Nannies which is better? Part time nanny or full time nanny/housekeeper?

[Anonymous]

I'm about to hire a nanny for the first time. I have a four year old, and a three month old baby. When it was just the four year old I was fortunate to have my mom watch him, but she's 67 and not up to watching two kids, hence the need for a nanny. I will be returning to work part time, about 25-30 hours per week. My ideal situation would be to hire one person to function as a full time nanny/housekeeper. When I was at work, her primary responsibility would be to play with and care for my kids, and I wouldn't expect much housework during this time. Then, when I was at home, she would spend 10-15 hours/week doing light housekeeping and errands while I took care of my kids. I would not expect the nanny to do any deep cleaning; I'll hire a house cleaning service for that every week or two. No cleaning bathrooms, mopping floors, or vacuuming the whole house. What I have I mind is some dishes, some laundry, a bit of food prep (chopping veggies for me to cook later), wiping down counters, maybe running the stick vacuum through the heavily trafficked areas, going grocery shopping, etc. The purpose of the housekeeping is to free me up to spend quality time playing with my kids when I'm home, rather than having to spend all my time at home cleaning and running errands.

Is this a feasible situation? My thought is some nannies might like it because I could give them full time hours. If I had a nanny who only wanted to do the nanny part of the job, with no housekeeping, then at best I could give them 30 hours and I know that's not enough for a lot of people. However my first priority is to find someone who is good with the kids, ideally someone with some college and/or a background in early childhood education, who will engage the kids in a developmentally appropriate way and do activities/play with them. Is someone like this likely to be "turned off" by the housework request? Would I do better to hire two different people, a part time nanny plus a part time housekeeper?

What would you prefer as a nanny, a part time position with no housekeeping or full time with housekeeping? Keep in mind, I would expect very little housekeeping to be done while you are with the kids. Almost all housework would take place when I was home and taking care of the kids myself.

MBs, if you have been in the situation of needing both nannying and housekeeping did you find one person willing to do both or is it better to get two people?

I am actually in Georgia not DC but I can't find a nanny forum pertaining to my area. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

PT nanny

[Anonymous]

I am a nanny with a background in child development and 13 years of experience. Most of my employers are parents who specifically want someone who can do the child development component, which may be developmental lesson planning or addressing deficits, along with all the normal child care tasks. I complete the bulk of my administrative work when the kids are napping, things like updating my kiddos portfolio with samples of the work we did that week or researching ways to support an emerging skill. The nanny/housekeeper position could work if your nanny will still have some hours free to focus on the development tasks. IMO, the parents willingness to pay me to do those administrative tasks is an indication that it's a genuine priority for the family.

We hare dual position might appeal to me if I could grow professionally in some new way or you offered unbeatable benefits. There would need to be some special appeal for me to choose a position that requires housekeeping on top of all the documentation and planning that goes into doing the developmental work.

My recommendation is to figure out exactly what psycho-educational goals you have and whether you really need someone with the degree.

[Anonymous]

I've had a number of people who did both. Some nannies really like switching up. The trick for you will be to figure out a schedule that is both worth it for you in terms of paying full time, but not punishing for the nanny.

The other advantage to finding someone like this is that you may find someone who will stay with you later, giving you coverage for school holidays and the like.

We have so many children now that I actually have a full time nanny and a part time housekeeper, but once my youngest is in preschool, we'll go back to rolling this into one person.

[Anonymous]

I'm the OP. Thank you to the nanny with child development background who posted at 18:54. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about. My kids are fine, no deficits, I don't need someone to do specific developmental tasks with them. I'd love to see if paintings were made etc but I certainly don't need or expect a detailed portfolio. So maybe I don't really need the childhood development background. I just want someone smart who will play with them and maybe do some crafts, read to them, take them to the park or children's museum, etc. The kind of things I do when I'm home with them. Not park them in front of a screen all day. Also somebody who knows enough about children to have reasonable behavioral expectations for their age and who can discipline appropriately (no yelling, mostly positive discipline, removal of privileges if necessary). I'm not looking for lesson planning or help with special needs, that's a whole other ballpark and I can see why somebody with your degree of expertise wants to do what you are trained to do and not fold laundry.

I plan to pay around $18/hr which may not be much in DC but is a lot here in rural Georgia. Average pay here seems to be $10-15 an hour. I will also give 2 weeks PTO plus federal holidays, and contribute to health insurance. Hopefully this is enough to attract the kind of person I'm looking for. I'd like to think I'm easy to work for/with; my prior weekly housekeeper (before I moved from CA to GA) and babysitters seemed to think so.

[Anonymous]

Thanks also to the mom who posted at 19:12. Sounds like you hit the jackpot. I'm pleased to hear it's possible to find someone like that. Did you have to pay more or make the job more appealing in other ways?

[Anonymous]

I'm 19:12. I'm also in GA now (Columbus area). Where are you?

For $18/hr, you will have your pick of people; it is harder to find people here, though, because nannies aren't as common.

I actually used an agency out of Atlanta to hire our full time nanny. 4 kids, she has an early childhood ed degree. She started at $17/hr (went to $18 when she completed her degree six months later). She's at $19/hr now. 12 days PTO, 8 days paid holiday, I pay health insurance, yearly bonus. My kids are young, though, so there's very little besides child care.

The other people I have hired who have been more of what you are looking for have had a mix of backgrounds. I started them at $15/hr.. They did not have primary childcare responsibility however, except for the first year with my youngest. The woman I have right now is in her 50s, has six kids of her own (and so understands running a household). She does laundry, errands, food prep and some cooking, watches a kid or two if the nanny is out or we all have to be in different places, picks up, does different projects as needed .., whatever. She is part time, though (25 hours/week). I thought she might quit once the baby was old enough to start joining the others in the mornings (her first year, she spent the mornings with him before and after his nap), but she says she enjoys the rest of it, too.

I also found that here in Columbus, anyway, I did much better searching on Craigslist and posting on the local university job board. Another good source are local preschools.

The reason I went through an agency for my nanny is what I actually started this post to talk about. I found it really hard here to find someone who wanted to work full time, every day, and wasn't going to bring one or more children with her. I don't know if that's a deal-breaker for you. It is for me, for all kinds of reasons (I don't mind if a child comes with on an emergency basis, or on a school break every once in a while, but it's not what I'm looking for all the time). A lot of people who applied seemed like they wanted to make a little extra money in their free time; I wanted someone who would see it as a job.

Craigslist turned out to be a better source here, like I said, and I have some other ideas for looking if you're finding it hard to find people.

[Anonymous]

Good night my name is Wendy I am looking for a half time to work as a nanny i have 13 years of experience I have worked with several families in MD and DC I like to do many activities with children to bring them to the museum, Zoo, library, playdate, paint and make crafts, I make a small cleaning . I have very good references I speak Spanish and Englishs . I'm available
[Post New]09/19/2016 10:43 Subject: Wonderful nanny available October 1***** [Up]
Anonymous



Our wonderful nanny who has been a part of our lives for over four years will be available to work with a new family starting on October 1. We can't recommend her highly enough (especially for Mt Pleasant families as she has a lot of experience and connections in the Mt Pleasant area).

We first met Wendy Campos as part of a nanny share when our first-born daughter was 3 months old until she turned 18 months old. When our daughter went to daycare, we separated from Wendy, but a year or so later when we found out we were pregnant with our second child, we knew immediately that we wanted to hire her back. She has been caring for my second daughter since her infancy as well (watching her full-time during the day, and picking up my older child from Bancroft in the afternoons).

Having watched her care for both my daughters through all stages (infancy, willful toddlerhood, and pre-school age), we have observed a number of her strengths as a caregiver. First, she is incredibly loving and patient. Whether it was through colicky infant times, potty training, temper tantrums, or any other tough situation, Wendy always responded with a saintly patience and loving presence that would eventually lead to calm and smiles again. Secondly, we have appreciated how active she keeps the kids. We often joke that our girls have a more active social life than we do since they're constantly going to free activities in the neighborhood, playdates and birthday parties, or museums and the zoo. Even on rainy or snowy days when they stay home, Wendy is fantastic at doing arts & crafts activities with them, teaching songs, or playing make-believe games. Lastly, she does a wonderful job of communicating with us about what is going on with the girls - whether that was by keeping a journal during the infant stages, texting us pictures of their adventures during the day, and now that my older daughter is in pre-school, relaying messages from her teacher. Not only does she take wonderful care of our children but she also does light housework like washing the breakfast dishes, laundry, and generally keeping the house in order.

Wendy ispeaks English well but speaks Spanish to the girls by our request (their first words were "hola" and "agua," respectively). Wendy is looking for full-time employment and she prefers to find a family with an infant. Wendy can be contacted directly at wendycampos1977(at)gmail.com or [phone].

I am more than happy to answer any additional questions about Wendy -- feel free to call or email me. You will be very lucky to have her as part of your family!

Thanks,
Jessica
434-882-4163 or jessica.barba(at)gmail.com

[Anonymous]

Good night my name is Wendy I am looking for a half time to work as a nanny i have 13 years of experience I have worked with several families in MD and DC I like to do many activities with children to bring them to the museum, Zoo, library, playdate, paint and make crafts, I make a small cleaning . I have very good references I speak Spanish and Englishs . I'm available
[Post New]09/19/2016 10:43 Subject: Wonderful nanny available October 1***** [Up]
Anonymous



Our wonderful nanny who has been a part of our lives for over four years will be available to work with a new family starting on October 1. We can't recommend her highly enough (especially for Mt Pleasant families as she has a lot of experience and connections in the Mt Pleasant area).

We first met Wendy Campos as part of a nanny share when our first-born daughter was 3 months old until she turned 18 months old. When our daughter went to daycare, we separated from Wendy, but a year or so later when we found out we were pregnant with our second child, we knew immediately that we wanted to hire her back. She has been caring for my second daughter since her infancy as well (watching her full-time during the day, and picking up my older child from Bancroft in the afternoons).

Having watched her care for both my daughters through all stages (infancy, willful toddlerhood, and pre-school age), we have observed a number of her strengths as a caregiver. First, she is incredibly loving and patient. Whether it was through colicky infant times, potty training, temper tantrums, or any other tough situation, Wendy always responded with a saintly patience and loving presence that would eventually lead to calm and smiles again. Secondly, we have appreciated how active she keeps the kids. We often joke that our girls have a more active social life than we do since they're constantly going to free activities in the neighborhood, playdates and birthday parties, or museums and the zoo. Even on rainy or snowy days when they stay home, Wendy is fantastic at doing arts & crafts activities with them, teaching songs, or playing make-believe games. Lastly, she does a wonderful job of communicating with us about what is going on with the girls - whether that was by keeping a journal during the infant stages, texting us pictures of their adventures during the day, and now that my older daughter is in pre-school, relaying messages from her teacher. Not only does she take wonderful care of our children but she also does light housework like washing the breakfast dishes, laundry, and generally keeping the house in order.

Wendy ispeaks English well but speaks Spanish to the girls by our request (their first words were "hola" and "agua," respectively). Wendy is looking for full-time employment and she prefers to find a family with an infant. Wendy can be contacted directly at wendycampos1977(at)gmail.com or [phone].

I am more than happy to answer any additional questions about Wendy -- feel free to call or email me. You will be very lucky to have her as part of your family!

Thanks,
Jessica
434-882-4163 or jessica.barba(at)gmail.com