Penny Wise but Pound Foolish

[Anonymous]

Split shifts work best with au pairs. That's what we did once the kids were in school. We pretty much had to re-arrange the house to make a private space for her. But we knew we would need an au pair for years so it was worth the investment. She worked from from 6:30-8:30am and from 2:30-6:30pm. We have 3 kids very close in age. We only used her for those 30 hours per week because not many au pairs want to handle 3 kids, but again, she was off duty for 6 hours each day and every evening and all weekend. We had great ones and we had mediocre ones. But it worked out and since our kids are all in high school now (well, home!) we no longer use the program.


Au pair program is not working well these days due to Covid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The reason we stopped using nannies when our kids started school is that it was too hard to find someone good who was willing to do drop-off, pickup, and after school, but then fill in the rest of the day with house stuff (groceries, cooking, laundry, but not cleaning--we had a person for that). So, the choice was to find a childcare-only person who wanted a split shift (might as well find a unicorn), find a nanny/housekeeper (more like a four-leaf clover--not impossible, but very, very tough), or pay a child-care only person full time to work 4 hours a day. After 6 months of looking for a nanny/housekeeper, we gave up.

Did you try looking for a live-in nanny manager? That sounds identical to several positions I’ve had.

[Anonymous]

Nanny manager? heheh, that sounds more like a slave.

[Anonymous]

Does the nanny manage the housekeeper?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does the nanny manage the housekeeper?

In my case? I did.

[Anonymous]

Confirming that in a nanny manager position, the nanny is not responsible for doing any housekeeping, right? She supervises kids, the other staff (housekeeper , lawn service, tutors, dog walkers, etc), accepts deliveries, orders groceries on-line?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Confirming that in a nanny manager position, the nanny is not responsible for doing any housekeeping, right? She supervises kids, the other staff (housekeeper , lawn service, tutors, dog walkers, etc), accepts deliveries, orders groceries on-line?

Exactly. I prefer to shop in store (non-covid) because I like to pick meat and produce, but I was offered the option to order. I also tutor, for a high rate overall. And while I sometimes walk dogs, it’s when I want to, because they have a dog walker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that for many women here, the word "mom" needs to go in quotation marks.

What about the word dad? Men who work sixty hours can be dad but women cannot be mom?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids who only see their mom an or 2 day are the whining kids you occasionally see out and about. What a skewed view of parenthood these "parents" are demonstrating. They really don't like/didn't want their kids.

What about dad?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where is the "mpm" part with all this outsourcing? Are you home by 5pm every day to make and eat dinner with your kids(per has, help them with homework, help to pick out their clothes for the next day, bathe them, read in bed with them, sing them to sleep? So, about 3 hours per day with the kids? any morning hours with them?

*mom*

And dad? Why are you singling out moms?

[Anonymous]

Aaahhh moms. What happened to Moms?

[Anonymous]

If moms are working 60 hrs a week I sure hope the dads are stay at home dads/ full-time dads.