Mulling over a few options for childcare when I start my new job in January, and wondered whether mothers of uni students thought this would be a good idea or not. I have posted about this is childcare too, although from a slightly different angle.
I was wondering about the idea of finding a student who would like to live in my spare room rent free, in exchange for doing some childcare.
I have 3 children - a 16 year old boy, an 11 year old girl and a 9 year old boy. The eldest is on the autistic spectrum - he is pretty good really, but he cannot be responsible for his siblings at all, and does need someone pointing him in the right direction in the mornings.
I will be leaving for work at 6:30am - I would need someone to get the children up at this time, make sure they eat breakfast, and walk the younger two to school for 8am. I also won't get home until about 6-6:30 pm, so someone would need to pick them up from school, walk them home and keep an eye on them until I get there. Their school day finishes at 3:30, although they could stay in after school club until 5:30 if the student had lectures until 5. Their school is across the road from one of the uni campuses. So I am basically looking for someone responsible to supervise my children for either 2 1/2 or 4 1/2 hours a day altogether. I can be a bit flexible with this - the children are capable of walking to and from school on their own, but I really don't want them in the house on their own with their elder brother.
In exchange for the child supervision I would offer a rent free room (student rooms in this area are about £60 per week) with food and bills included. If the student was doing more than 2 1/2 hours a day I would also offer an appropriate amount of "pocket money".
Do you think this is something some students might be interested in, or is it a stupid idea?