Would anyone actually take this job and if so who?

[nigglewiggle]

I am contemplating going back to work next year and I am trying to work out the best arrangement for childcare.

I will have a 3 year old doing half days at pre-school and a 5 year old at school on the same site.

I will be working shifts. Possibly some nights, certainly some late nights and some days off in the week. My DH works away quite a lot and works long hours. He is always home at weekends.

I am thinking that employing a nanny would perhaps be our best option (?), but I know nothing about these things. Would anyone really be willing to work random hours each week with little notice? Their hours would not amount to a full-time job and they would occasionally need to sleep over.

I'm not making this sound very appealing am I . I guess I'm just trying to fathom out whether it is in any way workable.

Any advice welcome.

You may find a nanny with her own child happy enough to do random hours as long as you could work out an average over the month so she knows how much pay

I think we would guarantee a minimum monthly amount and if they worked less then they would still get paid. Hopefully that might make up for the random hours.

Yes. I'm just finishing a position like that, except I didn't need to do nights. As a nanny with own child I would certainly consider it, especially if you would be happy for my own child to also occasionally stay over on said nights as my other half also works away sometimes.

Where are you based?!

I don't see why not, nights would be very occasional I'm fairly sure. The only thing that occurs to me is that I would need school drop-offs and pick-ups on some days and presumably you would need to be doing the same for your own child at the same time?

We're in West Yorkshire BTW. Are you looking for a new job?

I'm nowhere near you unfortunately, but yes, I am looking for a new job. My own child is 18 months old so wouldn't be an issue with this kind of job.

That's a shame!

A shame indeed. Ah, so your child would not be at school. If you don't mind me asking, I presume therefore that you also look after your own child when nannying. This wouldn't be a problem BTW, I'm just trying to figure out how it would all work.

My last position (for the last year) has been looking after 2 children, aged 7 and 3, alongside my own daughter. I take my little girl to their house. I pick up the 3 year old from nursery, take her home, give her lunch and then we do activities until the older girl comes out of school. I pick her up, take her home, make dinner.

For this I take a reduced hourly rate to make up for the care not being on a one-to-one basis.

My hours varied as the Mum was doing a nursing degree and her weeks were never the same. I did longer hours when she was on a placement. For my flexibility I was paid for core hours and was never paid under these, even when I didn't work my full core hours.

Worked well, my daughter and my two charges got on very well despite the age difference.

Only leaving as we as a family are relocating.

Hope this helps - a form of childcare a bit out of the ordinary but an option to think about.

Good luck!

That sounds great. My DD's would love another little one around! Thank you for being prepared to give me all the details, it is really helpful.

I guess I now just need to find a nanny with a young child, or even better, a child at DD's school!

So, where would be the best place to advertise for a nanny?

Netmums

Free places to advertise are your local netmums board, gumtree, here (which you have already done ;) ).

I think they possibly charge parents, but the jobs board at nannyjob can be helpful too.

You could also try agencies but they will definately charge a fee. Depending where in West Yorks you are, I might be able to recommend some agencies if you want to look into that route!

Thank you. I might try to avoid an agency, I would rather that all the money goes to the nanny. Not really advertising yet as I'm not due back until next year. I'm just trying to work out my options and sort out how everything works.