Daycare Revisited

When finding out we were expecting two little ones, we had to get really serious on what kind of daycare route to go with our kiddos.  When we were only expecting 1 child, we were leaning towards a daycare center.  I'm a huge structure person, and I thought a center could provide the structure we were looking for.  But, then I found out we were expecting two children, and daycare centers became unaffordable.  The centers in my area cost $1,300/month per child.  Although I was willing to pay that for one child, I was a little LOT scared to pay $2,600/month for childcare.  I mean, that seems steep, right?

So, daycare centers were quickly put off of our short list. 

The next arrangement we looked at were home daycare centers.  Now, I think these can be great and extremely affordable options.  I also know that I don't live in the best neighborhood so the close by home daycares in my neighborhood were not real impressive.  I liked the price, approximately. . . $1,000 a month TOTAL but T and I didn't have a good experience on the ones we visited.  Think about kids hanging out in a basement. . . all day long.  Think crabby old woman pushing her political and religious beliefs down the throat of these children.  Think of my kids clinging to my leg everyday when we dropped them off?  I realize we have a very small amount to sample this by.  We visited 2.  I know there are so many that are excellent, but we quickly became uncomfortable with this option.

Cue the nanny.

We then decided to look into the nanny route. We heard about a website http://www.gonannies.com/ I payed some price for a 90 day membership (About $75.00 if I remember correctly) and I placed an ad.  I told about T and I.  I said I was pregnant and due in July 2010 and that we were also expecting a child through adoption, and we weren't sure how old he would be (we didn't have our referral at this point) but that we expected him to be a few months older than our daughter.  We told what we were willing to pay per hour (not per hour per child, but PER HOUR. Period) and within 12 hours of placing that ad, we had about 10 people respond saying they were interested.  So, we started going through the applications, and we set up interviews at a local Caribou Coffee.

They were all good candidates.  It came down to 2 we really liked.  One being an older, retired grandma, and one being a young woman who takes college courses online.  It was a REALLY hard decision, but T and I both agreed on the young woman.  She is a very nice girl.  Comes from a family of 11 biological children, and the parents recently adopted 4 children out of the fostercare system. She has been to Africa before, she is going to school for nursing. She has previous nannying experience. We pay $11/hour, which adds up to approximately $1,800/month (ouch, but still cheaper than local centers), we also pay for our nanny to take 2 weeks vacation, 1 week sick time a year. We pay the appropriate taxes, a year bonus, holidays, etc.  We think we are pretty good employers, and although a nanny wasn't the cheapest option, it also wasn't the most expensive, and most days, our kiddos seem pretty happy with our nanny.

Here are some pros and cons of the entire thing:

PROS
I don't have to bundle my kids up every morning and haul them anywhere.  Nope. our nanny comes directly to our house. 
My kiddos are in their environment everyday.  They get to sit in their highchairs for meals, nap in their cribs, etc.
My kiddos have had an opportunity to really bond with one person, instead of multiple people which can be the case in centers.
After work, I get to drive straight home, instead of stopping somewhere to pick up the kids.
I get to control some aspects of the day.  I write out daily meal plans, and educational activities I would like them to work on.

CONS
It's hard being an employer.  Figuring out W2's, tax withholdings, and having difficult conversations from time to time.  Not fun!
My kiddos don't always get out as much as I would like to. (I don't let our nanny drive with the kids. I'm just not ready for someone else to have that kind of responsibility)
Not always a ton of structure. 
House gets messy in a hurry cause the kids are there everyday instead of somewhere else.
No great backup.  If our nanny calls in sick, we are screwed! This isn't the case at centers where they have multiple workers. This has only happened a couple of times, but it really leaves us scrambling. 

So, all in all, we are in a pretty good situation.  Not a perfect situation, but I trust that my kiddos are being well taken care of.  I think T and I went the correct route if what we have available to us.  If money wasn't a factor, we may would have gone another route.  My kids seem happy though.  And I'm glad they won't have the memories I have of being a child and dragged to the home daycare house of Mary Miller.  Oh, she scared me as a child! 

Are any of you in the midst of making daycare decisions?  Any of you really happy or not happy with the option you took?