DC / Nannied Babies

[sstwinklinglites]

I was going to resurrect vlagroupie 's DC thread, but it's not on the first page anymore, so I decided against it.

Anyway, I'm seriously thinking of getting help with LO so I can get some uninterrupted work done. Right now, DC will be my secondary option. I firstly would like to hire a Mother's Helper a few days a week, and if those interviews don't pan out, I'll move on to DC's.

What should I ask on that kind of an interview? What should I be looking for exactly? I really don't need this person do cook or clean, but I would like this person to make baby food, since I'm having a hard time keeping up with that, and generally just keep DS busy. I want this person to play with him, not just watch him while he plays. Read to him, feed him, change him, etc.

I will only need this person three days a week, for four hours a day; so 12 hours a week, what do you supposed fair pay is for this?

Any advise is appreciated.

Thanks!

[vlagroupie]

Wish I had some answers for you, but it sounds like you are asking the right kinds of questions. Just curious, are you finding candidates on care.com? Or somewhere else?

[sstwinklinglites]

Mar 27, 2015 16:07:02 GMT -5 vlagroupie said:

Wish I had some answers for you, but it sounds like you are asking the right kinds of questions. Just curious, are you finding candidates on care.com? Or somewhere else?

Care.com. I don't really know anyone I can turn to for this, so I have to go that route.

[JoBub]

I would ask someone what sort of activities/games they enjoy playing with babies. And ask what they think is an appropriate response when a toddler misbehaves. If you're comfortable with it, have them play with LO for a bit and see how it goes. Some people are just naturals.

[JoBub]

I think in this situation, since you would be there in case of an emergency, I would just want to make sure it was someone I liked on a personal level and got along with. But if you think you may someday leave LO alone with her, you may also want to ask about first aid/ CPR and all that important stuff. And ask for references and call them.

Also, I would probably say $10-15 /hour

[lindsay]

I nannied for a few families while going to school and it was a similar gig, very part time and I cared for their kiddos and played with them the whole time. Sometimes the parent was in the house getting work done, or outside the home running errands or teaching a class. This was in 2010 and I was paid $10/hr.

[sstwinklinglites]

Thanks ladies!

[lindsay]

Oh! And a good place to post the job is with Xavier career services. That's how I found the families I nannies for! You provide key details like number of kiddos, ages, hours and days you need care, requirements, how much you want to pay, part of town, etc. They have a book in the office with the info of various families, and students can match it up with their schedules and then contact you. It's available to grad and undergrad students. Hope that helps!

[babylove518]

Being a nanny, I have a little advice. Make sure you state what you said to us in your ad. That way Hopefully if someone doesn't know how to make baby food, isn't available the Times you need, etc, they won't even apply. There's too many ads on care.com that just say "looking for part time childcare in my home" and that's it. Be specific. I would definitely check references and trust your gut feelings about the person.

I agree that 10-15 is good pay. Definitely not below 10 though. I think this is one of those things where you get what you pay for. Just ask about their past experience, what they would spend those few hours doing with him, how flexible they are, etc.

[mominthemaking14]

Mar 27, 2015 18:22:50 GMT -5 lindsay said:

I nannied for a few families while going to school and it was a similar gig, very part time and I cared for their kiddos and played with them the whole time. Sometimes the parent was in the house getting work done, or outside the home running errands or teaching a class. This was in 2010 and I was paid $10/hr.

Ditto this! I paid my way through school doing this. I made $10/hr + they paid for pool passes and zoo passes. It was a blast.

[mrscatfarmer13]

I don't have any advice, but mominthemaking's comment reminded me that you can write a note for your sitter to use the zoo pass without you.

[sstwinklinglites]

Thanks for all the advise ladies!

[becole]

I would tell the person to interact with your child during the interview- get a feel for what your kid thinks of them.

[sstwinklinglites]

Mar 28, 2015 18:14:43 GMT -5 theophania said:

Mar 27, 2015 16:46:17 GMT -5 sstwinklinglites said:

Care.com. I don't really know anyone I can turn to for this, so I have to go that route.

One resource that might help you is the local universities and colleges. When I was in college for ECE we would periodically get e-mails from professors about people looking for care givers or nannies. The ECE students are perfect for this because they've already had the required background checks.

I'll be looking into this. Thanks!

[kdr1979]

What are ECE students and how do you find them?

We found our part time nanny on care.com and got really lucky. She is amazing. We started her at $14/hour and gave her a 75 cent raise at her 1 year. We also use a payroll service to pay her (she wanted it done legally because she will retire in a few years). So, there are additional fees and we also pay Ohio worker's comp fees.

we have a few other sitters that we use. DH's cousin goes to XU and we pay her $10/hour (she is the cheapest). All of the sitters that we use are $10-14.75/hour.