Childcare Dilemna
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Childcare Dilemna
| Tue, 06-22-2010 - 1:56pm |
Ok here is my issue. I work at home and I have had a babysitter coming to watch my son. I was working great. Now that my son is more independent he needs constant attention and stimulation. I can't give that while I work in the morning before the sitter arrives. We pay her $8.00 and hour and can't afford more than what we're paying her. We pay her $320.00 every two weeks. So I started researching home daycares. I don't want my son in a big daycare. It's just me. Well, I find out most of the prices are cheaper than what we're paying her for only 20 hrs a week. And most of those prices are full time. I only need part time (6 hours a day). So my dilemna is now I love my sitter but it is so much more economical to go with the home daycare. She didn't want any less than $8.00/hr. Once I have done my resesarch I was thinking of telling her the deal and I need more care for my son and this is what the home daycares are charging. I would tell her we can't afford to pay her anymore but need her to work 6 hours a day instead of 4 and give her the benefit of the doubt. If she declines then tell her we are going with a home daycare. Is that rude? I really like her and don't want to ruin my relationship with her and still want her to be my son's sitter if she chooses to. I also would have her watch my son evening/weekends no matter what. What would you do?
Thanks for the wonderful siggie Heather
Thanks for the wonderful siggie Heather
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I'm not BTDT, but I think it's totally reasonable for you to ask her if she can work 6 hours a day (and mention that the fees of the day-care). I'd tell her that you would understand if she wasn't able to do it, and that you would prefer to stick with her since you like her so much, but that you will have to go with day-care if she's not able to do it. I'm sure she won't fault you for getting the most for your money, especially if you make it clear it's not about her qualifications or anything.
If she does decline, I would make sure to let her know that you still want to use her for evening/weekend sitting.
Good luck!
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Sandy-
Can you and your sitter come up with a compromise where she has the ability to make additional income while still watching David for the same amount? Would you be willing to let him go to her home or have her watch another child at the same time in your home? If you guys could work something like that out, she could still be making at least $8/hour and you wouldn't have to pay any more!
Thanks for the wonderful siggie Heather
David Nicholas 12/5/09
Expecting a GIRL 3/23/13
I hope your conversation with her went well. If it were me, I would tell her what is up, just like others have said.
KUP
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Well as it turns out she told me this morning before I had a chance to talk to her she was resigning. She said she needed more $ around $15. I don't know where she's going to find that kind of $ around here to be honest as most of the babysitters are going between 7-9. $15 maybe more for a nanny but a good one. Also she said needed to find something closer to home. She drives 25 minutes to get here. So anyway we are going to try and find an in home daycare for my son. We found a few providers that are pretty good. One I just got an email from she only wants to watch 3 kids at most which I really like the idea of. None of them are more than 4 kids total and some of them even have 2 adults per 4 kids. All of them are within 5 minutes of our house.
Her freind will watch our son as next week is her last week until we can find something else. She watched him while our sitter was on vacation. She said she would watch him evenings/weekends if we ever needed anyone.
I can't blame her if they need the $. I know they've had a lot of house repairs lately but we just can't afford that kind of money. I don't know who can afford to pay a sitter $15 especially if it's not evening/weekend. We pay her $11.00 for evening weekend. Maybe a doctor or a lawyer but definately not my husband or I.
I think part of it is her friend is a nanny and they do a lot more and she makes $15 but she watches 3 kids and takes them places. She doesn't have experience as a nanny and only has 1 year of childcare experience all together. So I think maybe she thinks she should make that much. but when I went through the childcare websites and looking for sitters the going rate here is around 7/9 for regular and about 10/12 for evening/weekend except for teens it's a little less.
Thanks for the wonderful siggie Heather
David Nicholas 12/5/09
Expecting a GIRL 3/23/13
Sandy,
Sorry to hear the sitter isn't going to work out; it sounds like she really wants more of a nanny position. Good luck with the home daycare search. Barrett was in home daycare for about a month while I worked a temporary job. It worked out great for both of us. The woman watching him was very experienced and professional, and Barrett had the opportunity to interact with other children and play with new toys :) I am sure you will find someone who you like and can trust with taking care of David! Please keep us updated.