Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've cared for four or five children at once. It's actually easier than 2 or 3 kids because they entertain each other. I really just herded them, and plucked them out one at a time for diaper changes or special fun projects or whatever. Lots of times I can divide them into two groups, settle each group with an activity, and then keep going back and forth between the groups to monitor, help, etc. as needed.

Spoken like a competent, experienced nanny. OP - this is who you need. But I bet she earns more than you're paying.

Anonymous wrote:I've cared for four or five children at once. It's actually easier than 2 or 3 kids because they entertain each other. I really just herded them, and plucked them out one at a time for diaper changes or special fun projects or whatever. Lots of times I can divide them into two groups, settle each group with an activity, and then keep going back and forth between the groups to monitor, help, etc. as needed.

Anonymous wrote:
I said that "SOME nannies are paid 25/hr for one child". You are welcome to quote me, but at least be correct, because what you claimed I said, 10:36, is wrong.

Again, 25-30 is NOT any "average" rate. It's what the best and highest paid nannies earn, not including the $52/hr nanny.


For 12:38 who can't seem to read simple English,
25-30 is NOT an average rate. Which part is confusing you?

Anonymous wrote:We are having a hard time finding a nanny for our four kids, and I come here to seek advice from others who have successfully done so (or nannies who have worked in similar situations). Our situation is this: two school aged kids, 7 and 5, full day school. One 3 year old, part day preschool 2x/wk. One 1 year old, at home. Nanny works from about 8-5:30/6. School aged kids get home at 3:00, so she's responsible for them for 2.5-3 hrs of after school time. No significant cleaning tasks or anything, other than kids laundry and keeping up with kids toys (directing older kids, assisting younger kids). No dinner prep, etc. - just feed them an after school snack, maybe oversee some very limited homework, and let them play.

We are finding that it's just about impossible to find a good nanny who can handle this set of kids and won't flake out on us. We're paying pretty middle of the road rates - definitely not low, but also not premium wages. I am reluctant to pay a premium wage when half the kids are gone for the majority of the day. The nanny currently has about 1.5-2 hours in the morning of complete quiet (youngest napping, 3 yr old at preschool), and a good 2.5 hours in the afternoon of quiet time (both younger kids napping). This doesn't seem like an insanely heavy workload to me, but maybe I'm underestimating.

Our problem seems to be attracting decent candidates who are confident enough to handle four kids, including the short term burst of energy that comes through the door at the end of the school day. Many are fine with two kids, or three, but the idea of four seems to scare them off before they even give it a chance.

Help me out here - what to do? Suggestions other than "throw money at the problem" would be helpful.

Anonymous wrote:I said that "SOME nannies are paid 25/hr for one child". You are welcome to quote me, but at least be correct, because what you claimed I said, 10:36, is wrong.

Again, 25-30 is NOT any "average" rate. It's what the best and highest paid nannies earn, not including the $52/hr nanny.

Anonymous wrote:I absolutely believe the poster who makes $22 for 5 kids, while assuming that some of the children are in school. The other poster said that nannies make $25-30 for one child, and that is very different, so please reference correctly if you feel the need to do so.

OP, I have 3 kids and make $20/hr. One child is in school. I have the 3rd child after school, holidays, and summer. Are you factoring in summer care?

I think you have 2 problems on your hand. First is that you probably are not offering enough for a qualified nanny. I cannot imagine someone taking this position for less that $20. You also need to factor in overtime and your employer taxes. Second, you will only need full-time care for 2 years, when youngest will go to preschool part-time. At that point would you be willing to keep a full-time nanny? I am sure there would still be plenty to do! If so, I would bring that up during the interview.

Anonymous wrote:Everyone ignores the 20-30/hr poster. She has fun posting nonsense rates constantly. I suspect she makes $10 an hour.

OP I think you should look for a nanny who has experience doing both multi-child care and housekeeping. This doesn't mean that you need to include housekeeping in your job but many of the no housekeeping nannies are just lazy. They search for jobs with the least work and the most pay. If you are paying on the higher average for 3 and saying no housework you may be attracting the lazy and flaky nannies. Eager to make the money, counting on no work because they see no housekeeping and then not being able to manage 4 kids for 3 hours.

When you check references, ask the reference what the nanny did during downtime (nap time or time at preschool) and only move forward with ones where the employer reports that she did something. If the time was her own, she re-charged, or the reference admits that she napped, watched TV, sat on the couch reading a book, move on. Lazy is lazy. This type of nanny will not be able to manage the 3 hours with multiple kids. She'll be more than happy to enjoy the morning with only 1 napping baby and afternoon nap times but will not manage the afternoon well. You want someone who the reference describes as always busy, takes initiatives and then the reference can talk about what they actually did.

Anonymous wrote:I've cared for 5+ children under age 10 alone.

I likely have the other qualities you'd want as well.

I'd want $22/hour or more plus benefits for this position. I know other nannies that fall in this grouping too- none of them would do it for less.

The amount of laundry alone much less managing all the other things for your school age children (meals, lunches for next day, planning activities, finding ways to help with the current school struggles, etc) means the nanny is doing a lot more work then she would for 1-2 kids even if only 1-2 are physically present. A lot more household management goes into this job in order to keep things organized and running smoothly.

Then add in all the extra illnesses, days off of school, juggling after school activities and play dates and holidays and the nanny has 3-4 kids more of the year then you realize.

Now if all you want is somebody to feed thm and keep them alive I think you can get by with the mentality it isn't much work. But most professionals would look at this job and what it requires to do it properly to our own high standards and it is clearly not an easy job.