thinking about a nanny

[ruthietoothie]

I have three children aged 11 months, 4 and 5. I only work part-time and currently the baby is in nursery and then the older children have bits of after-school club etc. I'm not loving the nursery atm, and worry about the room size etc, and my baby not getting much attention. The two older children get tired with going to after school club and I know they'd love to just be able to come home after school and chill out. all this has made me think about whether we could get a p/t nanny and not have to spend loads more money in so doing.

Has anyone gone from nursery provision to nannies, and how have you found it? What are the downsides of nannies, and does anyone know what the going rate is for them? Thanks in advance !

What area are you in.
In West Surrey where I am, you are looking at £11-£13 gross per hour for a full time experienced nanny. There are other costs on top of this for you as the employer, so you need to consider your budget.

Having someone dedicated to just caring for your children does have advantages - children can do after school activities, they can be at home, there can be outings during school holidays.

It also comes with some drawbacks, you are an employer so have to deal with taxation (though nanny payroll providers can help with that) and employee relationship - they become a family friend but you are their boss so you need to have professional distance. You will need to co-ordinate holiday times... typically you will give your nanny a couple of weeks of holiday of their choice and you choosing two weeks with the remainder being used by bank holidays.

It can work really well. In my last nanny job (which I was in for 9 years) there were three children. A few years back, two were at school and one at home so youngest went swimming, to toddler groups, walks in the woods, trampoline class, whilst older ones were at school.