Recommendations for an Au Pair/Nanny

[GD007]

My wife and I are expecting our first child at the end of November this year (2007).  We both plan to take advantage of our time-off benefits to stay at home with the baby for as long as we can.  I do believe, though, that we will be needing the services of a live-in or live-out nanny/au pair mid to late next year.

Does anyone have experience dealing with Nanny/Au Pair agencies in the Philadelphia area?  Any lessons learned you could share?  Recommendations?  Thoughts on a line-in/live-out versus finding a day care facility that takes 8-9 month olds?   Anyone know a nice old lady in Drexel Hill that would like to come to our place around 8:00AM till ~5:45PM Monday - Friday to take care of an 8 month old?

 

Thanks,

-GD

[Wellardmac]

Greg, congrats again on the impending arrival. Get some sleep now - trust me!

Having investigated this before we put our son into daycare 18 monthds ago I can share the conclusions that we came to after talking with friends that have their children in all forms of daycare (nannies, play based daycare, home based group daycare, and educational based daycare)

No situation is perfect.

There will be times when you doubt that you made the right decision and want to strangle your caregiver.

Nanny Pros:
Dedicated service that's available if the kid is sick or not.
Nanny is always on call when you need her.
You get to dictate the food, the activities, and the philosophy that is used to raise your child.

Nanny Cons:
- Expensive for one child, becomes break-even with daycare at 3 children.
- You're her employer and have to deal with her taxes and all the other fun that being an employer brings.
- Nanny gets sick and you're SOL.
- Finding the right fit with you and the 'perfect' nanny can be tough.

Daycare Pros:
- Reletively inexpensive
- You don't have to worry about employer paperwork hassles and staff turnover.
- If you find the right place the match with your expectations for raising your child should be good.
- Choose the right place and the educational component can be superior.
- Find the right place and you also get to control the food and a match with the activities you'd like your child to have (educational vs. pure play)
- Teaches social interaction with peers
- Child gets sick sooner and becomes immune to everyday bugs sooner than waiting for them to go to school.

Daycare Cons:
- You don't control the activities - beyond broad brush you have no control over what your child does day to day.
- If you child gets sick you will be called to take them home and look after them for at least 24 hours.
- Your child WILL get sick A LOT in the first year.

I'm sure I forgot something, but at least it gives you some things to think about.

Drop me a note if you'd be interested in the experiences we've had with our first 18 months of daycare.