bonzo
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Post by bonzo on Mar 12, 2019 17:16:06 GMT -6
I was seeing more and more posts in my local childcare FB group looking for fall already, so even though I was hoping to wait until after spring break to think about this, I posted an ad. Yikes! Barely into third trimester and I already have to think about who will take care of my baby when fall semester starts!
So, for anyone who uses childcare, give me all your tips! We’re planning on either a nanny or flexible in-home daycare, since I don’t need full time and my hours don’t line up with the part time hours for a center. Interviewing tips? Things to consider? Brain dumps?
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Post by lolacachia on Mar 13, 2019 7:55:01 GMT -6
I think if you have inconsistent and changing hours, it's best to start looking now. A lot of the good nannies will want reliable hours because that equals reliable pay.
Another thing to consider is possibly doing a flat daily or weekly rate so that both you and nanny don't feel like you are nickel and diming each other.
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bonzo
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Post by bonzo on Mar 13, 2019 11:10:26 GMT -6
My hours don’t change week to week, but I have a totally different schedule M/W vs Tu/Th. And the schedule would change somewhat from semester to semester, though total hours would likely remain the same.
Looking at a flat weekly rate is a good idea, that way if I don’t stay as late for office hours some days, the nanny doesn’t feel like I’m short changing her.
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sammysam
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Post by sammysam on Mar 13, 2019 11:43:20 GMT -6
A little different situation as I have 18 months mat leave, but I already have this LO on a waiting list for DD's montessori school. So she will start in January 2021 at 18 months when I go back to work. You get preferential placement if you have another child at the school. DD1 will be in the elementary class (the grade 1 section of the grade 1-3 class) but at a different campus. I'll be able to drop them both off together at the same campus and DD will walk to her campus with the other kids in her class who get dropped off early.
It's crazy how early you need to get things sorted for child care these days!
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Post by courtniko on Mar 13, 2019 13:39:21 GMT -6
If you hope to breastfeed I would check that the caregiver knows about paced feeding, and other differences in breastfed vs. formula fed babies (like some caregivers think breastfed babies have diarrhea because their poop can be different from formula fed babies).
I never cloth diapered, but if that is something you hope to do that would be worth asking about.
Ask about sick rules, when do you have to keep a kid home (not sure how this would work with a nanny). With a nanny, how would sick days for her work. What is the plan for holidays, and vacations, for both you and the caregiver. Do you still pay, how far in advance is notice required. If the caregiver is sick, do they have a backup, or will you need to take off work.
What kind of discipline do they use. If your kid is with other kids, how is biting handled (and remember you can easily end up on either side of the biting equation, and probably both sides at different points).
How are snacks and meals handled, do you need to bring everything in pre preapared or do they handle that (obviously less important for the baby stage).
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Post by elephantastic on Mar 17, 2019 5:17:00 GMT -6
We had a nanny with our first for 3 years. You might find someone now willing to commit to fall but in my experience they are looking 1-2 months out because they are either in a current job that’s ending or looking for work now. We interviewed for our nanny right after E was born and had no trouble finding someone to start 12w later- the one we ended up with could have started a lot sooner because her current job was ending 4 weeks after we interviewed her.
Ours worked 30 hours a week. Because it was less than full time we didn’t need to worry about paid vacation, sick leave, etc. Look to see if your state has specific laws if you are going to put the nanny “on the books”. My H works for the state so he was uncomfortable paying our nanny under the table (it is tax fraud- when someone works a set # of hours for you per year they are considered your employee). He is pretty good with excel so he wrote a program where he could put in her hours and generate a pay stub every 2 weeks. We paid taxes to the state and federal government quarterly. We chose not to do federal withholding for the nanny (you don’t have to) but my H put a spot on the excel sheet where he recommended what she hold back per pay for her own taxes.
As far as interviewing I can’t specifically remember the questions we asked but in general- How long have you don’t this for, tell us about your most recent job, tell us about an emergency you had to deal with an How you handled it. We wanted someone who was CPR certified and who would do cloth diapers (ours never had before but was willing to learn and do it). Do you want them transporting your kid at all? (We didn’t). General expectations- no screen time, outdoor time, etc etc. Will they work with your kid when they are sick, etc.
We loooooved our nanny and had a really good experience. Our lady was in her 60s and single. She was super reliable. Some friends have had nannies in their 20s- college kids, etc and they seemed to be a bit more unreliable and they would move/get married/etc so they didn’t last as long (9 mo to 1 yr they were changing). Just something to think about.
Overall go with your gut, obviously.
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Post by elephantastic on Mar 17, 2019 5:20:08 GMT -6
My hours don’t change week to week, but I have a totally different schedule M/W vs Tu/Th. And the schedule would change somewhat from semester to semester, though total hours would likely remain the same. Looking at a flat weekly rate is a good idea, that way if I don’t stay as late for office hours some days, the nanny doesn’t feel like I’m short changing her. We had set hours for our nanny but it was nice when I would get home at 4 instead of 5 because I could get dinner started or throw in some laundry while she was still there with my kid. Just a thought. I would usually let her go a couple minutes early if I could but she didn’t expect it. If you have any other specific questions lmk
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bonzo
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Post by bonzo on Mar 17, 2019 12:11:26 GMT -6
elephantastic, in my experience from when I was a nanny, most people were looking 1-2 months out too. But from everything I’m seeing and hearing, in our area even nannies are booking up to 6 months in advance! It’s crazy! I have a friend whose daughter is 9 months, and they didn’t start looking until baby was born because she thought she had plenty of time with leave and FMLA. They barely found their nanny the week before she went back to work!
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