Hi- I posted this on my BMB, but thought I might get more insights here.
We pay a sickening amount IMO for daycare. For that amount I expect my kid to be on cloud 9 most of the time. Instead we have daily troubles at drop off and almost weekly diaper rash (never occurs when she's on our watch at home). We went with a daycare because DD will be an only child and we wanted her around other kiddos, but now it's just now seeming to work. The staff seems to change up a lot and I really think she needs more consistency. I'm considering hiring a nanny or au pair (spelling?).
Has anyone switched? I have no idea what to expect in terms of salary (we live in Seattle so I imagine it's going to be a lot). Should I expect to pay payroll taxes for a nanny? Have you done background checks? If I do this I want to have a good situation for us and the nanny. I would want them to have a competitive salary and set up, but how do I know that that is for one child? I even have thought about approaching one woman who my daughter adores and who has babysat for us about coming to work for us, but I have no idea how her daycare salary (I know they have no benefits) would compare to a nanny salary.
If anyone has a nanny or au pair I'd love to hear your experiences. I know that financially this is going to be tough, but I think it may be the right thing to do in our situation.
Thanks!
Re: Pondering a Nanny
We have two sons and are pregnant with our third. We went from a nanny to a daycare because we felt the nanny wasn't offering much by way of education, exploration, interesting experiences, etc. to our sons. They just seemed like they wante
We decided on a nanny because the daycare we wanted was so far out of the way, it didn't cost that much more when you figure in time spent, convenience and gas. We went with a nanny agency, just because I wasn't comfortable doing all the backgrou