advice on nanny-sharing

[caroline55]

I'm trying to find a nanny-share for my little boy who is 3 - ideally I would like him to share with a child of a similar age or a little older. I'm running out of time and seem to keep finding people who wish to share but have a younger child or baby. My son will be at nursery in the morning so he will in effect only be with the nanny and other child in the afternoon. Does anyone have any experience of this kind of situation? Any general tips on nanny-sharing would be welcome as I've only got experience of nurseries and feel very nervous about switching to a nanny. Tks.

I can only comment from my experience of sharing with an older child, but my ds started a nanny share when he was 6 mths. The older child (18mths older than ds) was much younger than his 2 siblings and seemed to enjoy being the bigger one after a brief period of being jealous that he had to share the nanny. She took them to playgroups so they got to mix, and the big advantage for the other family was that when they no longer needed a nanny, I still did, especially as I now have a younger dd. Ds and his former ally still get together, though it's less easy as the other child is now in school. When ds started playgroup on his own, they went together, and that eased the transition. I felt that many small children grow up with others who are close to their age but a bit smaller or bigger, and I was lucky to have found a good nanny. We also had a child one day a week who was exactly the same age as ds but a bit difficult. I'd say a good nanny rather than an exact age match is the key, but that's just my experience.