OK, nanny is leaving - what do you do if you only need a bit of childcare?

[elliott]

Well here we go again. After a whole year (!) of stability in childcare arrangements my nanny is leaving in Sept and its back to the drawing board.
Dss are 6 and 4, the younger is starting reception in Sept so we hardly need any childcare really - ideally 2 afternoons per week plus occasional days in the holidays (amounting to probably 12-15 days in total).
Our options are:

1. Go it alone. We might JUST be able to do this (we both work 80%). Problems would arise when either of us is away, plus in the school holidays when we would need to make heavy use of camps/clubs (which I'm not keen on, would rather they had time chilling at home). Viability depends on whether we can get places at afterschool club. Not too keen on that as they tend to get really tired at after school club.

1. Recruit another nanny on the same basis. Very expensive for what we need (we have been paying about £500 a month just to cover the needs outline above). Quite hard to find someone whose needs fit ours, and stability is a problem. Could (and will) try to find a childminder but have never had luck with this previously - very thin on the ground.

1. Try the housekeeper route - has anyone had a satisfactory experience with this? No idea really how to recruit - only know of one agency locally. Could try a newspaper add I suppose, feels a bit risky.

1. Au pair? Overkill probably for what we need and too many downsides.

1. Try to find something ad-hoc - e.g. a student. Again, not really sure where to start with recruiting, and also not sure whether this is something I'm comfortable with. they would need to be available occasional days in school hols and one or two nights after school.

I am interested particularly in whether anyone has made a more informal/ad-hoc arrangement work (as in 5) - how do you recruit, how do you pay etc? If it were someone's only job its probably below the hours limit for employment registration, I think, but if not the whole hassle of employing someone for so little time input seems ott.

Sorry for the long and tedious post, probably of limited interest to anyone else but at least it helps me to think it aloud!
Would be interested to hear how other people manage when it just doesn't seem worth the time or expense of employing a nanny.

for various reasons we are going it alone this week and it's not easy. one reason we decided to try was to see if we could manage without a nanny from september - and so far the jury is still out. it obviously depends on your jobs and needs but there is no way i would even contemplate it at your dss' ages. as well as school holidays you should think about after school activities and playdates - these are the complications that have nearly killed us this week.

we've also thought about your other options - we don't particularly want live in so an au pair is out and we've not worked out how to find/employ a housekeeper when we're never at home.

Your ad hoc option 5 strikes me as a variant on the go it alone as you will still have to do all the juggling and arranging. The one thing that you might be able to organise are routine reciprocal playdates - given that you are able to return the help you might find a friend in a similar position. you'll probably need a lot of luck to make it work for both your children though.

In the end I think we're going to face the fact that we'll continue to pay more than we ideally want to for a service we only partially need - but, as all the nanny threads testify, cutting corners doesn't usually turn out to be a benefit.

Thanks for this MrsW. Its frustrating, though - 6 hours a week during term time and two days a week for about half the school holidays shouldn't really merit a full blown £500 a month nanny! I still feel we do all the arranging and haven't really managed to get the nanny to do playdates. Main advantage is that she has been able to take them swimming and would be able to do after school activities if they did any.
Reciprocal playdates might work occasionally - hard to second guess this as they are both starting at a new school in Sept so we will have to build up the networks from scratch.
Also, however much money we throw at the issue (and luckily this is not a huge issue for us) it is really quite hard to find someone suitable, let alone someone who will stick around.

anyone else with pearls of wisdom to add to my musings?

How about coming to a regular reciprocal arrangement with a neighbour or parent at the school>?

I'm a student who does 5 - it works really well for me but not that many students are suitable.

Try Gumtree.

or another mumsnetter

Have you thought about using a childminder? I would personally jump at the chance to look after children the same age's as your lo's, I don't get much call for school age children in my area though.

nanny share - find a local family with a nanny who is happy to do the odd bit of work cash in hand

approach local college - anyone on a childcare course who could help out? You'd be hard pushed to get someone over 21, though.

childminders very thin on the ground where I live too, but still worth persuing

you may find a local family willing to share an au pair

nanny with her own child - hours v short though

nursery school teacher/playgroup leader

I think you need a French-style nounou who does a lot of housework/ironing/shopping and some marginal childcare - it doesn't really matter if your children aren't getting excellent childcare because they are mostly at school or with you. However, lots of housework would take a huge burden off you.

Not sure how you recruit such a person in the UK.

Sorry see you already are looking for a childminder. Good luck!!

What about a student in the last year of secondary school (if the school finishes before yours), baby sitting your 2 would be some pocket money for them and also a cheaper option for you.

I had a live-out AP that used to do 5 hours on a Monday and 5 hours on a Wednesday - she was wonderful, brilliant and I MISS HER (but another mumnsetter has her as a Nanny which is what she deserves). I got her off gumtree and she lived round the corner. Have you had a look at gumtree? Whereabouts are you?

Also, in terms of the additional days, my LOs go to Grandparents (needs careful management of respective diaries) - this has worked well for a number of years.

The only problem that we had was sickness - have you considered what would happen if they came down with chickenpox? This was a terrible situation for us (and DDs!!) as they didn't get it together, just one after the other and we needed 4 weeks off work to look after them.

I like anna's solution - a nounou - wish they had them over here!

all good ideas, thanks! I have had a look at gumtree and that might be a potential source. I'd ok with a student for after school but I think holidays are a different matter. Grandparents are sadly as thin on the ground as childminders! (grandmas both dead, grandpas are either willing but incapable or capable but unwilling...).
the nounou concept (and name!) sounds great but may be hard to come by - possibly gumtree is the best bet. I'm in Newcastle and there isn't a huge nanny/au pair market. Actually thinking about it, my current nanny is probably a good person to talk to about how to find a replacement!
frannikin - do you just pay cash in hand as per a babysitter, or have something mroe formal?

elliott ....where ar eyou based?

This is the sort of thing that i do (among my many talents

I am based in Herts

www.mumyknowsbest.co.uk

Elliott - if you are within the M25 area, simply childcare here has always been good for us in finding flexible afterschool carers. Nannyjob and gumtree are both also worth posting on.

You could post a wanted ad on Gumtree, poss describe it as babysitting/childcare and explain what you need.
There are a few people looking for the sort of work you want on my local gumtree, some of them students.
I also think a part time nanny/nanny share or part time housekeeper are all options just not really sure how you find this kind of help, try local agencies maybe?

Sorry had only skimmed thread, see someone already suggested gumtree, but its worth a go anyway.

I am in Newcastle so the opportunities are less than around M25!
I think gumtree looks promising. When do you think I should start seriously looking/advertising if I am aiming to have someone in post in September?

If it's more than 6 weeks I'm employed by the family. I'm registered self-employed as a maternity/temporary nanny anyway but for the after-school work I'm on PAYE.

Do you have a relatively local uni? I got my latest job through the uni job centre strangely enough!

what if you advertised for a mother's help?

I know this is not usually a sole charge role, but I always understood it to mean primarily housework with some childcare on top, and you could specifically try and find someone who could offer the flexibility you need in the holidays.

Try asking the TA's at school/pre-school assistants - 2 of the women who work at my pre-school do after school care.

Could you make it the same 2 days each week and get a nanny- housekeeper type person to fill the hours they are at school with

cooking yummy nutritional meals for the freezer (lasagne / casseroles / pies etc)

a bit of supermarket shopping if it suited you

cleaning your house and doing the childrens ironing and washing their bedlinen etc?

It might make it easier for you to find a person though many nannies (myself included) might not want a job with so many chores... but im sure there are plenty who dont mind

We have someone very similar to this - university student who cycles a couple of miles to us three afternoons a week. The hours fit in well with her schedule and she`s happy with nine hours a week.
I answered her ad on Gumtree.
Holidays still a problem as she tends to not be around, but once they are all at school you do have to do alot of mixing and matching anyway.

Ad hoc arrangements are SO stressful! I worked freelance when the boys were younger but ended up often booking childcare I didn't necessarily need just to save having to turn down work. I found childminders great as they tended to be quite flexible and would often be happy to do agree to a set number of hours (and obviously guaranteed payment) but would let me say exactly when I needed them the week before. By often paying them for the maximum hours but not using them all I kept them very happy and me sane. That might be an incentive if you are finding it hard to find a childminder.

At DS2s last school in the UK there were two families with kids in his class who constantly tried to use other parents for childcare. One wasn't too bad as at least her son was a friend of mine and she would usually arrive to collect him with a bottle of wine in hand but the ones who realy took the piss had twins and a younger child and they would try and get you to have all three!!! The mother would blank me in the school yard on the rare occasions she appeared but would still phone me up asking me to take her kids to cubs/swimming etc. Luckily I have no problem saying no

frannikin - so are you employed by one family for regular after school work? (do you mind telling me what the gross hourly rate is?) Yes, I could try advertise via university - just a bit worried that this type of person will be very short term and really its the recruitment and finding someone that's the timeconsuming/stressful part!