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Working Moms
IBackBevo
member
May 2014 January Siggy Challenge:
Ugh. Having care problems...again.
IBackBevo
member
in Working Moms
First, I am on my cell so I apologize for typos...
I have posted before. We caught our first nanny smoking on the job (had lied multiple times about being a smoker) and had to let her go. Then we found a great nanny, but after 2.5 months her husband was transferred out of the country and we had to find a new nanny. Again, we were able to find someone great after a lot of looking. Each switch was very time consuming to find someone new...and stressful.
Now another issue has come up. When we hired the most recent nanny about 3 months ago, she told us she only wanted to work part time. This was perfect for us because we only need someone for about 30 to 35 hours a week. Most of the time we only need someone Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, but occasionally I have to work on Wednesday, too, because I am an attorney in litigation and sometimes hearings or depos are scheduled for Wednesday. (For whatever reason it seems like things usually are not scheduled for Friday. ) During the interview, she said this was fine...even good. Reiterated she didn't want to work full time. It seemed to be a perfect fit. I have probably used her thus far on about a half dozen times in her 3 or so months with us . A couple of times she has had other plans like one time she was going to a musical and we had to work out some thing else, but generally it has worked well. Until now.
I have a case that has finally geared up and the depos are being all scheduled for Tuesdays and Wednesdays. There are 20+ parties in this case so i have little say in scheduling. There will be 40+ depos in the upcoming months. Most will be out of town. I have to cover them...or most of them. My firm is too small to regularly send someone else. ..may work for one or two but not on a regular basis. I didn't think this would be a problem based on the arrangement with our nanny. However, now the nanny tells she is taking another job on Wednesdays and Fridays and so will no longer be able to watch him on Wednesdays. She also lets it drop these other people are paying her more. (As an aside, I do pay her going rate or better and we give her pto even though she is part time.) Now I fully realize that I can not expect her to turn down 2 regular days a week of work for one. It caught me off guard because it was a total 180 from her earlier representations. Regardless, it still leaves me in a bind because this is happening exactly when I am going to start needing child care every single Wednesday. So now I don't know what to do...
I am not even sure if I can find a daycare that will take my son only 1 day a week. Likely i will have to pay for 2 or 3 days just to use 1. And some don't have part time programs at all. Plus, one of the main reasons I have wanted to keep him out of daycare was to avoid illness...so that goes out the window. If I am going to have to pay for full time day care (or, at least, pay for alot more than i use) and deal with all the illness that goes around daycares heading into cold season (I used to work in one and even as an adult I was constantly sick during the winter months) then I start wondering why I am even paying a crap load of money to have a nanny at all? Maybe I should just put him in daycare and save myself a lot of money.
My other thought was to just try to make it work (not sure how exactly) through the winter months and then put him in daycare full time come spring so I always have some care available and just keep him home on days I don't work.
Or I could also look for a live in au pair which would be cheaper than my current nanny but I would not run into this problem.
I have done enough nanny searching to know that it will be next to impossible to find someone for just Wednesday. More than anything I am just so tired of every couple of months having to figure out something new.
Any angle or ideas I am not thinking of?
I have posted before. We caught our first nanny smoking on the job (had lied multiple times about being a smoker) and had to let her go. Then we found a great nanny, but after 2.5 months her husband was transferred out of the country and we had to find a new nanny. Again, we were able to find someone great after a lot of looking. Each switch was very time consuming to find someone new...and stressful.
Now another issue has come up. When we hired the most recent nanny about 3 months ago, she told us she only wanted to work part time. This was perfect for us because we only need someone for about 30 to 35 hours a week. Most of the time we only need someone Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, but occasionally I have to work on Wednesday, too, because I am an attorney in litigation and sometimes hearings or depos are scheduled for Wednesday. (For whatever reason it seems like things usually are not scheduled for Friday. ) During the interview, she said this was fine...even good. Reiterated she didn't want to work full time. It seemed to be a perfect fit. I have probably used her thus far on about a half dozen times in her 3 or so months with us . A couple of times she has had other plans like one time she was going to a musical and we had to work out some thing else, but generally it has worked well. Until now.
I have a case that has finally geared up and the depos are being all scheduled for Tuesdays and Wednesdays. There are 20+ parties in this case so i have little say in scheduling. There will be 40+ depos in the upcoming months. Most will be out of town. I have to cover them...or most of them. My firm is too small to regularly send someone else. ..may work for one or two but not on a regular basis. I didn't think this would be a problem based on the arrangement with our nanny. However, now the nanny tells she is taking another job on Wednesdays and Fridays and so will no longer be able to watch him on Wednesdays. She also lets it drop these other people are paying her more. (As an aside, I do pay her going rate or better and we give her pto even though she is part time.) Now I fully realize that I can not expect her to turn down 2 regular days a week of work for one. It caught me off guard because it was a total 180 from her earlier representations. Regardless, it still leaves me in a bind because this is happening exactly when I am going to start needing child care every single Wednesday. So now I don't know what to do...
I am not even sure if I can find a daycare that will take my son only 1 day a week. Likely i will have to pay for 2 or 3 days just to use 1. And some don't have part time programs at all. Plus, one of the main reasons I have wanted to keep him out of daycare was to avoid illness...so that goes out the window. If I am going to have to pay for full time day care (or, at least, pay for alot more than i use) and deal with all the illness that goes around daycares heading into cold season (I used to work in one and even as an adult I was constantly sick during the winter months) then I start wondering why I am even paying a crap load of money to have a nanny at all? Maybe I should just put him in daycare and save myself a lot of money.
My other thought was to just try to make it work (not sure how exactly) through the winter months and then put him in daycare full time come spring so I always have some care available and just keep him home on days I don't work.
Or I could also look for a live in au pair which would be cheaper than my current nanny but I would not run into this problem.
I have done enough nanny searching to know that it will be next to impossible to find someone for just Wednesday. More than anything I am just so tired of every couple of months having to figure out something new.
Any angle or ideas I am not thinking of?
IF DX: DOR & Fragile X pre-mutation carrier
2011: FSH 13.3 & E 99; AMH 0.54 2nd FSH 6.2 E 40's AFC: 8
BFP from Clomid/IUI ~ Pre-e and IUGR during pregnancy ~ DS born 9/4/12
Feb./March 2013: AMH less than 0.16 (undectable) and AFC = 4;
BFP from supps ~ DS#2 due May 2014
2011: FSH 13.3 & E 99; AMH 0.54 2nd FSH 6.2 E 40's AFC: 8
BFP from Clomid/IUI ~ Pre-e and IUGR during pregnancy ~ DS born 9/4/12
Feb./March 2013: AMH less than 0.16 (undectable) and AFC = 4;
BFP from supps ~ DS#2 due May 2014
May 2014 January Siggy Challenge:
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Ugh. Having care problems...again.
2011: FSH 13.3 & E 99; AMH 0.54 2nd FSH 6.2 E 40's AFC: 8
BFP from Clomid/IUI ~ Pre-e and IUGR during pregnancy ~ DS born 9/4/12
Feb./March 2013: AMH less than 0.16 (undectable) and AFC = 4;
BFP from supps ~ DS#2 due May 2014
May 2014 January Siggy Challenge:
I don't think there's any harm in at least checking out some centers and some in-home daycare providers to see if you are able to find something that's a good fit. Yes, there will be sicknesses in a group setting and other challenges, but it might work out better in the long run than constantly having to scramble for care.
DS2 - Oct 2010 (my VBAC baby!)
I would hire an au pair if you can afford to. I worked with people who had one and it was great. If they wanted to go in the evening they didn't need to search for a babysitter. The au pair can also do other things like grocery shop for you, clean, ect.