One-off/ casual nannies - WWYD?

[DestinationUnknown]

I have recently used an agency for a bit of ad-hoc care for ds, who's just turned 4. Agency say they CRB & reference check everyone etc.

DS is confident and happy with new people but what I'm not sure about is letting him go out of the house with a new carer. We tried it out last weekend, ds played happily with the nanny though came to find me a few times and it would work better if he could go out to the playground or to kick a ball about (our garden isn't big enough).

But it feels odd to meet someone completely new to us both and 5 mins later dispatch ds out of the door with them. Am I being precious or would you also let things take longer to bed in? And would that be an hour at home then an hour out? Or a whole afternoon at home, and go out the next time?

We can't be guaranteed the same person every time though it would likely be the same 2 or 3 people, and it's likely to be once every 4 or 5 weeks.

When you are comfortable then let them go. 5 minutes is a bit soon though. I do adhoc care and have taken children to the park within half hour of meeting but I always make sure I have a list of emergency numbers, both parents mobiles, any dietry info, whereabouts of parents, childrens and parents full names written down.A quick run down of any likes/dislikes and comforters etc. It also depends on the age of the children but as your son is 4 and is happy in strangers care perhaps take the lead from him, would he tell you if he didn't enjoy his day?

thanks lesstalk. Good idea about having all the info ready. ds would be fine to let me know if he was happy or not. I think I was partly unsure last weekend as the nanny wasn't from the local area so didn't know where the playground was - we all went together in the end!

But if I started a nanny job with you I would go out on the first day. Why is this any different. Agree five minutes is a bit soon.

redglow, I think it's because usually for a permanent or short term nanny role you would usually have met, & interviewed a number of people, even if you leave the checks & refs to an agency.

Whereas with an ad-hoc job there is an element of a complete stranger turning up and then going off out with my PFB (I admit!) when I myself haven't even met them before. And because the job's only for 2-3 hours, I don't want to spend much of that time "interviewing" / chatting to said person rather than getting on with my work.

I suppose its what you feel comfortable with. I have done this sort of work and gone out on the childs or parents request, but really it is up to you as a parent.

I've used this kind of service a lot with DS2 (from 3-8 months) and found it brilliant. It's a strange feeling no doubt, knowing that you're handing over to a stranger, but as long as you rate the agency and get a good feel even in those first few minutes when you meet the nanny. They always put my mind at rest. However I would say it was trickier when they took care of DS1 (age 3) as well as he did tend to come looking for me. In those circumstances, it actually worked best if I went out straight away, then he knew I wasn't there and put his trust in the nanny, who I'd introduced as 'xxx who is here to play with you'. As for taking them out, as long as it was just to local parks, I had no problem. It's what they do professionally and they were generally better than me at it - much more patient anyway!