Childminder, Nanny, Nursery -- combination platter or just one main meal?

[oregonianabroad]

I've posted on another thread about this but wanted to know if anyone out there uses a combination of childcare. Does it work? What are the pitfalls? Is one better than the others?

I have 2dcs in nursery 2 days per week, and a babysitter comes once a week while I am at an evening course. I am also expected to do some work from home, and am considering increasing my workload from September.

We live in a rural area (I think an au pair is out of the question) and don't have any family near us, so we really struggle with getting the housework done, finding time for studying, getting any time for ourselves, in case of illness, etc.

We also commute 20 miles in opposite directions. The nursery we currently use is 20 miles from our house and near my work, which is convenient, but less so in the case of illness or on an ad-hoc basis.

I have been really happy with the nursery and would like to continue using it, at least 1 or 2 days per week. My babysitter has also been great, but she lives about 10 miles from us and doesn't drive. Plus, she is going to college and very busy, so not very flexible.

I'm exploring the option of extra childcare perhaps 2 afternoons per week, and we'd like to find someone who could do weekends occasionally.

So next thing to establish I think, is how many days per week you need a nanny. Probably best to keep some consistency for the children, so keep the 2 nursery days.

Would you be able to offer a nanny 3 days work, for the other weekdays? How many hours each day would you need - start, finish time.

Agreed... you need a list of the things you NEED them to match. If can't tick the boxes, then they are a non-starter.
So we need to come up with the list of things that are non-negotiable.

So far:
Driver with Car.

What else?

No, unfortunately not.

I was kind of thinking of something more along the lines of (and tell me if this is really unrealistic): 2 afternoons or mornings, plus ad hoc days, increasing to 1 full day and 2 afternoons from September?

non-smoker.
has all nec checks, etc.
good sense of humour.
fun to be around.
good references.
interesting.
does lots of activities (ds1 is very energetic).
flexible & can do extra work.

Actually, if they were Ofsteded we could maybe afford to have him/her more.

have a look at this person's profile and tell me what you think

tbh think it depends if nanny has another job - she or he (in nicks)case wouldnt be able to survive on just an am or pm as and when, so might be better to have a def all day every week

cant see profile, just the cv page on nj

cant see profile, just the cv page on nj

No, I thought that; I was thinking of 2 reg afternoons till I start working 3 days, then 1 full day plus 1 or 2 half days regularly, then extra on top?

oops menat to say CV.

She sounds nice and articulate, don't you think?

I emailed her and asked her how many hours she was looking for and how flexible she is. Thought it best to start with that before giving her the full-on inquisition.

yes, does sound good

hope you get the reply you want

I think you need to take the bull by the horns and be prepared to offer what you need in the future now. I know that will be hard to justify financially, but I feel that finding someone who could commit to a couple of afternoons now, then increase that over time, is going to be very hard.

Someone registered under the Ofsted Childcare Register will be able to accept part-payment in childcare vouchers (from your employer, note: not all employers provide them). But... making it a requirement that someone is on the OCR, again will limit the number of applicants.

You want to see if you can come up with a way of making the job attractive to as many people as possible.

The CV you linked to, appears to me to be looking for a job in Yorkshire. Thought you were in a different county.

i wondered that - saw yorkshire

not too sure where co durham is tbh

I am in a different county, but I googled from Northallerton and it's 25 miles away! She did say 25 mile radius!

Perhaps I am jsut being hopeful.

So, you think we should wait till we can afford this and do it properly (from end of August/ beg of Sept) rather than try to find someone now?

I'm going to have to head off now to collect the los from nursery, will check back later, but thank you again to both of you.

25miles do seem a long way to drive, esp if you are in the middle of nowhere and it gets snowy

but

always worth an email/chat

and no harm in looking as it might take a while

I think that starting to look now is a good idea. But if by saying the start date is September, you are able to fix the hours/days better, then I feel that is something to aim for. You may find that applicants who are looking for a September start, can actually start earlier, and may be able to start earlier with less hours.

Talking of which... what hours do you actually need? If it was possible to have the job fit 9.30am to 2.30pm, it may suit a local parent with a school aged child. This opens up the job to more people.
So instead of say 2 afternoons per week, it is 10-2 or 9.30-2.30 two days a week. Would still be 8 to 10 hours per week, thus same cost as two afternoons.

25 miles to me sounds too far away. While there is a motorway in your area, how busy does that get.
Also is it worth someone travelling 50+ miles per day, for a job which is 5 hours or less?
Given the cost of fuel, as a nanny, I'd certainly be looking to work near my home!

good point about the petrol costs, nannynick, and I already feel guilty about the commuting we do.

that's a great idea you had about the hours to advertise, i hadn't thought of that but you are absolutely right.

Supposing I find the right person, what would you say is the average length of time a nanny stays with a family? The reason I ask is because I'm thinking ahead long-term to when they are both school age (ds1 is 3 now), we will need someone to do school runs and provide after-school care. I am thinking this is one advantage of finding a good CM? (I mean, less likelihood of moving on?)

I don't know if there is an average length that a nanny works for a family. Situations with the family, or the nanny can change over time.
One job I had, I had for a year as the families needs changed once all their children started school. I've known a nanny who stayed nearly 10 years, but I'm sure there are nannies who have stayed 10 months, or only 10 weeks, or even worse, didn't last more than 10 days.

Changes to working hours may make the job impossible for someone to continue doing, as initially the hours fitted... but the new hours don't.

Perhaps others on here, parents and nannies, could give a better indication of what to expect.

Yes, a local childminder could be better in this respect, though as you will read on this board, changes to childminder regulations is meaning that some childminders will not be continuing to provide their service.

My daughter (3.4) is in pre-school five mornings a week. When I need more childcare than that, I generally use a babysitter - having looked at all kinds of alternatives, it works out more cost-efficient to use a babysitter on an ad hoc basis than anything else.

Obviously, this depends on having quite a few babysitters in my address book - we live in a big city (Paris) and there are lots of graduate student types who are quite flexible time wise and are happy to do daytime babysitting providing the time required is long enough to make it worth their while.

Thanks again Nick. I'll look out for more info on changes to childminder reg threads for further info (unless you have a link?)

Anna, how did you find your babysitters then, word of mouth or did you post an ad?

thanks.

origonianabroad, I am sure there must be someone you would be happy with, when i am set up i for one would be happy with the 'set' days and the rest adhoc, having a dd myself overnights/weekends wouldnt be a problem either, there must be someone out there for you