nanny/au pair advice needed

[lucy01]

dd1 starts afternoon school nursery in sept. I work pt (3d) and we need help to get her from her nursery to school at lunchtime and then pick her up after school, looking after her until I get home from work. dd2 is also at nursery and we don't know what to do.

1. do we either have a nanny who will have both dds from 12 to 6 and do the school run , or

2. do we have an au pair to do the school run and then pick dd2 up from nursery around 5:30 b4 i get home at 6?

if we have a nanny then she/he will have both kids and we will have cover for the school holidays but it costs a bomb. i wouldn't let an au pair have dd2 (she'll be 18m in sept) all afternoon so she would stay at nursery but what about having dd1 in the holidays?

has anyone had experience of sharing a live-in nanny/au pair. how do you split the cost/wages to reflect them living in your home?

i am going round in circles over this - any help/advice/experience would be fantastic.

What about a flexible childminder?

Had a quick word with a friend (again!!) Have you thought about approaching/or putting up an ad in school odd teaching assistant/N/nurse may be looking for extra salary top up...just poss they could within their lunch hour collect littleone from nursery & drop off @ school for you. Also may be interested after school to...this is were my friend who came in handy, school staff member would legally need to collect own coat & leave school premises Only to return to be able to collect both child/ren etc. Policy regarding school & their own staff etc...& who knows Just May Be looking for school holiday P/T work!!!!

Derrrrrrrr sorry just read your thread again just older child starting school in..... still a possibility especially if littleone staying on in nursery till @ least school hours have finished.

I think I personally would look at the au pair option. Then you could also use her for household chores and errands that you don't have time for because you are at work. And, au pairs don't come with the emormous tax responsibility that nanny's come with (since you mentioned cost was an issue). The down side of an au pair is the turn over rate. You may spend a lot of time trying to manage her from afar (i.e. whilst at work) or you may be in a crunch for a new one when she suddenly hands in her two weeks notice.

It's not the done thing to get an au pair to have long hours of sole charge of an under-3, but if you can send her to a day care nursery, with the au pair picking her up and caring for her for half an hour, then that would probably work out.

An au pair typically does 25 hours a week, so if you can fit the various school runs into this time, then it should be a viable option for you. For the hours that the au pair is not looking after your children, she can do light cleaning (day to day stuff) your house, children's laundry etc. And you also get 2 evenings' babysitting per week.

For the holidays, you are right that the au pair couldn't really look after your younger daughter, but if you are happy with her, she could take care of your older one. You may have to put her hours up to "au pair plus" standards - 35 hours per week is typical, and she would have to be in the UK either as an EU citizen or a Commonwealth citizen on a working holiday maker visa.

We are on our third au pair and think that it is a great way to get help around the house and with the children. The pocket money is very easy - there are standards that you can follow. The absolute minimum for a standard au pair is £55 per week, but I think most people are likely to pay around the £70 mark; for an au pair plus, this would translate to about £100 per week.

Uh, yeah, that's what I meant. Ameriscot took much more time to type the details. But, I meant an au pair with nursery/childminder where au pair does the school/chilcare runs and then does some house works and runs errands to fill the rest of her 25 hours. I didn't mean to use an au pair for sole charge of 18 month old. Been there. Bad idea.

Yeah, the sole charge bit - half an hour, and a very specific half-hour at that - is actually very parent-directed (pick up child, take her home in her buggy, give her a drink etc.) and so not a high-risk operation.

This is not the same as sole charge where the carer has to plan and make many of the decisions.

Depends on what you can afford, and what suits your lifestyle/your children's needs. I found that nanny was cheaper than cost of daycare nursery for 2, and given that I preferred the pre-school option to daycare for 3+ and loved the flexibility that nanny offers (DD has SN so dedicated care was a dream for us) it was a no-brainer. But I work 3 days which affects nursery costs and am in London where they are pricier than in rest of country - not sure nanny salaries vary quite as much as it were.

It's a real pain, is all I can say, when the 2 kids are split between school and nursery. I've tried all sort of things and nothing is totally satisfactory. Au pairs aren't suitable for toddlers, and nannies are too dear. If I had it to do over, I would try to find a childminder through the nursery and school to do both of them, that would also give some continuity with any luck in following years.

Smart of you to start sorting it out now. Good luck!

Thanks for all your advice/tips/etc I think that this is going to be a bit of a headache. the school is about 20 mins drive away (private but where we live in london we won't be offered a local school - the black hole of muswell hill as it is known locally!) so that's abit much for a childminder. sensible option would be to have a nanny all day 3 days a week but the kids are happy at nursery and we really like it so don't want to move them out.

someone warned me that the problems with childcare really start when they reach school age - boy were they right.

will have to hope that whatever we decide will work out (finger crossing, etc). any other ideas/tips greatfully received

Lucy01
could you afford to have a nanny for 3 days a week?
This would mean your school hols will automatically covered and the kids will have continuity!
i work as a nanny and my charges are at school every morning, twice a week a little after lunch time as well.
It means that once a week i do a supermarket shop (not necessarily in a typical nannies job description, but given that then i get all the ingrediants for the meals i plan etc, i find it works the best)
I also sometimes nip in and do a bit of childrens ironing, or do some cooking for the children.
My family also have 2 gorgosue dogs (and im a REAL 'dog person') so sometimes i go and walk them too... they live right by the sea and the garden backs onto the shore so there are no shortage of walks!
i work mon - fri BTW, but am sure if you were happy to pay a nanny for 3 days anyway, you may find an extra special one who really appreciates the time off in the day, and as a result will stay longer and give continuity for the children.

(i DO appreciat that 'us nannies' are very expensive tho!)