We have 3 kids- two in school all day and 1 infant.

We have a part-time nanny in addition to our au pair. She helps us three days a week 9am-5pm. Au pair helps us in the morning with breakfast and school drop offs in the morning and then has free time until she has to pick the older kids up a t 3pm. Two days a week, she works from 7:30am-5:30pm. We only have her work 40 hours during the week and she occasionally is asked to babysit on Saturday morning or Saturday night.

This arrangement prevents the au pair from being tired and she likes the long breaks three days a week!

This is a great plan. It's expensive, but affords consistency and accepts the fact that an AP doesn't have the long term endurance of juggling infant and school-age kids (i.e. waking up infant from sleeping to go pick up big kids) 45 hours per week!

We have 3 kids- two in school all day and 1 infant.

We have a part-time nanny in addition to our au pair. She helps us three days a week 9am-5pm. Au pair helps us in the morning with breakfast and school drop offs in the morning and then has free time until she has to pick the older kids up a t 3pm. Two days a week, she works from 7:30am-5:30pm. We only have her work 40 hours during the week and she occasionally is asked to babysit on Saturday morning or Saturday night.

This arrangement prevents the au pair from being tired and she likes the long breaks three days a week!

As the mom of a high schooler (and also Hm of an AP), I’m wondering whether you actually know of high school seniors who babysit for two hours per day? My experience is that kids either need to work - and work 4-5 hour shifts - or they don’t, in which case they are doing activities and homework and not babysitting in the evenings. I literally do not know a single Hs student who babysits on weekdays. I’m wondering whether this is something that is more common maybe in areas less focused on high achievement than inside the beltway neighborhoods?

Exactly. Not to mention their activities change from season to season (same with college babysitters). There is one thing to want a mom's helper, but if you are truly relying on consistent care, don't see how this works very well in the long term.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

My nanny used to work 53-55 hours a week (3 kids).

I do 45 hours a week and still spend time with my host family, sometimes I even cook dinner for us all.

Neither of these examples fits OP's request. Go back and read her original post. She needs 50 hours per week to cover work. Then she wants 10 hours per week of evening "help". That is 60 hours.

One of the PPs suggested AP and nanny. My suggestion would actually be AP and high school student. A high schooler is more likely to be able to do an hour or two every night as OP could look for someone with 2 blocks or less to walk. They could also come over and relieve the AP just at exactly 9 hours every day. For predictability, I would suggest a senior with several babysitting references citing timeliness. Also, a high school student is less likely to have issues with helping for most of the hours, instead of being full charge.

As the mom of a high schooler (and also Hm of an AP), I’m wondering whether you actually know of high school seniors who babysit for two hours per day? My experience is that kids either need to work - and work 4-5 hour shifts - or they don’t, in which case they are doing activities and homework and not babysitting in the evenings. I literally do not know a single Hs student who babysits on weekdays. I’m wondering whether this is something that is more common maybe in areas less focused on high achievement than inside the beltway neighborhoods?

+1 I'm not in the DC area, but in a similar area (outside NYC). Almost all, if not all, high schoolers have multiple after school activities and/or boatloads of homework. Those who babysit do it on Saturday nights (date night type stuff).