help with childcare dilemma

rammster

Dear all , this has been playing on my mind for the last few days . i am a GP by profession and work involves looking after patients in hours and out of hours. sometimes i do shifts between 10 am and 8 pm. My wife is in the banking sector and has recently started her job with a new bank after having baby 10 months ago. We have sufficient funds on my income alone however both me and my wife have decided that she needs to work as it helps her mood and self esteem etc. I believe that life can be rather lonely especially if you are in a new area and all you do during the whole day is childcare. Good news is that my daughter has settled in well in the nursery and my wife will no longer work full time after 2 weeks of training. the bad news is that her new timings and my shifts would make childcare difficult.

my wife would work 6pm to 10 pm Mon wed and Fri . whereas i come back from work around 630pm in evening. no childminder would cover after 6 pm ( or do they?) we don't want to keep an au pair as this would be too intrusive . All nurseries close after 6 pm . Does anyone have any useful suggestions ?

Nicki

Why not employ a nanny to look after your child in your own home. You don't need to have a live in one or a full time one if this isn't what you need, and you can arrange flexible hours too.

rammster

Sorry Nicki, I am now back on my laptop. I was trying to type a post on my mobile device and as you can see the t9 text input is pretty bad (on the new galaxy s2) . I have now edited my post (albeit not fully) on my home laptop after giving up on the smartphone !!

Nanny would be a good idea, how do I go about doing that ? Is there a website / should I look at local forums etc. What about issues such as home security etc. One would think that all nannies would be CRB checked and regulated ?

Could you point me to an appropriate website ?

neverdespairgirl

Nanny or nanny share?

FBaby

Nicki wrote: »

Crikey! You are a GP in this country with english this poor! The mind boggles. I am afraid I could not make head nor tail of your post.

It was vey clear to me reading it quickly first time... don't see the point of this judgemental statement.

In any case, I can see why you woudn't consider a nanny for only a few hours a week. Have you considered a nursery nurse student who could go and pick your child up at nursery and wait until you come home? Assuming the nursery closes at 6pm, by the time she is back, you will be almost there yourself. She could then stay later on the occasions that you are working late on the days your wife is working. Do you live close to a college? How far is the nursery from your home?

FBaby

rammster wrote: »

Sorry Nicki, I am now back on my laptop. I was trying to type a post on my mobile device and as you can see the t9 text input is pretty bad (on the new galaxy s2) . I have now edited my post (albeit not fully) on my home laptop after giving up on the smartphone !!

That explains it! Was considering getting a galaxy s2, might need to play with it first it before I do!

rammster

forgive my ignorance, what is a nanny share ? would that mean that nanny would be shared between two children so it may halve costs ?? I am afraid as I am in a new area, I have no such arrangements .

Seanymph

babysitter?

I have two teenage daughters that babysit - and both are at college and so available to cover 'windows' like that.

WestonDave

Norland college have an attached agency - their training does appear to be very thorough as they have an attached nursery as well as putting their students out on placements in nurseries, reception classes at schools and also in peoples homes (we had a trainee for 2 weeks when our second was very young). However they are also probably the premium ones so you'd pay more - which may not be a problem if your wife is working for self esteem etc rather than money.

BOBS

Advertise on http://www.childcare.co.uk/ ... put in exactly what care you are after and hopefully someone in your area who can cover your hours will approach you. Or maybe an ad in the local newspaper classifieds. In this climate of economic downturn I am sure someone will be willing to work the hours you require - although after 6pm registered childcare workers are usually more expensive. But I am sure there will be room for negotiations.
All the best with your hunt

rammster

FBaby wrote: »

That explains it! Was considering getting a galaxy s2, might need to play with it first it before I do!

I just got it yesterday, it does everything I know an android phone does, quite well ! however I need to get myself accustomed to its keyboard as well as its word guessing features. I previously had HTCs and never had a problem. Only a minor niggle. On the bright side, this is a good phone to have with good processing power. You would just need to spend a bit of time customizing it to make it ' yours ' !! But we are going off topic :rotfl: