Childcare for a week

[Stuck1974]

My partner and I both run our own business, to date we have successfully managed to balance this and the needs of our 2 year old. However the business is changing and we are facing the possibility that both of us will need to travel at the same time for periods of around a week. Though this is only likely to be 2 or 3 times a year, it is beyond something Grandparents will be able to assist with.

For other reasons we are investigating a nanny - the question is whether it is even possible to get a nanny that can take total charge for a week?

We can probably limit the care period to 6 days.. For the rest of the time we can be flexible. Live In is an option. We are also concerned about the affect on our son.. But for the purposes of this thread will deal with that separately.

When you say total charge do you mean 24 hours a day? Ie constantly from (say) Monday to Saturday?

Could you not take your son and a grandparent with you to wherever you are traveling if it's only occasionally? It might work out cheaper?

I have done these kind of roles before

It's called 'proxy parent'

Experienced childcare professionals can do this

I would suggest putting a private advert in the job section on nanny job.co.uk
Or putting an advert on greatcare.co.uk

Agency wise.. Depending on your location, you could try rockmybabynannyagency .co.uk

It would be constantly - which was where we came unstuck. As to date we have either not been away at the same time or managed to glue it all together somehow.

The grandparent travelling thing might be an option for one of the trips, though they are likely to be at the same time of year for the next few years and some of that will be during school time. Though maybe that is a problem to solve a little bit nearer the time.

Proxy parent is something we will go and investigate.

I guess this is something we are just looking for ideas on, and whether anyone else out there has the same issue.

Thankyou for the responses so far.

I have done this for various reasons

Work
Holiday
Illness of another relatiVe

It is called proxy parenting and I go to the child's house and live there and be a loco parent

Diff areas as people's experience will vary price but you are probably looking at £150/200 + per 24hrs so can be very costly

Yes just repeating what others have said, I've done it for 4nights before and charged £150 per 24hrs.

It will be costly. Is there a possibility of having a friend(s) look after DC in day, and just hire babysitter for evenings? Not so expensive thay way!

Or can you have someone stay and do the nights but have the nanny come in during the day for several hours - ie 9-5 to give them a break

As a nanny I have done this for a two week period. The children were older, 5 and 7. They knew their parents were in another country and back in pre-internet days there was little opportunity to communicate with their parents.

Are you wanting a full time nanny who then does these occasional weeks of 24/7? Or are you wanting someone to come to your home just for the weeks you are away? The latter would be harder to organise I expect. With a full time nanny you it would be easier, as you plan the trips as far in advance as possible, let them know the dates and your children know them well, stick to their usual routines, so the impact is minimal.

When advertising the job you will need to make it clear that there will be times that 24/7 care is needed and ideally have the dates known in advance.

I had a job where weeks of proxy parenting were in the contract, Both bosses had high powered jobs that required them to travel a lot so I could be in sole charge for anything from 2 nights to 3 weeks. Because it was my normal job I didnt get paid per night, I cant remember the exact contract details as it was years ago but it was something like I got my normal hourly rate for the whole time I was there plus a bonus.

im proxy parenting in October for one of my babysitting families as a one off for 4 nights, im charging £800 so £200 per 24 hours.

I am a nanny and do this when the parents have to work away. It works out fine, especially if you are going to employ the nanny already (so the child is completely comfortable with the nanny.)
The kids are slightly older (young school aged) but I have been staying over since they were a lot younger. They are already used to me being around so it isn't much different. The parents will either call or Skype most evenings even if just for a few minutes, which really helps.

The grandparents live near so are always on hand if any problems.

Maybe to cut costs, you could use a nanny for the week but 2 days out of the week (or even two afternoons) they could have your child over to play. All options worth considering.

Thank you from both of us all for the responses. They have been really helpful. The requirement is still a little way off - but the issue is obviously a big one, and being able to see the responses has really helped. In all likelihood we will end up employing a little bit of all of them.

If we go down the full time nanny route, which is slightly financially dependent, then we can set the expectation at the outset. If we need to do it on more of a temporary basis then grandparents can help a little - and I would think we can do a dry run to test the theory.

Hi

Which part of the country are you in? I am in the East Midlands and am able to do proxy parenting.

If you are in the same area please feel free to pm me!