Nanny Questions!

[brown_eyes]

I know it's been FOREVER since I've checked in on here, but I need help from my pricescope friends.

We recently moved to Seattle and are hoping to need a nanny starting in January (read, I am hoping I have found a job by then). Our daughter will be about 11 months old by then. We are looking a little outside of the box into nanny shares and the like to save money and because day cares in our area have crazy wait lists. I had an offer made through my "Meetup" group for someone looking to Nanny while watching her son (he is 2 months younger than my daughter). I am keeping an open mind, but wanted to get some opinions...

1. Would you do this? If so, what are your deal-breakers. What questions would you ask?

2. What should we be paying for this type of situation? We are considering dropping off our daughter, so what is a fair price for her coming to our house, and what is a fair price for us dropping our daughter off? It would be a full time thing, with some possible flexibility (my husband is in school so, while we don't know his schedule for the winter quarter, it is possible that he can pick her up early on some days or drop her off later on some days).

3. Also, for tax purposes, what do I need to know? In other words, what do we need to discuss?

Thanks in advance!

 

[amc80]

3. Also, for tax purposes, what do I need to know? In other words, what do we need to discuss?

Thanks in advance!

I can help with this one. In order to get the child care credit, they would have to be claiming what you pay as income. It would depend on where the care takes place as to how exactly it is done. I believe that if they are in your house, they are an employee of you, and that's different than if the care is done in their home. If this is going to be an under-the-table sort of thing, you won't be able to claim any of the expenses.

 

[eh613c]

Would I do this? It depends.

Does this person only one child? Or does she have an older child that is in school all day? The reason why I ask this is that when you first have your child, you think you can handle another but in reality the amount of work doesn't double...it's exponential. Make sure she knows what it entails to have 2 little ones.

Does she have similar parenting style as you do? Your child will be with this person for the most part of the day.

If you're going to drop of your daughter at her house, is her house adequately child proofed?

Will she take in your daughter if your daughter is sick, considering she has a little one too?

Do you expect her to take your daughter and her child to the park, around the block, etc? If so, will both of you be willing to buy/share a double stroller? Or does she have one already?

As for pay, I live in CA in a high cost of living area and I hear moms paying an average of $18/hour.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Where we live it is more like $10-12 an hour for the person to come to your house and about $200-250 a week if you take the child to them. I do think little children and babies are entertained by other small children, so I think for a 1 year old, it might be good if you can work it out to stay home when your child is sick and have an alternate sitter when her child is sick.

 

[lliang_chi]

I live in Chicago, and the rate for a nanny is $18/hr (net). If I were to go with a SAHM who was watching my child as a for extra income, I'd probably pay her $250/wk.

For any kind of nanny share, the question of parenting style is very important. Stuff like sleep/nap routines/training, food choices, discipline. See if these are what you subscribe to.

 

[Octavia]

Hi brown_eyes! I don't have advice, but I just wanted to say welcome to Seattle

Also, kind of bummed to hear about the wait lists for daycares...we are thinking of trying for a kiddo in the nearish future and this is one of my biggest fears! I'd love to hear more about how things work out for you once you figure out what you're going to do. Good luck with the job hunt!

 

[enbcfsobe]

Maybe I'm just neurotic but I'd expect any full-time caregiver who I didn't know personally to be willing to have a background check, and if my child was staying at the caregiver's home I'd want to know a lot more about their family and who was frequently in their home. These are some of the things that a daycare licensing process would cover even for a small in-home situation, and I'd want to be armed with much of the same info before making a decision. Most nanny/sitter hiring sites do this too from what I understand.
Also as some have mentioned I'd want to have a clear plan in place for backup care, including details such as what happens when the caregiver needs to use the bathroom or if she needs to run an errand? If she's not in this business she may not have considered these things yet. I can't help you on the tax/employment issues but I'd want to be really sure I understood the implications so that I didn't wind up owing a lot of taxes or unemployment or workers comp.

 

[Bella_mezzo]

Just a quick threadjack to say, Octavia, don't be worried about the daycare waitlist, it will work itself out!

I live in NYC and was super stressed about this, and then ended up not having any issues with waitlists for the daycare I wanted and then I moved my son to a more informal in-home kind of setting (for scheduling/logistics/financial reasons and b/c I really liked the lady) and there were absolutely no waitlist issues at all.

Have a child when you want to/are able to, all the rest will work itself out!

 

[brown_eyes]

Thanks Ladies!

We have a great daycare at the end of our block which would be perfect, but I'm not sure when a spot will open up. We're at the top of the wait-list, so we'll see. I'm also checking out another daycare tomorrow, and calling a few more to set up tours. I am a little nervous about having someone care for my daughter as what seems like an afterthought to earn extra cash. Mainly I worry about this mom not really knowing how much work two will be (especially as her son becomes mobile and my daughter starts walking). We are meeting on Wednesday, so hopefully I can get answers to all my questions and ease my mind some. If it worked out, it could save us some money.

Octavia - Don't worry about the daycare situation too much. Part of our problem is that we moved to Seattle when she was 6 months old, and I still have no idea when my employment situation will work itself out. It would be a lot easier if I could have toured day cares while I was pregnant and knew when I would need to enroll her. Another problem is that I don't know where I will be working and I would like to have her somewhere that is convenient for both DH and I to pick up/drop off.