what do you do about your nanny when your child(ren) start part-time pre-school?

[MGMidget]

I'm having to pay a deposit now to secure a pre-school place for my son at a rather pricey private nursery. As he's our only child with no sign of number two putting in an appearance yet I'm wondering how to keep our lovely nanny occupied and motivated once his is attending a morning pre-school nursery? I wondered what others in this position do/have done/would do and does he really need pre-school? Our nanny is well qualified (level 3 CACHE Diploma - a qualification that many nursery school teachers have) so in theory he could get better tuition one to one with her than in a nursery with a ratio of one teacher to eight! Do others not bother with pre-school nurseries if they have a nanny or do you think they provide things a nanny who takes him to playgroups and other social activities can't fulfill? And if so, do you find other things for your nanny to do (e.g. household chores, cooking?) whilst your child(ren) are at nursery or do you try to renegotiate their hours? Is it plausible to find a nanny prepared to work, say, afternoons only or are they a rare breed? And, is a nannyshare a good arrangement in these circumstances? All views welcome!

When I was nannying for a family where the older children were at school and the youngest went to morning pre-school, I spent the time tidying up after the morning school run chaos. So loading the dishwasher, doing laundry, making lunch.

You may find that a couple of mornings of pre-school is sufficient, with the other days being spent all day 1:1 with nanny - so they can do outings on those days (visit museums, the aquarium, etc.)

If you drop your nannies hours, consider what happens if your son is ill, if pre-school closes for some reason (inset day, heating breakdown). Also the pre-school may want some parent help - which your nanny could do in your place.

As a nanny:

I would happily do nursery duties, a bit of extra cooking, preparing for activities in the mornings so I don't have to do those things when the child is with me.

Pre-school is your choice but I personally will be sending my child (if it ever puts in an appearance) to a couple of sessions a week from the age of about 2 because, whilst playgroups and social activities are great, children are probably going to end up going to school eventually and cope with that low child/teacher ratio and nurseries promote social skills and independence away from primary carers. Preschool isn't just about the intellect/EYFS side of things - it's also about being in a class and mixing with other children, taking part in structured activities with other children, following a routine which isn't completely dictated by the child/what carers think suits the child best and being away from a primary carer for periods of time.

Nannyshares can work well, but that's a whole other topic!

We kept our nanny on FT. The timing of taking DCs to school/ pre-school meant that we needed her for about 30 mins in the morning, to stop us being late for work every day. There are school holidays to consider and for some reason DS2 has never caught chickenpox, so that is a fortnight off at some date too. By the time she was back, she actually only had 2 hours before she had to go to school to collect. I was happy for her to do child-related chores then, so she had more free time to actually play with DCs when they were not at school.

We are on our second nanny since DC1 started pre-school. Now DS1 is at school FT, and DS2 will be at school FT soon too. The nannies have variously gone into class to listen to children reading, gone with the class on outings to the library and local shops, helped with the arts and crafts for the school Xmas fair, started ordering the on-line groceries as well as just receiving them, volunteered to wash our towels as well as the DCs, got active in the PTA, showed up to meetings and assemblies at school called at short notice for inconvenient times, queued in post offices to post parcels of returned goods from my internet shopping, collected dry cleaning...

I don't think they've been bored! My view is that any chore a nanny is prepared to take on is one less for me and therefore if it's not nursery duties she can choose whether or not she does it. It would be great if our nanny did the ironing for me and DH for example, but as she loathes ironing I don't expect her to do any more than the DCs ironing. However I am very excited at never having to go to a PTA meeting. The boys are at state school at the moment so continuing with the nanny is cost-neutral for us if you see what I mean.

I would ask your nanny for her views if I were you.