Anonymous wrote:We have 3 soon to be 4 children ages 3, 2, 1 , and newborn.
The nanny we want is a former preschool teacher with 3 years nanny experience including newborns.
She is college educated, but degree is not in education.
No special skill such as second language.
She has said she only does kid laundry and tidying after kids during day.
We would like her 4 days a week from 8 to 7.
No weekends
All standard benefits.
We were thinking $20 to $24 an hour. Reasonable?

We live in McLean and have almost the same family makeup as OP. We have a 4 year old, two 2 year old twins, and the baby who is 3 months old. We hired a new nanny when our twins were born and she has stayed with us, so it's been about 2.5 years now. We pay $17 an hour and she is great. I'm not home to watch her to say exactly what she does or how often, but she keeps the house really clean which is the most important thing to me.

So if your nanny is basically saying she will let your house get trashed and wants $24 an hour you are a fool. If you like her, I'd start with $17 or less (leave room for bonuses.) You could also hold out for someone more reasonable and more likely better. Good luck.

I'm 12:34 above.

My oldest two are in preschool 3 hours a day 3 days a week. That barely seems like a break to me with two other little ones plus drop off and pick up, and you're talking about only two days a week. I wouldn't even start to factor that in.

Anonymous wrote:We have 3 soon to be 4 children ages 3, 2, 1 , and newborn.
The nanny we want is a former preschool teacher with 3 years nanny experience including newborns.
She is college educated, but degree is not in education.
No special skill such as second language.
She has said she only does kid laundry and tidying after kids during day.
We would like her 4 days a week from 8 to 7.
No weekends
All standard benefits.
We were thinking $20 to $24 an hour. Reasonable?

I think your rate is reasonable, but your list here suggests that your expectations maybe somewhat unreasonable (I have a 4.5, 3, 1.5, soon to be newborn, so slightly more spread out, but I hear where you're coming from). Even suggesting a different nanny might do more than kid laundry and tidying as a possibility seems kind of crazy with the ages you describe there, especially since the baby won't have the same nap schedule. We actually hired a second person as a mother's helper 15 hours a week for help with more of the housework/shopping/dishes/laundry-type stuff.

Second, that is 55 hours a week with four very little kids. That's A LOT. I would worry some about nanny burnout, and consider two nannies, one full time and one part time. If you can afford it, maybe even overlap them by an hour a day to make time for the tidying and such. Since you're on the hook for 15 hours of overtime at time and a half anyway, the marginal cost wouldn't be that much more.

Anonymous wrote:We have 3 soon to be 4 children ages 3, 2, 1 , and newborn.
The nanny we want is a former preschool teacher with 3 years nanny experience including newborns.
She is college educated, but degree is not in education.
No special skill such as second language.
She has said she only does kid laundry and tidying after kids during day.
We would like her 4 days a week from 8 to 7.
No weekends
All standard benefits.
We were thinking $20 to $24 an hour. Reasonable?

It depends on where you are located probably. How many hours per day/ week does she have all four children? Your rate would be low in my metro area for four children but it would be average in others.

P.S. I know you're just listing information, but including that she isn't going to do non-child housekeeping while taking care of FOUR very young children makes you sound a bit petty. Something to consider when you talk to or about her.

I forgot to mention the two oldest are in school 2 mornings a week

MB here. We have 3 children spread out only slightly more in age than yours and pay $20/hr for 50 hours so she gets 10 hours at $30/hr. This was around what most qualified nannies asked for. For 4 children under 4 I would offer at least $24/hr.

We have 3 soon to be 4 children ages 3, 2, 1 , and newborn.
The nanny we want is a former preschool teacher with 3 years nanny experience including newborns.
She is college educated, but degree is not in education.
No special skill such as second language.
She has said she only does kid laundry and tidying after kids during day.
We would like her 4 days a week from 8 to 7.
No weekends
All standard benefits.
We were thinking $20 to $24 an hour. Reasonable?