To ask nursery keyworker to babysit?

[Lindor2828]

Or would this be inappropriate? We are looking for a regular babysitter, someone who is familiar to us and DS for the occasional evening so we can resume date nights etc. We really like his keyworker and they have a close bond so I was wondering if it would be appropriate to ask at pickup whether she would be interested in babysitting for us - has anyone else done this? Not sure if it's the done thing or not!

Our nursery share the numbers of their staff who are happy to babysit and we've used a few of them. Works really well and they're happy to make a bit of extra money with kids they already know.

My kids were occasionally babysat by nursery staff, don't see any issue with that at all.

We did this at a difficult time for a week or two while we had to be somewhere. It worked.

We did this. It is very common and is a win-win for parents who have a well qualified childminder already known to your child and trusted by you, and the childminder can’t top up her salary. It is more expensive than getting the neighbour’s 16yo to babysit, but worth it for the peace of mind. You can just say, ‘Are you allowed to do babysitting occasionally outside your day job?’

Can - not can’t!

In my experiences, so nurseries allow (and even encourage) this, but others are very no-no. The smaller, independent nurseries tend to be more flexible than the chains.

I'd personally approach the manager first, that way the grunt-work isn't on the keyworker to find out if it is even allowed.

All nurseries have a policy about this - check with the nursery first before approaching the key worker.

Strangely enough the concern here isn’t necessarily about impartiality towards children (a good nursery worker is always impartial to kids) but to employers and there’s a risk of them ‘stealing’ parents / kids from the nursery when they leave. I own a nursery and I don’t personally want someone pulling sickies at the nursery because they’re providing care for parents / using the nursery to ‘advertise’ a private business - but that’s my decision because I pay living wage, provide pension contributions & training, and work really hard to have an inclusive environment. Where a nursery can’t afford to do that then allowing their staff to earn extra money babysitting can be a huge draw in retaining staff.

We had one who did this. Babysitters are hard to find for a child with a disability and we needed emergency childcare when my husband was in hospital. One key worker was really good with my daughter, who found it difficult to trust people she didn't know. I asked the manager if it was ok for us to ask and she was happy with it.

I would just ask her if she does babysitting, outside of nursery hours. If she doesn't, she may recommend someone who does?

Our only non family babysitter is a lady who works at DD's nursery. She also runs a dance school and is known locally as "Mary Poppins" and everyone knows her.

I've been meaning to ask the same at my nursery, so I did. They have no issues whatsoever, just need to contact the members of staff directly.

Early years educator here. Pre-kids I used to do this a lot. It was ok as long as my manager was aware and it didn't interfere with work. I used to rely on it to top up my pitiful pay.

As far as I know it’s fairly normal but I knew that some nurseries didn’t allow it and I was always too embarrassed to ask

My nursery doesn't allow it, it was one of the questions I asked when viewing. It's a small, independent, Montessori type place. They used to, but banned it in recent years although I'm not sure why.

One of the early years practitioners babysits for us. She was one of my kids nursery worker and one after school club worker. It works great for us but she is careful who she babysits for and only does it for families she is comfortable with and the kids are comfortable with her.

I've done it, we had my DS key worker come to the evening of our wedding so he could go off to bed.
I just had to fill in a form with nursery and it was all fine

We've done it, worked brilliantly and we will do it again. The same woman also did a few days a week for us towards the end of the first lockdown, when childcare in the home was allowed to resume but nurseries not allowed to open. Complete life saver. That was a private arrangement with the woman who came, but organised with the knowledge of the nursery owner, and obviously on the understanding that the nursery had first call on her time should there be a gradual reopening or whatever. Worked well for all concerned.

No it's completely normal to ask if they want to babysit. Ask them and they will let you know if they can or not etc etc

My daughters key worker offered, sadly we aren't in the position to take her up with it, as my daughter loves her and I'd have no concerns at all

Of course you can ask- they can say no if they want!

Our nursery used to offer this as a “service” in that they’d act as go between to see if the key worker or other member of staff was happy. There was a set fee payable directly to the member of staff who babysat, nursery didn’t take a cut.

Pre having children of my own I used to regularly babysit children from my nursery - I always checked with the manager. It was a very common thing to do.

If the nursery doesn't allow it, I'd ask the key worker if she has any nursery nurse friends who might be interested? If they are anything like me they will know staff from other nurseries.

My friend works in a nursery and this is commonplace they actually have a contract thing that the management has drawn up that you use

We've done this when my DD was in nursery. I can't see a problem unless the nursery has a policy against it

The nursery DD went to didn't allow this.

It was normal at my kids nursery but you had to book through them not directly with the nursery worker. They billed us and deducted the tax etc. we were assured they didn't take a cut!