I'm a nanny with my own baby - what should I charge?

People don't criticise parents for sending their children to school because they recognise that there is a developmental difference between a 12 month old and a 5 year old. School teachers do not put your children down for naps, change their nappies, spoon feed them, physically comfort them, teach them how to dress themselves, potty train them, etc.

What happens if your kid has a cathartic meltdown while you're helping with this older child's important homework?

Even when working I still prioritise the care and needs of my child.

For once, I agree with your post @SouthLondonMum22

Nursery staff are no more raising children that teachers are. But does anyone criticise parents for sending their children to school?

Infants always know who their parents are, regardless. What child has ever preferred a baby room teacher to their mum or dad?

I was giving an common situation as an example to illustrate my point. I'm sorry if I was unclear but I obviously wasn't claiming to know your entire schedule down to the time your child wakes up.

My point is, of course, that if you spend less time with your children than a hired carer, you are not their primary carer and are not the one "raising" them. If all they are doing during those hours is providing care, which is a totally distinct activity from raising a child of course, then what sets the time you spend with your child apart as "raising" time. Other than financial outlays, childcare professionals do everything you do with your child, and probably more frequently.

My apologies. I missed your post where you spoke of your experience which is extensive. In that case I don't think you will have a problem at all. People are being ridiculously negative on this thread but that's mumsnet for you.

I know of 2 nannies who did this type of job who had toddlers of their own and seemed to work well all round. After school nannies are like gold dust especially reliable ones.

I wish you all the best OP.

It's amazing that you think you know my work schedule and who works at DC's nursery. Right down to how far away nursery is from my workplace.

You're assumptions are incorrect. Even if they were correct, nursery workers provide care for children, they don't raise them. For a start, part of raising a child is providing for them financially, maybe I need to tell DC's nursery when they need new clothes and shoes? You know, since I'm not the one raising them.

Your child wakes at 7am. You feed, dress, interact with them until 8, before getting them in the car/on the bus, to arrive at nursery for 8.30, so you can be at work for 9am. You leave work at 6pm, arrive at nursery for 6.30 to collect your child. You arrive home at 7pm, feed your child, bathe them, read them a story and then in bed for 8pm. You have spent 3 hours with your child while they were awake, 19 year old nursery apprentices earning under £5 an hour have spent 10 hours with your child. If you have to work, you have to work, but you are not raising your child.

Yes it sounds ideal.
I guess it would be hard to do homework help etc but you could heat up snacks and supervise them all playing

Op you sound great and really qualified and if my child was older I'd hire you

I'm a working mum and wasn't offended by ops post. I took a year off as I wanted to prioritize my baby being cared for by me - that was my choice and I financially sacrificed a lot for it, but that doesn't mean I judge parents who need or choose to go back much earlier, they might be thinking why doesn't she work harder and send her kid to private school or get him a better sized home etc

- the tradeoff of the 1:1 care being that either the nanny would be more affordable, or more flexible, or both.

But the thing is that in this case, the OP isn't proposing to be especially flexible, she wants to finish at 5:30/6. And because she only wants to take one child, it's not especially affordable either. Nannies are really more cost effective when you have 2+ children

If she was in a rural area, she might still have a market but in London where schools do tend to have wraparound, I can't see what she is offering being attractive

Parents who use childcare still raise their children.

and this is exactly why I wouldn't use a Nanny like OP. Her judgement was pretty clear from the start.

My DC has a nanny that has two children slightly older than my DC, and it works beautifully

Keyword being older.

You're never going to be able to give your clients children your full attention with a toddler, and the awkwardness of being in another persons house - that sounds like utter chaos, unless the child is especially angelic.

It is objectively better for a child to be raised by a parent as opposed to childcare. It isn't an attack on your parenting if someone chooses to take this into account when deciding on when/how/if they work while they have small children. It's also better for children to be raised in a two-parent household with their biological parents, saying this isn't an attack on OP.

Well you have insulted me and probably every other parent who uses childcare other than family.
My child was born with autism but I suspect you think it's because I put him in a nursery so I could actually afford a roof over his head and food. Unfortunately I didn't have the option of just moving in with my parents.

I think those that wouldn't be happy with this kind of setup are underestimating how happy many others would be with this type of setup.
My DC has a nanny that has two children slightly older than my DC, and it works beautifully. If the nannie's children are in nursery/with family/in school, she's with my DC 1:1, but often mine ends up sloting in with hers. I trust her completely and think that being around other children in a home environment is good for my DC (who has no siblings/cousins, and I have no local friends with children).
The fact that I'm happy for my DC to be with hers whenever necessary or it works out that way, means she is far more flexible which helps massively as I'm a single parent without any support and disabled to boot.
If I were ever to have a second DC somehow, I would actively look for this type of setup- the tradeoff of the 1:1 care being that either the nanny would be more affordable, or more flexible, or both. It'd only work if, like this one, I was 100% comfortable and trusting of the nanny. We started out 1:1 and once I realised she was more than capable of handling 3 children on her own, shifted to doing more and more with them all together instead of just 1:1 care.

Hi @Vizella , when I was looking for a nanny for my 1 year old there was a lady who offered slightly cheaper rate as, similar to your situation, she would bring her 6 month old with her. I didn't go for her as I thought 2 toddlers would be too much for her and my child might get neglected. Since you are planning to care for school aged kids it might be ok. But I do want you to consider this thing as other posters have mentioned, how would you deal with situations when maybe your child wants your attention but the other kids need something or you need to cook for them etc. You won't expect them to help out in looking after your kid right.. I hope you find some workaround for this. All the best.

She doesn't need to train to be a childminder, if she's a trained nanny. But she would have to jump through OFSTED hips etc.

And quite a few of us have said that we've employed nannies in OP's position. I got all the convenience of a nanny at around childminder rates (I can't remember exactly how much as it was a long time ago, but I certainly didn't need to pay (not did she want) nanny rates. It was a win/win for us both.

This can work very well. My son’s first nanny has just returned to us and brings her toddler three afternoons a week. Our previous nanny was with is just over three years and has now made her sideline business into a full-time job. We got lucky that my son’s first nanny was looking for part-time work.

i also know of a nanny who has been with the same family for over 10 years, during which time she’s had three kids of her own and agreed that she’d bring them to her employer’s house. It’s not for everyone but it can work well.

Why not just train to be a child minder where this is very acceptable.

I'm not offended. I don't even have kids. Do have my own home though. And it's not absurd to point out that the OP is wanting to work as a nanny while negatively viewing anyone who uses a nanny - not a good start for any working relationship.

I think people are being overly negative.

Certainly where I am reliable after school nannies are few and far between. I would have loved someone like you a few years ago.

But (apologies if you have already answered this, I haven’t read the whole thread), what would your toddler be doing when you were looking after your charges? How is homework help compatible with entertaining a toddler?

Having said that, it is only a couple of hours and the care wouldn’t have to be perfect.

Here (SW London) I would pitch yourself between £12 and £15 per hour. Agencies would charge around £20 for a nanny without children. But you would probably have to take what work you could get. You would be very lucky to get a solid 5 days per week every week.

she’s done a lot of interviews on that topic too, here’s one of them