Is this a reasonable request of a nanny?

[solomam]

Ok so... please hear me out as I have never before had a nanny or considered one - I will openly admit I know nothing about the services they are willing to offer.

Can anyone who has either been a nanny or had one, tell me whether it's a reasonable ask to pay someone to come to my home for literally 1 hour every morning to help with the morning routine? That's all I need. Nothing more.

Or would they all laugh at me for being ridiculous?

It's the sort of thing I'd have done when I was younger: getting up at 5.30 on weekdays isn't so bad and it's a nice lump of extra cash. I also disagree that it's not enough time to build any sort of relationship with your child - I think an hour of one-on-one five days a week is quite a lot and could be fun for them.

If you can afford to add on an hour (or half an hour) for tidying / laundry, even better.

Nobody's business why you need/want the help either. "Dim" is the lack of imagination to only consider the question from one's own perspective.

It’s not 5 days a week though.

It might be worth putting the word out. I'm way overqualified for what you'd be paying, but in my own situation, four mornings a week, for an hour, I'd do for 20, for my own reasons. I'd only do it for someone in the immediate neighbourhood that I was literally just 'nipping over' for the hour. I'd never do it at 6am though. I don't do anything regular before 7am if I can help it these days.

Years ago I worked in a nursery and there was a woman in a similar situation. We would go to her house, get the child and his brother ready, drop the older boy at breakfast club at school and take the little one with us to nursery and start work. She paid us £20 a day - but it we were all local and usually only the girls starting at 7:30/8 would want to. Can you ask nursery? They know your child so that's always easier.

When I was in sixth form I did 6.30-8 in the bakery at the coop before school started - for the princely sun of £2.31 an hour. I think who you need is an eldest child from a household where they have been used to an early start / helping with younger siblings. Maybe offer 1.5 hours to 7.30 to clear up breakfast stuff etc - I think you’d get some takers. Maybe offer to let them to make up at yours after you’ve gone so they can roll out of bed, work, then finish their morning routine for school.

You don't need a nanny for that, and it's never silly to ask if anyone is interested in a job.

This could be ideal for someone looking to earn extra money outside of standard working hours - even another mum who could earn whilst her own partner gets their own kids ready.

Local Facebook pages are quite good for this.

Something like 'Mother's Help' needed 6-7am, Monday to Thursday - helping get children ready for school, breakfast etc. Would suit someone experienced with young children. £15 per morning.

You will probably be asked to pay more than the £15 , something like £20 to cover with the travel for just one hour a day . Other than that I don’t think it’s a issue

Well aren't you a pleasure 🙄

That's not a problem. I could go up to £20 per morning.

I've paid for 2 hours each morning.

You may find someone who is prepared to do an hour each day, but my experience was that 90m was the shortest amount of time I could reliably get someone to commit to.

We had a local uni student for a year who not only helped with getting all out of the house on time, she even did 15/20 minutes of music practice with my then 7yo before school.

When my husband goes away, we pay a girl that lives just across the road to come for one hour each morning to help me. She also has an evening job so it works for her.

Could you make it more attractive? Eg. It's a couple of hours to get the baby up fed and take them to nursery? Agree with others that it would better suit some v local. There's a couple of students in my road who often help out with stuff like this. Although 6am might be a stretch, my kids don't even wake up until 7!

I need something like this! I'll have to ask around the local neighbourhood. They'd have to be reliable though...

I have a fairly similar situation, I finish nightshift and get home and half 8 but my DH started work at 7.30 so had to have someone for an hour 1 day a week to be giving my kids breakfast and getting their clothes on. My mum did it for a bit but now we have actually changed our jobs to stop it because I found it borderline impossible to get childcare for that time. Neighbours teens might be the best option?

But - firstly that would be a lot added to their day (waking at 5am, traveling to you before work, going right to their other job) for a very small return.

And secondly, most nanny jobs already start early - as in before the parents leave for work. If they’re only leaving yours at 7, even if they leave bang on the dot, that’s tight.

@McGonagallshatandglasses

She sounds fantastic!

more line 25 pounds I'd have thought as it's so early. Do you have a neighbourhood WhatsApp group tonaska rojnd ? sixth former . That's how I got my kids babysitting jobs.

OP,

Lots of good suggestions on here.

Ignore the haters - they are eaten up with jealousy at the thought of anyone having enough funds to pay for childcare or support. You'll find them on the cleaner threads too.

We had nannies when our DC were little, and when they were older, we then had people after school to take one of the older ones to a sport activity miles away, drive, stay, take home. It was a 4 hour total that we didn't want to drag the younger ones toz

Worked well.
It's a good way to earn extra money for some people.

@Kanaloa

Good point. I think I'm going to be relying on students / younger people without jobs etc. I just worry about vetting / DBS etc.

Same for ‘finding a teenager.’ You’re unlikely to find a teen who is desperate to wake up at 5am and come to your home for an hour before school/college. Also with childcare students, they generally do proper placements at nurseries and such, not an hour a day babysitting. That type of thing would generally not be accepted as childcare experience.

this

And yeah, most teens aren’t likely to be super competent and reliable unfortunately. The odd one might be, but my experience of young apprentices is that they’re not exactly the extra pair of hands you’d think! More an extra job as you’re semi-teaching them.

Following as I need someone for similar circumstances, but for a couple hours in the evening to help with my twins during bed / bath time. They go to sleep at different times which makes it hard when one of us has to do office commute

better chance to find someone from neighbour group/local Facebook groups/parents group who live nearby

Eg. Some neighbors (pensioners) may get up quite early, have no dependents and do not need to go to work