I don’t want my DC in nursery but can’t afford to be a SAHM

[weeblewooble]

That’s it, that’s the post.

Thinking about what I’ll do when I go back to work. I can afford to drop my hours as it will only affect our disposable income but I don’t know if that’s wise given how expensive things are getting, cost of living crisis is showing no signs of abating. There are a million reasons why I don’t want my child in nursery before age 2. I found a good childminder but that isn’t going to work out. Sourcing another is extremely tricky as most are all booked up and there aren’t many locally.

We do have family help locally but they wouldn’t have her full time and nor would I expect them to. DH works weekends and has some days off in the week, so I suppose we are more fortunate than most.

No point to this post just wanting to vent and talk to others in the same situation!

@saveandfill

I'm struggling to understand your posts.

Mn is where many people share their thoughts and bounce ideas around.

I can't understand what you think it's for (chat forum parenting based to offer support)?

S

Do you not need qualifications and training to be a childminder these days though?

This is why we didn't go with a childminder too. Or a nanny, despite with 3 now a nanny would actually be cheaper than the fortune we pay in nursery fees.

This would be a great idea

A pp suggested a nanny share. We did this. The nanny worked for another family so all the paperwork, holidays etc was done through them. My dc went to their house once or twice a week and I paid a contribution to the nanny and to the family. It worked really well for everyone.

Have you placed your own advert for a child minder or were you responding to adverts placed by them? I found my fantastic child minder by placing an ad myself and she happened to have a vacancy coming up and responded. I was also approached by a family looking for a nanny share in response to my ad. Both the family and the CM lived within a minute walk from my house. I have seen advertisements by Nannie’s etc on Nextdoor.com so you could advertise in those type of forums asking for recommendations.

There are many families desperate for childcare in their own home and prepared to pay well. Maybe you could offer yourself as a childminder but on condition that you bring your own, there may be a salary adjustment but you'd be with your DC and earning at the same time. I know someone who had this, CM with baby came to the house to do a school run then was off until school finish. Holidays were different and obviously more difficult for her.

Fwiw the baby room where I work adapts nap and food times to each child's individual routine. They only start to manipulate times to follow set routines from about 15/16 months. I have seen a very high standard of care for babies there.