Not sure hiring a nanny is a good idea any more...

I employed 1 childminder for 3 weeks, employed 2 nannies in shares for just over 4 years, and have done a placement in a nursery. I'm extremely biased and will say right out that I would have given up work rather than put ds into most of the nurseries I have visited. This is not meant to diss people who choose otherwise, it is meant to show how irrational I am on the subject.

I will base the pros and cons on a full nannyshare outside your own house - i.e. you are taking your child somewhere else to be looked after with another child(ren).

Pro:
Nanny can set as much, or as little, of a routine as suits them and the children.
Nannies are expensive - because they are only looking after a few children (2 in my case, my ds and the child of the share parent). I employed a wonderful childminder briefly, but she had what felt to me like a huge range of children she was looking after - before school, after school, different ones each day etc. As I say, she was wonderful herself, but I found it unsettling to continually be meeting new children - and some of them were not interested in being nice to small ones like ds .
Nannies are expensive and you have a full employer/employment relationship. It may seem odd to put this as a pro, but where my child is concerned I like to be able to call the shots within reason. OK I'm now sounding like a nightmare employer, truly I'm not. But because I was the full employer, the nanny's employee relationship was explicit and ds was our joint priority, I could make the rules I felt were important without having to consider other chidren and their needs much.

Con:
Sickness. Both the nannies I employed needed quite a lot of sick leave - one had to take a month off to recuperate from an operation. In my experience, the nanny WILL need to take at least one day off in the first week you go back to work, when it feels like a catastrophe! You need backup, and where is it going to come from? Not easy. In our case, grandparents, and I also just had to take time off. DH was too ill at that time to be able to offer much backup. You may want to look into sick leave/maternity leave insurance. It's really important to accept this if you do want to employ a nanny, because sickness can and does happen to anyone.

Jenny - Childminders in your area seem to charge varying amounts, £60 per day seems typical looking at Childcare.co.uk
You can get a list of childminders in your area from LBHF Family Information Service - they may also be able to give you a guide as to costs.

8am-6pm is quite usual for hours... some childminders will be able to start earlier and/or finish later.

Many providers won't be that happy if you arrive late to pick up on a regular basis, nurseries will charge high fees for late pickup, I've known £10 per 10 minutes you are late. Childminders can be a bit more flexible though if you feel you will often be later, book the childcare till a later finish time... then arrive early to collect.

Childminders provide care at their home, rather than at your home. Childminders care for various children of varying ages. This is like a family as in most families with several children, the children are different ages.

If your child is ill, you will need to take time off work to care for them... though don't forget that daddy (if around) has responsibilities as well... he could take time off work. Children when they first start in any form of childcare often pick up bugs going around. It's often quite a challenge at first. While a nanny may seem a better solution for that, as nannies are more likely to care for a mildly ill child, an ill child will still want Mum or Dad, not someone else.

Many of us are identifiable though, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. If you need to post about something where you don't want to be identified, you just change your name (Mumsnet has a change name facility) then change back to your usual self again.

Or even an extremely odd concern.

OP - sorry for the hijack. Hopefully it's over now!

I'm not worried - plenty of us do it. I was merely trying to point out to you that MN is a big place and there are crossover members with another site where you can be identified without a great leap of the imagination. It's content is wideranging, freely accessible and googleable and that your particular name links you very easily. Personally I post on many different sections on here about things I wouldn't necessarily want casually linked. It was out of concern for your personal safety than any particular worry about visiting more than one site on the internet, which would be an extremely concern to have as it would be very boring if people only ever went on one site. It doesn't particularly matter, which is why it was an addendum to my post further up the thread rather than a main point or a separate post, I just wanted to make sure that you were aware of it. I would have CATed you rather than make a public issue out of it but you don't have CAT enabled.

Anyway I've made my point, I was only trying to be helpful, but I hope you enjoy MN where you do seem to get a better class of nanny And I'm not being offensive saying that - it's a bit of a running joke!

still confused sorry ....why are you worried about going on more than one site.

Because the other site tends to be more free with sharing of personal information IME. MN tends to be more anonymous.

I wasn't criticising you. I was merely pointing out that you are very identifiable with your current names and the details that you've given but as long as you're comfortable with that then that's fine.

but why would that matter ?

In which case apologies. There is another nanny with twin charges, a very similar name and ear pain elsewhere on the itnernet. Just wanted to make you aware that there are people who frequent both sites and you may want to bear that in mind when posting.

I know that when I first registered on MN it would have been ridiculously easy to find me as my usernames were virtually identical.

not sure what frankinaround means either ? I am trying to find a site with sensible nannies so my first go on here.

Are you a norlander NannyKatherine? Trying to work out who you are... so clearly it isn't totally obvious.

by the way ... am i trying to be incognito ..?????????/

nannykatherine I believe the poster is referring to another thread where the nanny in question really was a total nutter. You sound like a very sensible, caring and professional nanny unlike some of the nannies who have been posted about here. I am assuming it's not you that is being referred to and none of the other nannies on here have taken offence.

In recent memory we have had:

a nanny who fed food off the floor, didn't know how to dress children appropriately for the weather and ripped bibs of a baby's neck leaving marks
a nanny who had a car crash but didn't tell the parent, allowed a baby to bang their head of a stone floor without telling the parent and rearranged the sitting room.....without telling the parent
and references to a nanny who wanted to treat a fever with vodka socks

I'm sure others could chip in with more...

Oh and by the way you are very easily identifiable with cross reference to another forum.

But some nannies are total nutters - some want to be rocket scientists (or was that an au-pair?).

You really should eat dinner at a reasonable time you know Katherine... eat with the children. The you can have light supper when you get home if still hungry.

Jenny , go to the website for Nannytax, it explains everything and runs a payroll service , I used to work in fulham it was a lovely place to work as lots of facilities , activities for children . the montessori nursery doesnt sound to good to be honest , i think you would love a nanny share and it is nice for children if you get a nanny used to two babies . Do you know anyone else looking for a nanny . I think there is an agency that arranges shares but not sure.

Time off sick wouldn't be parental leave, it would be this. Depending on your employer you may find them generous or you may find yourself labelled as unreliable. I've never taken a day off for ds's sickness since I went back to work after ML (no mean feat). A nanny is a far better option than nursery as far as sickness is concerned. Ds had a CM who would take him when he was ill thank god.

As a professional nanny i am a little upset by the way you call a nanny a"total nutter" am i a total nutter. maybe , I work 11plus hours a day , rarely go off sick ,tidy up after parents even tho not part of my role but how can i work in messy house, cook nutritious food,provide love care and educatonal activities for the children,care for them when they are sick so parents can still go to work, make doctors appointments , ( on tuesday sat in A and E with child with ear pain so a doctor could look in his ears as local GP refusing appointment ) looked after said child screaming in pain for entire day and evening as mum was "going out for dinner" and never actually came home , also cared for childs twin sibling,administerd medicine took temperatures and made sure child hydrated , rarely take breaks during the day or get home before 8pm so dont eat proper dinner as who wants to start cooking at that time after a whole day of domesticity. ( after a week of sick child I still managed to care for his brother, cook all meals , clean and iron all their clothes, ) after the week like this I feel a bit upset to be called a total nutter in fact i think i might cry.

Parental leave

If you choose and check your nanny carefully you will probably avoid the most common pitfalls. 99% of problems can be avoided by good communication and if you do spot things emerging that you don't like you need to nip them in the bud. I think that if you find a nanny you really click with you'll be fine and you'll be more prepared to make things work. An extended interviewing process (including a day trial) and decent settling in/handover period will help too.

As far as getting shot and re-hiring goes you can find good temps and there are almost always nannies looking for work for whatever reason - especially now with redundancies etc.

I think the horror stories on here are blown out of proportion because people rarely post about how happy they are with their nanny! I'm sure there are lots of happy employers out there.

Your days off would be considered parental leave.

Jenny - I forgot to say, a nanny is likely to be the best arrangement for you if you want a lot of control over your child's day. With a nursery you have to accept that sometimes you will pick your baby up and not all of his clothes will be in his bag, you can't dictate what activities he has been doing, that sort of thing. Although personally I think it is good to have a baby cared for with other children so would put up with those things.
It is also worth considering who you think will be sick more often; the baby or the nanny. It is not always the baby (nannies around us seem to think 10 days per year sick is entirely normal...).

Whereabouts are you in Fulham? We used to be down there and my DD was in the nursery that was Happy Times on Filmer Road. It has changed hands but might be worth a look, as it was well-equipped and purpose built with a decent garden and communal space. Plus it stays (or stayed) open to 6:30 pm.

Childminders - you take child there (childminder's own home) - there'll be other children too - it's home-based (ie at the carer's home) group childcare. Ratios of children to carer(s) controlled by law; all registered and inspected by govt (Ofsted). You can look up options/availability/inspection reports all online. Much more transparent than a nanny.

Nanny comes to yours (or, if you're doing a nanny-share) yours or the other family's. No regulation by govt, unless voluntary Ofsted registration is involved. But no compulsory registration/inspection.

Childminders' hours vary - if you need flexible hours then (if you're considering a childminder) you need to find one that does extended hours. Some do. The other issue is location - there are lots of people being childminders in outer London (where houses with enough room are not so expensive) but very few in central London. Have a look online (Childcare Info Service is the source) to see if it's an option for you at all.

£1400 a term? month? A good nanny in your area will be on over £30K plus NI, tax etc.

Nannies work on your (or your shares) premises; childminders often have 4-6 kids and you take yours to them. Childminder likely to be cheaper.