Nanny off on maternity leave!! Shall I try to find an aupair to cover her?

[ziopin]

My nanny's off on maternity leave, could I fill her position with an aupair in the meantime?

I'm not sure I'll be needing her back after her maternity leave, as my DD will be in full time school come September and DS2 will be in part-time school - do you think an aupair could fit the bill?

Am I in a grey area with regard to giving my nanny her notice when she's on maternity?

I think an au pair could fill in if you are using a childminder/nursery to fill the bulk of the day and have the au pair do say a bit of afterschool care and the school/childcare run.

If you make the nanny redundant because the job is no longer required, you must not hire another nanny. You could probably hire an au pair, as it is a different job.

But, you should run the numbers before you decide to go the au pair route. I had thought I would do this when DD goes full time. But I ran the numbers about a month ago and realised a full time live in nanny is cheaper until they are both in school full time.

You should consider what you'll do during school holidays & when your children are sick?

Yeah school holidays are not a problem. Both me & DH are teachers.

Could I expect a aupair to look after the children before school (1 1/2) hours, ds2 for 4 hours in the afternoon and dd after school (1 hour max)

What do you think?

Sounds perfectly fine to me!

Though if she's a real AP she may want to go to language school?

Thats brilliant! Thanks so much for your help. Now where is the best place to find one??

www.greataupair.com

If you hire one who has childcare experience then you can sort of expect that she can bridge the gap between au pair and nanny. And if you hire someone who has a visa to work here (EU citizen, working holiday, ancestor visa, etc.) then there is no cap on the hours she can work. 30ish hours seems reasonable to me.