cost, knowing that our daughter is with someone who we know and trust, and who our older daughter also knows and trusts. The nanny could then help with drop off/pick up of our older daughter and handle sick/school closing days. This would be huge because it would allow me to establish myself at my new job without having to worry about sick days (DH will also be starting a new position next spring).

-We employ her part-time and another family who needs temporary part-time help employs her for 6 months, at which point we would provide a full-time position.

-We start a full-time nanny share immediately, knowing we will still only use part-time hours until baby is older and I find a new job (downside to this is that she would not be able to care for our older daughter when school is closed or she is home with a mild illness).

-We tell her are needs and timeline are unknown, and not to count on a position with us. We would then search for a new nanny when ready. Aside from losing out on a great nanny, the downside to this would be the difficulty in finding someone who can start part-time and then transition to full-time.

Please help me think through this. I am doubtful of having her start at all in January, because I know baby will need to spend a lot of time with me for breastfeeding, but I know she will need to start a job by then. I have tallied potential hours for non-child care related tasks, but the max hours for that would be 10-15 per week. Add a couple of hours of child care per day, and that still only brings us to a max of 25 hours.

What would you do? While we are not wealthy, we can make the full-time pay work since it would only be for about 20 months.

This is what I would do. You found her when you needed her, and you will find someone else -- possibly her. Since you're laying her off, she may decide to go on unemployment for a period of time, do some temp work, and then come back to you. Or, you have time to find someone new. If you do have some extra money, I would sign up with MetroParent Relief or another agency for those days you might need someone if your old nanny is unavailable.

You're talking about dropoffs and pickups, but it also sounds like you're out of a job? Is that right? Are you looking now, or planning to wait until the baby comes? Can you be your backup care until the baby comes. or are you working? That's unclear.

OP here. I currently freelance part-time from home and am in school full-time. I'll need to take two classes after the baby is born in order to finish my degree, and then I'll be looking for employment with an organization as opposed to the freelance work I've been doing.

We will not be employing the nanny from September 2016, when her contract ends, through December. We can handle drop off/pick-up and sick days, just as we have been. We would only start her employment once the new baby is here. Another factor I did not mention in my OP is that I will have those 2 classes to complete and would really like to do so in the spring semester if I can swing it. It will all depends on precisely when the baby comes. Due date is at the end of December, so could be as early as mid-December, and the school semester starts on January 9th.

I am prepared to wait to take the classes if I need to, or to only take one. It just depends on when the baby comes, if we are all healthy, etc. As you can see, there are a lot of unknown factors here.

I can understand being eager to get on with the next phase of your life, but even in your "best" case due date scenario, you're talking about going back to school with a 3-week-old baby, a part time job, and a preschooler. If you do that, you need a full time nanny plus a very active partner.

Honestly, unless you're one of those people who can run on 5-6 hours of sleep every night for months, this sounds totally impractical to me. I would plan to postpone those last two classes until the summer or Fall 2017. In the grand scheme of things, 9 months is not that long, and you will have a much greater chance of success.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We currently have a nanny for our daughter who will start full-time preschool/daycare in the fall, at which point our nanny's employment with us will end. When we let her know we were expecting another baby in late December/early January, she indicated that she wanted to "wait for us" and could help us with anything we needed her to. We are happy with her and would love to employ her for our second child until she is old enough to start at preschool.

Our dilemma is that we won't need full-time help for at least 6 months. I will be searching for a new job so the timeline is uncertain. I know our nanny will need full-time employment, so here are the options we have thought of:

-We employ her full-time and eat the cost, knowing that our daughter is with someone who we know and trust, and who our older daughter also knows and trusts. The nanny could then help with drop off/pick up of our older daughter and handle sick/school closing days. This would be huge because it would allow me to establish myself at my new job without having to worry about sick days (DH will also be starting a new position next spring).

-We employ her part-time and another family who needs temporary part-time help employs her for 6 months, at which point we would provide a full-time position.

-We start a full-time nanny share immediately, knowing we will still only use part-time hours until baby is older and I find a new job (downside to this is that she would not be able to care for our older daughter when school is closed or she is home with a mild illness).

-We tell her are needs and timeline are unknown, and not to count on a position with us. We would then search for a new nanny when ready. Aside from losing out on a great nanny, the downside to this would be the difficulty in finding someone who can start part-time and then transition to full-time.

Please help me think through this. I am doubtful of having her start at all in January, because I know baby will need to spend a lot of time with me for breastfeeding, but I know she will need to start a job by then. I have tallied potential hours for non-child care related tasks, but the max hours for that would be 10-15 per week. Add a couple of hours of child care per day, and that still only brings us to a max of 25 hours.

What would you do? While we are not wealthy, we can make the full-time pay work since it would only be for about 20 months.

This is what I would do. You found her when you needed her, and you will find someone else -- possibly her. Since you're laying her off, she may decide to go on unemployment for a period of time, do some temp work, and then come back to you. Or, you have time to find someone new. If you do have some extra money, I would sign up with MetroParent Relief or another agency for those days you might need someone if your old nanny is unavailable.

You're talking about dropoffs and pickups, but it also sounds like you're out of a job? Is that right? Are you looking now, or planning to wait until the baby comes? Can you be your backup care until the baby comes. or are you working? That's unclear.

OP here. I currently freelance part-time from home and am in school full-time. I'll need to take two classes after the baby is born in order to finish my degree, and then I'll be looking for employment with an organization as opposed to the freelance work I've been doing.

We will not be employing the nanny from September 2016, when her contract ends, through December. We can handle drop off/pick-up and sick days, just as we have been. We would only start her employment once the new baby is here. Another factor I did not mention in my OP is that I will have those 2 classes to complete and would really like to do so in the spring semester if I can swing it. It will all depends on precisely when the baby comes. Due date is at the end of December, so could be as early as mid-December, and the school semester starts on January 9th.

I am prepared to wait to take the classes if I need to, or to only take one. It just depends on when the baby comes, if we are all healthy, etc. As you can see, there are a lot of unknown factors here.

I can understand being eager to get on with the next phase of your life, but even in your "best" case due date scenario, you're talking about going back to school with a 3-week-old baby, a part time job, and a preschooler. If you do that, you need a full time nanny plus a very active partner.

Honestly, unless you're one of those people who can run on 5-6 hours of sleep every night for months, this sounds totally impractical to me. I would plan to postpone those last two classes until the summer or Fall 2017. In the grand scheme of things, 9 months is not that long, and you will have a much greater chance of success.

Thanks for your perspective. I won't be resuming the free lance work after the baby is born -- I will wrap all of that up by early December and be done with it. But, you might still be right that it is impractical to take even one class a few weeks after my baby is born. Part of me doesn't even want to consider it and all of the stress that will come with it, and just enjoy my baby. The other part of me is eager to get back to work full-time, and thinks it would be great to be done with school as soon as possible in order to accomplish that.

[Anonymous]

OP, I'm a college professor. I've been doing this for twenty years now. Currently I teach online, mostly adult students. I've also had four babies of my own.

Right now, you are thinking as "you," right this moment. You cannot underestimate how exhausted you will be, and how much you just won't care about due dates, etc.. Not to mention the crazy logistics of dealing with a breastfeeding baby while you go to class.

If you can afford to wait, wait. I say this as a 44-year-old mother. A year is nothing. A year of struggle and exhaustion when it doesn't have to be that way? Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm a college professor. I've been doing this for twenty years now. Currently I teach online, mostly adult students. I've also had four babies of my own.

Right now, you are thinking as "you," right this moment. You cannot underestimate how exhausted you will be, and how much you just won't care about due dates, etc.. Not to mention the crazy logistics of dealing with a breastfeeding baby while you go to class.

If you can afford to wait, wait. I say this as a 44-year-old mother. A year is nothing. A year of struggle and exhaustion when it doesn't have to be that way? Why?

Not op here, but I like your perspective. What would you advise about the nanny?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm a college professor. I've been doing this for twenty years now. Currently I teach online, mostly adult students. I've also had four babies of my own.

Right now, you are thinking as "you," right this moment. You cannot underestimate how exhausted you will be, and how much you just won't care about due dates, etc.. Not to mention the crazy logistics of dealing with a breastfeeding baby while you go to class.

If you can afford to wait, wait. I say this as a 44-year-old mother. A year is nothing. A year of struggle and exhaustion when it doesn't have to be that way? Why?

Not op here, but I like your perspective. What would you advise about the nanny?

I'm the one who responded with the bolded part (move on, and look for someone when you're ready). I'm also the 44-year-old mom and professor. I still remember when I had my first child, and I had exams to grade. That was it; the rest of the course was done. 6-8 hours of work took me an entire week to complete, and it was so unpleasant. I've taken 3 months off teaching at least for each of the other three children. And then I only teach something I can teach in my sleep for the next term -- no new classes.

Obviously, we don't need my salary, because I don't get PTO. Yes, we have a full time nanny.

The other reason I think she should let her go and search later is because she doesn't really know what's going to happen or what she'll decide to do. Unless they are floating in extra money, that just seems financially foolish. If she knew absolutely for sure that she would hire this woman back full time on x date, that might (or might not) be a different calculation.

[Anonymous]

I think I would eat the cost. If I were in your position, I would talk with the nanny to work out some tasks for her during the period where only a part-time nanny is needed. Would she be willing to do things like prepare freezer meals, do holiday shopping, etc. at that time? If she were really good I would do my best to work something out.

[Anonymous]

I would put the older one in part-time preschool and keep the nanny.

[Anonymous]

If your nanny is truly a gem....Worth her weight in gold, then it might be a wise investment to absorb the cost to insure her for later on.

But you must fully trust that she will not secretly look for another family w/out telling you.

Another option would be if you could refer her to anyone you know for extra hours.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Another factor to consider is whether your nanny would be able to handle two young kids. Has she done it before? If her other families have all been one kid or two kid but the youngest is 3+, then she may not even be able to manage the job when you go back to work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another factor to consider is whether your nanny would be able to handle two young kids. Has she done it before? If her other families have all been one kid or two kid but the youngest is 3+, then she may not even be able to manage the job when you go back to work.

She has taken care of multiple children, including twins.