Nanny choices & accommodation

[Sequins]

Please can you help me decide if we need an afternoon nanny, live-in nanny or live-in mother's help? Also, if we go for live-in, do we need to provide better accommodation than a spare bedroom?

DC are 4 yo and 18 mo, we currently use a combination of nursery + au pair to do the nursery runs. We have really felt the benefit of having someone live-in with us, the help getting them breakfasted and dressed and the flexibility to help with early meetings and ill children has been great. However, her time with us is coming to an end in a few months.

Au pair is v happy with her room but it is just a normal bedroom, it has a sink but no en suite. She has a single bed and a pull out one underneath that she can just about fit to a double bed when her boyfriend stays over, although she prefers to go to his house.

At the moment the DC get picked up from nursery after their dinner so at about 5.50 p.m.

DC1 is starting school in September and the after-school club at the nursery seems a bit boring, plus now DC2 is a bit older they're just starting to enjoy playing together and they would be in different rooms at the nursery.

So, we're thinking about having DC2 in the nursery for morning sessions only, and alternative cover in the afternoon. So should this be an afternoon nanny, a live-in nanny (which I reckon costs about the same as a live-out afternoon nanny) or a live-in mother's help?

If you get a live-in nanny, the holidays will be easier catered for when DC1 starts school (assume nursery currently has them throughout "school holidays"?
If you can afford a live-in nanny, then do it. A spare bedroom is fine, especially if it has adequate clothes storage, book shelves and that.
I'm not sure how much it would cost extra though for food/water/heating etc having the nanny with you 24/7 rather than just weekday afternoons?

If you had a live-in nanny, you wouldn't need nursery. Once youngest child is 3, then they could go to pre-school if you wanted them to do so.

Live in nanny/mothers help is going to be a blurry line purely in terms of how much experience they have and how much extra they do.

You don't need to make the distinction when advertising really unless you want a lot of chores done.

The wiring could present several different options and give a salary range which is dependant on duties and experience and then you just slot candidates in according to where they fit and make them an offer (which they might negotiate!).

If you're used to an au pair I'd say keep going with the live in option.

The wiring?! The wording.

Thanks very much for responses. I just thought that nannies expected en suite bathrooms which we could only provide by remortgaging and doing building work (an extension, basically).

We would still keep the nursery up with at least a few sessions a week, as the children love it there and have made so many nice friends. Also, when the nanny is on holiday or ill we'd have the flexibility of being able to buy some extra sessions.

En suite bathrooms are nice, yes, but not expected.

Sharing a bathroom with the childen is very common.

Sharing between the whole family gets to be a bit of a crush!