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JessieJH
member
Nanny Share question
JessieJH
member
Hi,
As of yesterday I officially have a daycare ready to cover us when I go back to work in July of 2012. I'm due in February, but luckily DH and I have plenty of leave to cover those first few months.
We consider daycare to be our backup plan, though the daycare we've secured seems excellent (Evergreen Academy Montessori in Totem Lake). Something we've been mulling over is a nanny share. We live in Kenmore and it seems like a great option if we can make it work.
Have any of you mom's done both daycare and nannyshare at some point? What were the pros and cons? How did you find a nanny and family to share with? Any tips as we start to look into this would be great. Thanks!
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Re: Nanny Share question
Newlywed Athlete Blog
DD Arrived 10/17/2011
2012 Races
Valentine's Day Dash - 5k - 2/11/12 - 34:21
Kirkland 5k - 5/13/12 - 31:59
We've done both in-home daycare and are currently doing a nanny-share. Below is what our experiences have been, I know others have had different experiences.
In-Home Daycare
Pros: more consistent schedule, usually someone to cover in the event that a caregiver is sick, must abide my licensing guidelines, structured hours
Cons: more kids = less attention (learning, eating, sleeping, playing), more kids=more germs, depending on the place there may or may not be a structured learning/activity schedule
Nanny-Share
Pros: flexible schedule (start hours, days off, half days, etc), opportunity for lots of one-on-one time, ability to sign kids up for art/music/gym/language classes, lots of specialized learning/teaching, can pay attention to specific issues the child might be having (potty training, sep. anxiety, language dev., sharing, etc), can focus on specific interests of the kids (alphabet, nature, counting, music)
Cons: If the nanny is sick or 1 of the other kids is sick it can really throw a wrench in your day, need to determine if you'll pay under the table or not.
For us, nanny-share has been a WAY better experience and Lucy has really thrived in it. She's built a very close bond to the other girls and the nanny and she has learned so much. We found ours through craigslist. It took me several months worth of searching, but it was worth the wait.
Alli923- Thanks for your response.
To PP- I was really impressed with Evergreen Academy. I toured the infant room (up to 10 months), Waddler room (in between 10 months and toddler stage) and Toddler room. What most impressed me was the infant room. The ratio was better than the other places I checked. They have 3 teachers to 8 babies (usually i was seeing 2 teachers to 8 babies at other DCs). They didn't have any swings and I've been looking for a place that won't just put the baby in the neglectomatic. When I toured the teachers were actively holding and playing with the babies. The scene was very calm, neat and welcoming. They were very encouraging of breastfeeding and were open to cloth diapering. Mostly I was happy to see a Montessori that accepted babies since the one closest to my house does not. They have a LONG waiting list, but since we are not coming in until July the lady thought we'd be fine.
I was also impressed with the Waddler and Toddlers. The kids all seemed happy and actively at play. The teachers were reading books and seemed really engaged with the kids. The outdoor play areas are great too.
We also have a nanny share and I echo a lot of the earlier statements about it. LOVE having a nanny share and the flexibility it provides. There are also other perks, depending on how you write up the contractual agreement:
- Nanny will help do/fold child's laundry during the day
- I cloth diaper and she'll actually help with getting cloth diaper laundry done during the day so I'm not dealing with it when I return home!
- When we are on vacation and she is in town, she'll stop by our house and get mail, feed the cats, etc..--nice to not have to pay a cat sitter or house sitter!
We found our nanny through Care.com -- over 60 people responded to our ad, we narrowed it down to 10 to interview and then hired from there! We probably would've been happy with 3-4.
I met the other family through work fortunately---so the fact that we both work at the same company is very helpful as it means we have similar holidays and dealing with when the nanny is sick.
It's been an amazing experience -- my DD is now 18 months old and we are continuing until next Sept at least!