Nanny Sharing

Hi I read about this in a mother's magazine and am intrigued. Charlie starts FDC in Jan but it will mean him being in care 11 hours a day, 4 days a week. My sister's DD is in childcare 3 days a week and is constantly sick. So when I spoke to my sister today I tentatively discussed the possiblity of sharing a Nanny if we could find someone else who wanted to go thirds with us and she's very keen. It would be at my home probably and all costs would be divided three ways.

Anyone done it/thinking of doing it/knows anyone who's done it?

Sushee, friends of ours had a 24 weeker who is now nearly 2. Because he was so premmie his immunity isn't up to scratch so they decided to hire a nanny instead of using FDC or a child care centre. However, they wanted him to have social interation. So they nanny share, a little girl goes to their house and the nanny looks after both. It has worked really well and everyone involved is loving the arrangement. I think it's a great idea. HTH.

What a great idea!!! Makes sense and kids get to be in familiar environment with own toys and interact with other kids and getting more time spent on them with nanny

Mel, thanks for that feedback and feeb I agree I would much prefer Charlie was at home or at his aunt's with his cousin those days I have to work. I read somewhere though that you can't get Child Car Benefit for a nanny but honestly, I would only get something like $25 a week if that, so am not too concerned about it. I would just have to check if I could still get the 30% rebate though.

If we could find someone in our area willing to share a nanny, I would seriously look into it.

Pity you're not in Sydney Sushee but I would seriously consider sharing a nanny for sure. When we move to Sydney next year I was contemplating organising nanny share with a few friends. I figure it has great pluses because the kids are in the comfort of familiar surroundings and still have social interaction with the other kids. Plus, I would hope that 3 people sharing a nanny would cost a bit less than child-care centres when you can even get a spot!

Sush, I am fascinated to see how you go with this.

I have considered it as an option for my 3 along with my SIL and her three, for 3 days week. The idea of NOT having to load my 3 in the car and do the cc drop off is bliss, LOL!

I have met a nanny at the library whose current charge is just about to start school in Term 1 of next year, so she is looking for a new post....ummmmmm. Might have to chat her up!

I have wanted to nanny share for such a long time, but haven't had any friends who could afford to do it or their kids were happy in FDC. I would still love to do it, because I want to up the care for the kids so I can work a little more.

I did a nanny-share for my son for about 12 months until he was 2 and I felt that he could handle childcare. We initially lasted in childcare when he was 10 months for a month before I took him out. The nanny gave me so much more control about sticking to his day sleeps but it is expensive, even sharing so we were quite happy to move to daycare at 2. We shared with a child exactly the same age as he was so the routine and activities fit in well. My friend and I agreed on how we wanted to children looked after and disciplined and wrote a 3 way contract between the nanny and ourselves (just as you would for any employment contract).

To answer some of the questions posed:
- in Sydney a nanny costs between $20 and $25 dollars a hour usually for a 10 hour day. They are legally entitled to paid sick and holiday leave (as well as super if they work more than 30 hours a week).
- you don't get any government benefits (no 30% rebate).

I would recommend that you rigorously interview, check references, insist on a first aid cert and get a police and working with children check done (there is a company in Canberra who can do this for you).

If anyone is seriously interested in doing it, I would be happy to help with the type of questions that we used for the interview or issues that we considered.