I'm 22 and worked as a summer nanny all through college. I always found my jobs through care.com or sittercity. I usually started my searches around spring break (late March/early April) and generally finalized jobs shortly after the semester ended in mid-May, to then begin working in mid June.

On the topic of legal employment, I will confess that I've never worked on the books. In my 4 years of summer job searches, I only had two interviews where the parents requested paying on the books (for the record, I was open to it, both jobs fell through for various other reasons). So, just a word of warning that if you do want to pay on the books, you will not be the norm. But that's not to say it's necessarily a bad thing.

Agree with 17:27. I might start reaching out now for babysitters and if you find someone you like, you can start discussing the idea of being a summer nanny. You don't want to wait until a month before you need a nanny, because if you are looking for a student, a lot will already have jobs and internships lined up, and you might end up with the summer nanny who is just doing it because she needs a paycheck and couldn't find another job.

I was a summer nanny for one summer and it was for a family that I'd babysat for throughout the year.

Anonymous wrote:Get An Au Pair, they get 3 months visas, no paperwork ...

? are you being sarcastic or what? as far as I know, AP require a lot of paperwork, the VISA is for one year (they can extend for a second year I think if they find a family) and they come to the US to live and work with the family who hire them for a full year.

if OP wants a college student, she should probably wait for the spring and then look at the various online job boards of local colleges (there is one for AU college students) and find a college student looking for a summer job

Get An Au Pair, they get 3 months visas, no paperwork ...

I'm asking so many months before summer because I'm seeking advice and want to plan. I'm not going to hire anyone yet, of course. I just have no sense of how easy or hard it is to find a good summer nanny, and I assume that I will pay a summer nanny fairly and legally.

I'd appreciate advice on the topic of summer nannies. Thanks.

It's October. Why is this coming up now?

Does anyone have advice about hiring a summer nanny for June-August for two school aged children? I'm thinking it might be a good job for a college student. We live in NW DC.

Is this possible to find and if so, what advice would you offer on finding someone good?

Thanks.