Nanny and Preschool
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Nanny and Preschool
May 2007
I am hoping for some advice from parents who have successfully
transitioned older siblings to FT preschool around the same
time a new sibling is born, while trying to hold onto their
original nanny for #2. I am due with #2 in mid-September,
around the same time our oldest (who will be roughly 2.5) has
been accepted to a nearby preschool. Our share-mate is
definitely starting preschool in September so at that point
we're on our own with our nanny. Unfortunately ,we can't
afford to pay her to care for both kids -- we'll need a share
for the new baby (and actully we think nanny shares are great
for socialization so we favor it anyway). We need a solution
that balances two issues: (1) concern about my older child
rebelling against pre-school after baby arrives; (2) a desire
to keep our wonderful nanny during my maternity leave without
breaking the bank. Some Questions: How important is it to
introduce the oldest to pre-school before the baby arrives, so
he doesn't think he's being outsourced in favor of baby #2? My
intuition tells me this is a good idea but perhaps I am
overthinking this. Also, for those who kept their nanny for a
second share, how did you sort that out? If you kept her on
your own for a while, did you negotiate a lower share rate
since it was ''same family''? The last thing I want to do is pay
our nanny less but we simply can't afford the $19/hour share
rate, particilarly when I am off work. Our nanny suggested we
start a new share in October timeframe (even though I am not
going back to work until January). This would still be tough
for us financially (and unnecessary since I'll be home) but I
am seriously considering it since it would allow us to keep
her. I welcome any and all advice on the topic. Thanks in
advance!
Could you use your nanny at least part time starting in October?
Maybe you could find a family that wants to share with you
full-time and another family that could ''sublet'' some of your
days from you--ie, someone else who needs part time care and who
won't be too sad about being pushed out once your baby needs
full-time care, either because they are moving, starting day-care
midyear, etc. If I have learned one thing from the BPN child care
digest, it is that there are a million possibilities.
anon
March 2005
Our wonderful nanny has watched our daughter since she was four
months old. She will be 2 years and 2 months in September and
we are stressing about schools, childcare, etc. My husband and
I both work full time and would like our daughter to go to
school part time. We can't afford both a nanny and school.
What do people do? Has anyone been able to find a nanny
situation where the nanny works part time picking up kids from
school? We know there are others in our situation. How have
you handled this?
Stressing about school
Hi, We had the same issues when my son was 3.5 and started preschool. He had
been with the same nanny since he was 6months old and we did not want to sever
the relationship. Our solution was to put our son in preschool half days (9-1) and
have the nanny with him in the afternoon. To offset the cost of the nanny we turned
the afternoon into a nanny-SHARE and invited other children the same age to join. It
took some time to find the right share partners, but it did work out. On some days
there are three children and other days 2. Our nanny is able to bring in the same
amount of money because she receives hourly income from all the families, but the
families all pay less. It has worked out for everyone and we have all made some
great new friends. Best of luck to you!
anon
I would look into a nanny share. Since you are happy with your
nanny, you could use Berkeley Parents Network to post a ''Nanny
Share'' ad and ask another family in your neighborhood to consider
your joining your particular arrangement. If your nanny is open
to this, she will earn more, keep a full time job, and your
portion of the bill will be less overall. Hopefully, your nanny
drives and she can drop your child off at preschool and take care
of the other (preferably younger) child during the time that
yours is attending class at either your house or his/her's. Your
nanny will be there for your during school holidays and will be
able to help be there when there are special parent participation
events at the school that you cannot attend due to work conflicts.
Lynn
We did this. We wanted to hold on to our relationship with our
wonderful nanny once our 3.5-year-old started pre-school. We
hoped that she would be able to care for him in the afternoons
when preschool ended. She had been caring for him full-time since
he was 6 months old. Also we shared with another child part-time
who started the same pre-school at the same time as our son. The
preschool ended at 12:30. We looked for another family that only
needed a nanny in the mornings. It took a long time to find a
family who needed the right days at the right time in the right
location (we posted to the BPN childcare newsletter.) We did find
a family that *almost but not quite* matched. They needed our
nanny 4 days a week till 12:30 but our school, on the other side
of town, ended at 12:30. So she couldn't get there in time to
pick the kids up. So we patched together a system where one of us
parents leaves work at 12:30, meets the kids at preschool, and
waits with them in the playyard till the nanny arrives 20-30
minutes later. Not perfect, but it works, and we still get to
have our nanny!
G.
When our son started preschool, we continued to employ his nanny
to pick him up in the afternoons and care for him until we got
home from work. She also cared for him all day on the one day
per week that he did not (at that time) attend preschool. It
worked beautifully for us, because we didn't have to stress out
about picking our son up on time from school -- basically an
impossibility given our work schedules -- and we liked
maintaining his long-term relationship with his nanny.
We found that the total cost of preschool plus part time nanny
(one on one) was only very slightly less than we had been paying
for full time nanny care (with some shared time). But it
certainly wasn't more!
We made various attempts to find another family or families who
would employ our nanny during the hours we no longer needed her,
and although several good prospects ultimately fell through, our
nanny liked us enough that she was happy to continue with us
rather than quit and try to find a different full time position.
So go ahead and broach the subject with your nanny. She may be
perfectly willing to work ''after school'' for you, particularly
if you can find someone else with whom you can split and/or
share her time.
anon
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