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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]MB here who has hired two nannies in 10 years.

People are questioning you just because they are DCUM moms.  Ignore them.

What I have found in searching for nannies is that there is probably a person out that will meet your needs, you just need to find them.  We hired our last nanny via 4nannies.com, but she was on care.com as well.  We are just wrapping up 4 great years with her.   Depending on your timing, there may just be someone who wants a few months.  Don't fret, and be honest when you post on any site looking for a nanny that this is through a certain date.

As for the dog, it sounds like you have two issues with the dog - (1) he is disruptive and hard to control  and (2) he needs to relieve himself at some point during the day.  Make sure when you post your listing that you say that you have a dog.    Make clear that the nanny's sole responsibility for the dog would be to let him out (depending on if you have a fence).  If you can afford a neighborhood teen to walk him daily, that might be a good bet for you.  You may need to teach some of the tactics the trainer taught you to your nanny and your dogwalker.

As for background checks, we used 4nannies.com for our check.  It seemed to show what we needed.

Good luck.  [/quote]

This is excellent advice.

We have never owned a dog so I don't know what to tell you but I will say two of our old nannies have been dog owners, loved dogs and if dog responsibilities are clearly outlined at the beginning for what pay instead of pulling a "oh by the way can you" I do not see why it would be a problem. We also have non-childcare related duties that we ask our nanny to do because of the needs of our household and as long as it is something reasonable (meaning nanny has time to do it because she is not responsible for less housework), it has never been a problem. We talk about it at the interview.

Finding a nanny is really about fit. There are all kinds of people out there and if you can find someone that you realistically feel like you can connect to and trust at the interview, it is a good bet.

We like using Homepay to take care of tax filing, direct deposit, following all rules that employers have to follow (like certain disclosures) but I understand it is kind of a luxury and not absolutely required. They have a sample contract if you contact them but many other places do as well. It costs about $1200 per year (roughly, going from memory).

For background check, I recommend http://www.childcarebackground.com/. It checks multiple names (other services have extra fees), education degree verification and basically more comprehensive than the others I researched at the time.

I do not recommend offering a bonus for completing 7 months to start off. If your nanny comes to you 3 months into it and says she has another offer, you can always offer the bonus at that point. 7 months is a good amount of time and I do not think nannies will reject this position, if they think it is a good working environment with decent/good pay, because it will only be a 7 months job. In the event that they choose to leave 2 weeks short of 7 months or a similar situation, I recommend you line up some plan B options, such as talking to your daycare about early entry, flying in a relative, or a service like http://metroparentrelief.com/ or another agency. Nanny agencies often have short term backup nanny services. This is good to know about, even if after you start daycare because often your baby will be sick and you will need backup care.

Good luck. You may find that the nanny you find works out better than you expected once you get going and settled. You may even decline that spot 7 months later. We did...

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