Anybody have a nanny/household manager?

[monsterz]

I am finding that trying to get somebody to do a split shift for before and after school care for our 1st grader is difficult.   People don't lake the split shift nature of things. I would be happy to have them do other tasks during the day but I am at a loss for what this could include.  Curious if others have experience?

We are on the waiting list for the before/after school program but there is a 2 year waiting list so am looking for alternatives.  

[Deleted]

Run your errands, clean, laundry, grocery shop.

[rikki]

We did in Boston. She ran errands (both for me and for my husband and his associate), cleaned a bit, did kid laundry, took the car for oil changes, cooked or prepped some easy meals, picked up and dropped off dry cleaning, grocery shopping, made appointments (mostly for my H's business, but also landscaping, cleaning), and did some caring of E. It was nice, as I was working a lot then.

[rikki]

Aug 31, 2015 21:07:37 GMT -5 h said:

My SIL is a full-time nanny to a family with three school aged kids. She buys the groceries, runs errands, coordinates the kids schedules (arranges their activities, makes appointments, schedules play dates), takes the kids to doctor, dentist, and therapy appointments, does the meal planning, starts dinner, arranges for and meets anyone who is doing repairs or work at the house, manages the rest of the staff (the gardner, housekeeper, pool guy), and sometimes does stuff like planning parties that the parents are hosting (rents chairs and linens, taste tests catering menus, handles RSVPs). She doesn't do any cleaning beyond cleaning up after herself, but she does sometimes do organizing projects or purge the kids toys and clothes. She also puts up and takes down all their holiday decorations.

This sounds like my dream job. I hate doing all these things for myself, but feel like I'd love doing it for someone else.

[meij]

I was one for a family. I worked 7AM-6:30PM so burnt out after a couple years. It was a LONG day.

Things I did-

volunteered at the kid's school (a lot)
Grocery shopping
Errand running for the parents (take things to dry cleaner, cars to shop, target, post office. Any errand they needed, I did)
Cooked dinner
Organized their house
Family laundry and ironing
Filed bills and paperwork
Put ten years worth of photos in albums
Made appointments


Pretty much anything that you are like "Wow I wish I had time to do that."

[monsterz]

Thanks for the feedback. Having all these things off our plates would be fabulous, now to find the right person for this.

[minzy]

My aunt and uncle had one while my cousins were young. The woman spent time with the kids, and then also time helping them run their business.

[livinitup]

What about 2 people? One for the morning and one for the afternoon? It might be easier to find two people who want part of the day instead of such a long day. And either shift could do some of the additional household work that would be great.

[thebreakfastclub]

Our chain daycare provides before and after school care through 5th grade with transportation to/from school.

There is an after school program run at the school with a long waiting list, and this costs more, but it's also more convenient. It's also a place to go during weather closures and school holidays.

[Ashley&Scott]

Sept 1, 2015 8:05:09 GMT -5 chilerellanos said:

Sept 1, 2015 7:51:08 GMT -5 h said:

Last time I discussed it with her, which has been a couple years, my SIL made $4k/month.

I need to quit my job and do this I think.

Me too.

[monsterz]

Sept 1, 2015 6:09:07 GMT -5 livinitup said:

What about 2 people? One for the morning and one for the afternoon? It might be easier to find two people who want part of the day instead of such a long day. And either shift could do some of the additional household work that would be great.

I had suggested this to the agency I had contacted and was basically told that it is due to my son's age they have a hard time finding people for school aged children.  I have a couple of leads on a few people who are interested.

[Deleted]

DH just went back to work, and I miss having a SAH spouse a lot. I could keep an employee busy, for sure, and life would be so wonderfully low stress and awesome.

But it would be a very expensive route to the low-stress life.

[pooh8402]

Sept 1, 2015 8:05:09 GMT -5 chilerellanos said:

Sept 1, 2015 7:51:08 GMT -5 h said:

Last time I discussed it with her, which has been a couple years, my SIL made $4k/month.

I need to quit my job and do this I think.

ditto. we have the certifications that parents would LOVE.


honestly, I'm in the same boat as OP. right now, I'm looking for a full time nanny since neither center that I'm waitlisted for have openings yet. however, if/when my child gets into a center, I'll occasionally need before/after care when my H is out of town, being that I work 13 hour days at a minimum, and DH would be doing dropoff and pickup.

[pooh8402]

Sept 1, 2015 10:54:39 GMT -5 h said:

Sept 1, 2015 8:05:09 GMT -5 chilerellanos said:

I need to quit my job and do this I think.

FWIW, she is in a HCOL area and often works more than 40 hours a week. One of the kids is autistic, and she is very involved in his therapy and researches autism and reads parenting books in her spare time. I think she is particularly good at and dedicated to what she does. There are several things about her job that make it not a typical nanny job. She often gets calls during her off time to handle issues that come up. It is a cushy job in some ways, but very much not in some others.

kinda sounds similar to "The Nanny Diaries" but hopefully not with an evil mom.