evening childcare in Cornwall

[mumnanny]

Hi, just thought i would try and get some opinions. I am presently living in London and am married with a 2 year old. I am planning on moving to Cornwall between now and october. I am thinking of working nights with my husband and so would need a carer from about 10pm to 12midday thurs thru sun. I would prefer to have someone in my home but I wouldnt be able to afford a nanny. Think I would have to try and get an aupair or a live in Nanny as I could offer acommodation, meals and probably around 80pounds per week spending money depending what wage i am on. i mean it wouldnt be hard work my son sleeps thru the night and obvioulsty they wouldnt be expected to stay up. just be there and get him up for breaky, play with him until one of us wakes at 12pm and we can take over. they would have off basically from monday 12midday til thursday 10pm where they could easily get more work or travel. What are your thoughts? Im a professional nanny and have never really looked into this side of childcare before...

I don't think you'll have much luck getting anyone to do that for £80 per week. It is too many hours and too much sole charge care for an au pair and anyone doing this job would have to give up ALL their weekends.

That's a 56 hour week - for £80

I agree. Not for £80.

A live in nanny isn't going to accept £80 per week. £80 per day perhaps!
I suspect what you are wanting just won't be possible. Is working daytime possible? My sister is moving to Cornwall soon and has been looking at nurseries and she says they charge half what she currently pays in Essex.

You might get an aupair to do this, if you were happy with them doing that much sole care. But realistically, for all of your sons waking hours (Fri - Mon), you are going to be in the house, so not real sole charge. What time does your son wake up? 7amish? So they're going to be doing 20 hours of care a week, and just babysitting 4 nights per week.

Yes, the ap will be giving up all of their weekends, but some might not mind this, if you pick the right one, and are prepared to let them become a real part of the family during the week.

It's worth advertising to test the water I think. However, you'd run the risk that you'd find it almost impossible to get replacement childcare should the ap leave for whatever reason (and lately they seem to be doing that a lot ). My only other thought would be that children always seem to be illest at night. Both of mine can be fine during the day, but then up coughing and crying during the night. Could you let somebody else with little or no childcare experience deal with this? Or would you continually be taking time off to be with your son.

I would think you could make more money if you got a job as a live-out nanny where you could bring your 2 year old with you. The savings in childcare would more than make up for the loss in income (assuming family wants to pay you a bit less for the priviledge of bringing your child with you).