Nanny Sharing 4 children under 4 - are we mad to even consider?

[AnnetteTwitcher]

Hi
A friend and I who met via our older children (will be 3 when back at work) being at nursery together now also have 4 month olds who will be 9 months when we plan to go back to work.

We live really close to each other and have started thinking it could be worth us nannysharing rather than give (between us) nearly £5k per month to the nursery.

Is it even legal to look after this many children?

Our thinking:

2 x 3yr olds go to nursery 2 days per week utilising their 15hrs allowance & spend 2/3 days with nanny
2 x 9 month olds do 4/5 days with nanny.

We will be working 4 days & full time.

Logisitical questions keep cropping up e.g how would a nanny take them all out during the day?

Anyone with experience of hiring a nanny to look after multiple children who can shed a bit of wisdom on matter?

Thanks

It will be tough but it's certainly not impossible - could work well as a 4 day a week job, so giving nanny more time to recover (I like working 4 days a week).

You may want to rethink the 2 days at nursery using 15 hours funding - as there can be limits on how much is funded in a day. Look into that - your local authority may publish a guide on their website aimed at childcare providers which will detail the local rules. Having the older two in pre-school some of the time however sounds a good idea, as will give the younger children some quality time with nanny (or to start with may just be a good time for the babies to get their long daytime sleep).

Travel can be an issue - the size of car needed to transport 4 young children plus an adult is probably not the size of car the nanny will have, so would you provide a car? Would the job be doable without a car? (Possibly if you are city based)

I'm not a nanny but a childminder. Many times I've looked after 4 under 5s but at one point, after maternity leave I returned with my own 10 week old, an 8 month old, 17 month old and 18 month old plus after school a 4 year old and my own 5 year old and they all loved it (I still have all these children now - my 10 week old is now 3.3 :) ) We were out and about lots, I used a triple buggy and a sling then triple/double and backpacks with straps. We went to the usual toddler groups, trips to the park, country parks etc. and although yes it was harder work, it was also great to watch them grow up together being so close. By the way, I had a 7 seater car at the time (now an 8 seater). I most certainly wouldn't rule out an arrangement like this. As long as you have the right nanny then I'm sure it will be just fine :)