Anonymous wrote:It is not uncommon for there to be a different rate when she is scheduled to have only one child, a scenario like you've described, but it wouldn't be an enormous difference and you'll want to discuss it during the interview portion of your candidate search. If you're paying $18/hr for two, I'd think $15-16/hr for the one would be no problem. As a nanny I would only hesitate if I was concerned about this becoming a regular unscheduled thing (like, oh, DCA isn't going to be here this week, grandma is in town" leading me to make less that week than I'd anticipated), but if it was spelled out in the beginning that it would basically be a share for Xhours and the other child for Xhours, no problem at all.
This is what would be my concern as well. If little Johnny is home sick or has a doctors appointment I would still expect the full share rate, and the other family should be able to count on paying their usual rate during unforeseen changes in schedule. But for regularly scheduled periods with just one child, I think a single child rate is fine.