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[quote=Anonymous]OP here again - this thread has taken an interesting turn, and I'd like to reply to people asking how many children she is watching and posting that I'm paying too much.

We have two children, both girls, aged 8 years and 20 months old.  Our nanny is in her 50's and she raised two families of children before she came to work with our family when our youngest was 4 months old.  We pay babysitters $20, and our nanny asked for $18/hour.  We started out paying her $20/hour, but after 2 months, I upped it to $30 and we started contributing to her health insurance costs, even though at that time we only had her 2 days and not 2.5 days a week. She did not ask for the increase in pay or the contribution to her health care.

So, why did we do these things?  Because she is wonderful with our children, takes excellent care of them, plays with them, sings with them, is loving and kind, and energetic enough to keep up with them enthusiastically and happily.  She gives them her full attention and focus.  When she first started coming to us, she demanded to know where all of our laundry was kept (not in a rude way, but in an insistent way). I told her she was not expected to do things like that, but she just kept waving me off and asking where is was.  She said she liked to keep busy with things while the baby was napping, and now she does all of our laundry every week. She is super efficient and very neat, taking on things like cleaning out our fridge, organizing my kids clothes and toys, tackling chaotic closets, etc.  Again, these are things I never asked her to do, but am unbelievably grateful that she does.  On a few occasions, I've come home to grab lunch and found her napping with my daughter in her arms - and I have been totally fine with that.  Taking care of a toddler is very tiring, and I see nothing wrong with her needing a rest too.  In a nutshell, this wonderful woman makes my life exponentially easier, gets things done in 10 mins that would take me an hour, and allows me the freedom to enjoy working at a job I dearly love.  The balance between working and being home and the happiness that I am able to personally enjoy because of it are made possible by everything she contributes to our family.  I value her as a person and think her wages should reflect that.  Most of all, I am entrusting her with the two most precious things in my life, so childcare is the absolute last thing I would ever bargain shop for.

Actually, after writing about all she brings to our family, it has reminded me how lucky we are to have her.  It kind of renders my original question moot.  I will find a way to pay her for the full week, even though she was unable to be here 1.5 of the 2.5 days.  She still has bills to pay, and expenses and those don't just evaporate because if bad weather or sickness.[/quote]

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