Good morning all!!

I'm writing this because I need some advise. I'm married with a 9y/o girl in the 4th grade. My husband currently works in Dallas TX. I work in the healthcare field (othopedic surgery) so my hrs aren't as regular, but I can plan around it. But it can make me unavailable at times. We had a situation where a babysitter didn't communicate with me or another backup provider to pick our daughter "K" from school. Long story short, she was fired and I thank God that we didn't have to pay for the additional fees (the school didn't go through the emergency contact list). Now that this has been resolved, I have to find another child care provider to get her from school.

My situation is that K goes to a great school with both morning and afternoon care until 6pm. She is involved with ballet, and reading club as part of the afterschool activities. It is extremely convienient for us. However, when it comes to selecting a childcare provider vs PT nanny, I'm a bit confused with compensation. The part-time child care provider would drive to her school, pick her up and bring her to our home, help with homework, serve dinner until I get there for 4 days/week, as well as one saturday/month (when I'm on call). I used the babysitter calculator to figure out a starting price/hr--which would make it somewhere between $9.50-$12/hr. I pay $120/week for afterschool care. I pay additionally for gas. My current rate is $15-20 for the first hr, then $10 there after. I though this was fair. But I had one provider tell me that for what I want, I'm not offering enough????

What am I missing?

When I run the numbers, it would be cheaper to keep her in her afterschool activities vs having to pick her up from school once it gets out, and having someone drive her to/from her activities. How do I accurate compensate for this? Which is better--part-time nanny vs child care providers?

Help!!
K's mom

Go with part time nanny. Sitters are a waste of time. Get someone older and settled. It took us ryrs to figure that out

I think you are paying appropriately - I use a part time Nanny to help in the evenings, pick up kids from school, help with homework, etc. I reimburse for gas and then pay $10-$12/ hr. I typically guarantee a minn a week - say $150 so that it is fair to our nanny. I also use her for occasional late nights or overnights if I have work functions, etc. and then pay flat rate for over nights or just the $10 / hr for longer days. I focused on a college student who needed the flexible hours due to school and also was willing to do all the sporadic things I need done. This is a good win / win for us both.

I have an awesome part time nanny during the summer for my 4yr old and she is awesome. She works around our schedule and my daughter just loves her. We had her for 3 yrs now, good nannies are hard to find. Have you ever thought of her going home with a friend ? I have seen parent trade of childcare this way. Take turns watching each others kid(s).