Does not help having a Nanny who lives close by?

[toastedbeagle]

I'm interviewing today, seen 2 nannies who I like. I slightly prefer the one who lives further away (15miles vs 2) but am not sure whether this will become a pain later on ie not as easy to cover at short notice as a 35 min drive, could be late as stuck in traffic etc.

Any experience positive or negative?! Thanks

"Does it help" in title even, can't type today!

Yes it does - our nanny has moved closer to us (and us closer to her) over time. We live in London - she can now walk to work and it thereby avoids having to rely on public transport (she was sometimes late when trains/buses cancelled or running late).

But it shouldn't dictate which nanny you choose based on the distances you're talking about - we chose her because she was the one we liked best and best fit for our family (and still is 9 years later!).

Why would she need to be in at short notice? Surely she will have set working hours?
Took me over an our to get to work in my last job (before I moved) but I was never late once, generally I was slightly early cause in London I plan for delays to happen and buses to be cancelled.

Squiffy - for us, because of my job (and the fact DH works even longer hours than us and no family support), I often need to ask my nanny to come to work early or work late at short notice (for which she gets paid of course) and we were very clear about this in the job ad and description. Difficult if she's across London for that to happen. Was v lucky she does live so close to us when I gave birth to DS3 as she was with us within 10 minutes of the call (to look after the other 2) and he was born 25 minutes later!

I would definitely go with the closer one then if it can be early calls and you need her there as soon as, unless Ofcourse you can wait the 35minsamd longer in delays. If the time was crusical closer one would win out for me I think.

I live very close to my nanny family. It works really well because it takes me less than 10 minutes to walk in. Never been late yet and from my perspective I'm all round happier because it's an early start so would be even earlier with a commute. It also works well if they come home early because I can walk home quickly. Ultimately you should go for who you like the best. But if you honestly can't decide then yes go for closer one.

When interviewing, one of our questions was "if you car broke down, how would you be able to get to work" which gave us some comfort on this as did looking at a map & seeing if there were alternative routes in case one was blocked.
What are the roads like near you? Is the 15 miles mainly motorway or 30mph areas, ie how long will it take the nanny to cover the distance? A friends nanny lives 25 miles away but doesn't mind as she does 7.30 - 7.30 so is travelling outside rush hour. She doesn't like it if she is asked to start late as her travel time is much longer. Nor does she like being asked to start early as then she gets up before 6am.

In my last job I only lived an eight minute walk away. While this wasn't the family's requirement, it helped a lot, especially as the mother had cancer and I often needed to start early/stay a bit longer or come in on my days off when the mother needed to go to the hospital.

Through the years we found that the ones who lived closer stayed longer as commuting is a bore and a time drain. It was just more positive all around for everyone.

Location makes a difference, as 35 minutes to do 15 miles is pretty good in my view. In a major city area, 15 miles may take well over an hour. So I would look at location and drive routes and traffic density - google maps is good as it overlays typical traffic conditions and live traffic (which could be useful if you are online at the time you would anticipate your nanny would be driving to work).

Time of day is also a consideration, starting work at 7:30 may be fine but an earlier start someone may be reluctant to do if having to travel 15 miles. Though traffic conditions would be different, thus the journey may be quicker. I find it quicker to get to work during school half term/holidays, as a lot less traffic on roads around 7am.

Why would she need to cover short notice ? That's rare

The one nearer may move far away

Many of my friends travel 20/30mins a day

Job I left last week took me 1.5hrs each way - mainly as rush hour /school traffic

Current job I chose to start at 7 as no traffic then where as mum wanted me 8/9 and I said I would be leaving home 1.5hrs earlier as will get stuck - should take me 30mins

Tonight as worked till 8pm took 30 mins to get home :)

blondes Some reasons that I've seen (and experienced) for cover for short notice are - if one of the children is medically fragile and can require urgent medical treatment, if one parent is "on call", if a parent is unwell and having medical treatment. And as op says - getting stuck in traffic.

I can Understand if a child is medically ill but if on call then the nanny needs to make sure she is local whether at a friends : coffee shop if being paid

Jut don't discount a good nanny if lives far away

They just need to be aware of local traffic

When we asked our nanny to be available at short notice we compensated her for her availability whether we actually asked her to work or not because yes, it meant that she could not go away, etc.