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[quote=Anonymous]We are considering getting an AP in the next year-ish to help care for my (currently) one-year-old son, with the expectation that he will eventually start pre-school which will involve some drop-off/pick-up juggling, and as we plan for baby #2 in the next few years we could use the extra support. (I was extremely sick during my pregnancy with my son, and Im trying to prep for a worst-case second pregnancy.)

The catch is, my husband is a commercial pilot and he bids for his schedule each month which means it is always a bit different.

Ideally, we envision having a monthly meeting with our AP to lay out our needs for the upcoming weeks. Some weeks I may need help on Sa/Sun but would give them W,Th,F off, for example, if my husband was home. Other weeks that my husband may be home the whole time the AP may have that week off entirely (without it going against their vacation, obviously) and we may ask for a few date night evenings of monitor-watching. For the APs classes, we could commit to one consistent day off a week or agree to keep one evening free for them to attend, if that was helpful, but aside for that we really do need flexibility and I need support while I am here alone.

We don't anticipate using the AP as the main childcare, but keeping a nanny a few days a week or finding a daycare with drop-in hours so that we were working the AP less in exchange for this flexibility.

We have worked with nannies in the past (and I myself was a nanny when I was a bit younger) so I consider myself to be quite fair with time off and pay/perks/benefits etc. I pay a nanny currently 45hr/week regardless of if I use her or not and have never kept track of her sick days, so I plan to be equally reasonable with an APs time.

My concern is, will any AP be ok with this type of variable schedule? Will anyone want to match with us knowing they may only know what is expected/needed a few weeks in advance and it may mean giving up a few Sat/Suns a month?

Thanks in advance for you feedback. I know there have to be other HFs on here who travel a lot or are needing support while a spouse is gone.

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