Tag: nanny

Choosing childcare

One of the biggest decisions to do with children is choosing what form of childcare you want to use once you return to work. This decision is governed by a number of factors, including the hours you need, the cost of childcare and availability in your area, but also reflects your personal preferences.

One of the biggest decisions to do with children is choosing what form of childcare you want to use once you return to work. This decision is governed by a number of factors, including the hours you need, the cost of childcare and availability in your area, but also reflects your personal preferences.

Hours

Some childcare providers e.g. nurseries are only open between fixed times. In order to use this type of chidcare your working hours and commute should fit comfortably within these times. Childminders offer a little more flexibility – although most advertise core hours they are better equipped than nurseries to flex by 15 minutes either way if they so wish, and may be more accommodating of shift patterns. Nannies and nanny shares (were two families jointly employ a nanny to care for children from both families at once) are the most flexible form of childcare because as an employer you can dictate the hours you want and advertise accordingly. Au pairs can provide before and after school wrap around are in a similar way to nannies but are not normally suitable for extended charge of young children, although they are a viable option for nursery wraparound care.

Cost

If you wish to claim any help with childcare costs from the Government you will need to ensure you use registered childcare.

Childcare costs vary between regions but according to the Daycare Trust’s annual childcare costs survey childminders are cheaper on average, followed by nurseries, with nannies being the most expensive for one child. A nanny, however, is a fixed cost per family so can be a good option for families with 2 or more children and offers better flexibility with school holidays etc so if you have older children or planning on having more it may work out cheaper in the long run. 

Nanny salaries vary between an average of £600 gross weekly for a live in nanny outside London and the Home Counties and £700 gross weekly for a live out nanny in Central London, working up to 60 hours per week. A less qualified or experienced nanny will earn less than this, and the more experience and qualifications a nanny has, the more they will earn. There will also be additional cost such as employer’s liability insurance if not included in your house insurance, a payroll company, car insurance if the nanny is driving your car, a kitty for activities and any emergency bread and milk shopping and the cost of feeding your nanny, and if they live in, associated bills, which can easily come to £50-100 per week. In a nanny share the cost is likely to be around 60% of employing a nanny by yourself.

An au pair is paid between £70 and £100 a week plus board and lodging for 25-30 hours’ work but as for nannies you will need to factor in around another £50-100 on bills and food, depending on how environmentally aware your au pair is and whether they fit well with your family’s eating pattern or you end up buying additional food, car insurance if you require your au pair to drive, which can be expensive for under-25s holding a non-UK license, a basic mobile phone and inclusion in any family outings and activities.

Personal preferences

Do you want your child to be cared for in a home environment?  You’ll need to look at a nanny or childminder.

Do you want your child to be around other children? A nursery, childminder or nanny share would probably suit you best.

Do you want your children to be cared for in a setting with more than one adult? A nursery or a childminder working with an assistant/another childminder is the best option for you.

Do you want your child to be cared for by only one person? A childminder or nanny will ensure your child receives consistent care.

Are you prepared to become an employer? If not, a nanny is not a viable option as nannies cannot be self-employed except in very specific circumstances.

Want to find out more? Look at our past blog posts on ‘why to choose a childminder‘, ‘nursery care to suit your child‘, or ‘is a nanny right for you?‘ or go and search for childcarers in your area.

Taking Care of Yourself: Tips for Child Carers

The job of a child carer is a demanding one; mentally, emotionally and physically. We love our jobs, working with children is exceptionally rewarding, but if we’re not careful, we can suffer from stress, burnout and exhaustion.

We’ve put together some top tips to help keep you healthy and in tip-top shape to ensure that you and your charges receive the best care!

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Get Craft Happy For The Jubilee!

Let’s face it, even the least patriotic of us will be finding it hard at the moment to escape the media frenzy around the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in June, and for those who do love a bit of classic English patriotism, why not get involved in your own creative way?! If you have toddlers or older children in your care, this is the perfect excuse to get their creative juices flowing, whilst teaching them a little bit about our monarchy at the same time!

Let’s face it, even the least patriotic of us will be finding it hard at the moment to escape the media frenzy around the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in June, and for those who do love a bit of classic English patriotism, why not get involved in your own creative way?! If you have toddlers or older children in your care, this is the perfect excuse to get their creative juices flowing, whilst teaching them a little bit about our monarchy at the same time!

So, I hear you ask, what kind of things can we make?! Here are a few of our best ideas to keep children happy and creative in time Jubilee celebrations:

Make Bunting:

You will need:

  • A length on string as long as you want your bunting to be
  • Coloured sheets of card in red, white and blue
  • A pencil
  • Sellotape
  • Scissors

This is a basic way of making bunting, so that little children can be involved as there is no material to stitch. Simply make a triangular template and get the children to draw around it onto the coloured card. Cut out the drawings and get the children to put them in order – red, white, blue, red, white, blue and so on. Fold about a centimetre of the top of the triangles over the string, and attach down on one side with a piece of Sellotape. Do this all the way along your string, and then attach the bunting either inside or outside the house! This is a fantastic exercise for fine motor skills, as well as recognising shapes and colours for children.

Make a Crown:

You will need:

  • A piece of cardboard around 4 inches wide, and long enough to go around the child’s head and overlap slightly
  • A strip of tin foil around 5 inches wide, and the same length as the cardboard
  • Scissors
  • Crayons, glitter, or stickers
  • Glue
  • Stapler

Glue the length of tin foil on top of the length of cardboard, matching the bottom edges up, so that there is an inch extra of foil at the top. Now, cut zig zags into the foil all the way along the top, giving a crown effect of lots of points going across the top. Now it’s time to really have some fun and decorate, using glue, glitter, crayons or stickers, let your little ones go to town on their individual crown decoration on top of the tin foil. When the decorations have dried, make a ring with the crown and staple each end together, to fit over the child’s head.

Union Jack cupcakes (makes 12):

What you need:

  • 4oz caster sugar
  • 4oz margarine
  • 4oz self raising flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 12 white cupcake cases

For the icing:

  • 1 packet white ready roll icing
  • Apricot jam
  • Blue and red food colouring pens

 Method:

  • Line a cupcake tin with 12 cupcake cases and preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
  • Cream together the sugar and margarine with an electric mixer. Gradually add the eggs, flour, vanilla essence and baking powder whilst mixing.
  • Half fill the cupcake cases and put into the oven for 20-25 minutes until golden and well risen. Take the cupcakes out of the oven and place onto a wire rack to cool.
  • Roll out the icing to around 3mm thickness, then use a circular cutter to cut out 12 circles.
  • Put some apricot jam into the microwave for 20 seconds to make it runny. Brush the cooled cupcakes with the jam, and then place the icing circles on top so that they stick. Draw a basic union jack with your blue and red pens on to the icing on each cupcake.

You now have some really Royal treats!

Adding to the ideas we’ve given, why not try making some red, white and blue pompoms, or get some plain white serviettes and get the children to colour some red and blue onto them, or even onto a plain white paper tablecloth. There are hours of fun to be had, all in the name of Queen and country – have fun!

Taking your child to work as a nanny

More and more nannies are looking for jobs where they can take their own children with them. It seems like a perfect compromise between working and having time with your children, and increasing numbers of families are happy to reduce their costs a little bit – or get more for their money – by accepting a nanny who wants to bring her own child to work.

The law

A nanny can care for children from up to 2 families at once, and that includes her own children. So a nanny based at an employer’s home is able to take her own children along. Doing a nanny share and taking your own child is not allowed unless you register with a OFSTED as a childminder on the Early Years and Childcare registers. Registering on the voluntary register as a Home Childcarer, which is what OFSTED call nannies, isn’t enough. Nannies, however, don’t have to comply with ratios so can care for 2 babies or 4 children under 5.

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Tutoring: extra cash for nannies

Being a nanny is a rewarding career. You have the opportunity to pour into the lives of children on a daily basis; this is something that not everyone has the chance to do. But with this job comes challenges. One of these challenges might be that you aren’t making enough money. Sometimes, a nanny’s wages simply aren’t enough to make ends meet so you’re left finding ways to make extra money. This is tough, because after working full time with energetic children all week, you’re probably exhausted and not thrilled on taking on extra work.

Being a nanny is a rewarding career. You have the opportunity to pour into the lives of children on a daily basis; this is something that not everyone has the chance to do. But with this job comes challenges. One of these challenges might be that you aren’t making enough money. Sometimes, a nanny’s wages simply aren’t enough to make ends meet so you’re left finding ways to make extra money. This is tough, because after working full time with energetic children all week, you’re probably exhausted and not thrilled on taking on extra work.

However, finding ways to earn more cash doesn’t need to be daunting. Have you considered tutoring as a way to help supplement your income? Giving extra time in this way can help enhance your income without compromising your main job as a nanny. You usually don’t need to have huge, impressive lists of degrees from big-name colleges. You just need to have proven experience and qualifications to show that you’re able to effectively tutor and teach lessons to inquiring young minds. For example, when setting up a profile that showcases your areas of expertise on tutoring websites, you’re able to specify where you can teach, when you can teach, and what subjects you’re best suited for. Clients search for quality tutors and when they decide you’re the one they want, you can name your hourly price and start working a few hours more a week. You decide what extra jobs you take on or turn down: you can call the shots.

Worried about juggling two jobs? There are ways to effectively balance a tutoring job and your main nanny position.

Give your best.

Working two different jobs might make it easy to give less to one job. This is never a good idea, though. Showing your dedication to the children you nanny, as well as the individual student you are tutoring is the key to keeping both families happy. Give 100% in both jobs – that way you’ll have a better chance of receiving positive recommendations and word of mouth referrals to other potential tutees or families looking for nanny services.

Don’t take on too much.

Working too much can be exhausting. Taking on more work may be great in helping you pay off debt or to add more to your savings account, but doing too much can drain you quickly. If you’re fatigued and worn out all the time, you’ll be more apt to make mistakes in your tutoring or be irritable with the children you’re caring for. Always remember: when taking on extra work, be sure that it’s not going to compromise your first and main source of income.

Consider overlapping responsibilities.

Tell the parents of the children you nanny that you are considering taking on extra tutoring work. Perhaps they would consider having you tutor their children for an increased pay rate. You may be able to negotiate a higher salary that way. Or, ask your nanny family if it’s ok for you to bring your laptop with you to work so you can build tutoring lessons during nap times or other down times. Overlapping responsibilities like this can take some of the stress out of working more hours in the week.

Most of all, don’t forget that as a nanny and a tutor, you are helping develop children to be confident and capable adults. Being a good example and demonstrating solid work ethic should always be a high priority.

Make your nanny profile shine

At Nannyjob we know the essential information parents need to make a decision – location, experience, availability and what kind of job you want – so make sure these details on your nanny profile are accurate. If they aren’t, then you won’t show up when parents search! Here are some other top tips for making your profile stand out from the crowd.

The first question to ask yourself: what do parents want to know about you?

At Nannyjob we know the essential information parents need to make a decision – location, experience, availability and what kind of job you want – so make sure these details on your nanny profile are accurate. If they aren’t, then you won’t show up when parents search! Here are some other top tips for making your profile stand out from the crowd.

  • Be specific because when you’re too vague about location or availability then parents won’t bother to contact you if they don’t see what they’re looking for, or something similar, on your profile – you can select multiple regions but you probably don’t want to select all of them, particularly if you’re looking for a live out job!
  • Make sure the details on your profile make sense – your total years of experience should be equal to the number of years as a nanny, as a nursery nurse and in other childcare (which includes teacher or nursing). If you say you have more than 5 years experience but none as a nanny or as a nursery nurse or in childcare then how can you have more than 5 years relevant experience?
  • Select your job types carefully. You may be genuinely happy to work as anything but remember people will contact you based on what you say you want to do.
  • Add a photo! It makes it easier for parents to connect what you write to a real person if they have an idea of what you look like.
  • Use appropriate paragraphs and punctuation to make your description easy to read.
  • If you have any restrictions (for example you’re looking for a Monday and Tuesday job because you already have a job the other days state this early on.
  • If you’re looking to work in an area where you don’t currently live, say when you would be available to move and start work.
  • Give details of your qualifications and experience, as well as talking about the personal qualities which make you a great candidate. Remember that this section is all about what you can do for the family, how you interact with children, what you like to do in your job and how you use the knowledge and skills that you’ve gained. Make sure you really tailor it for a nanny job. Your interests, hobbies and family background are less important than skills which are relevant to childcare and show real passion and enthusiasm for your work.

Above all, be yourself!

When parents won’t listen (or change)

As a childcarer you may sometimes find yourself in the situation where you have repeatedly tried to communicate with the parents about an issue and been ignored, or told that the parents will do something only to find they haven’t. At this point you need to make a decision about how important the issue is, to the children and to you, and whether you can work with things are they are.

As a childcarer you may sometimes find yourself in the situation where you have repeatedly tried to communicate with the parents about an issue and been ignored, or told that the parents will do something only to find they haven’t. At this point you need to make a decision about how important the issue is, to the children and to you, and whether you can work with things are they are.

Any concerns about the children’s safety or well-being must be reported. If you feel a parent’s actions or inaction mount up to abuse or neglect then you have a duty to get in touch with your relevant local authority.

Where it’s not a safeguarding issue, but makes carrying out your job difficult for you then you need to decide what actions you can take without the overt support of the parents, assuming they are happy for you to do so. Children can be quick to notice inconsistencies so acknowledge any differences between what you say and what the parents say, however they are also capable of learning which behaviours are acceptable with which adult and as long as you are consistent with them they will learn (even if it takes a little longer!).

All this, though, can make your job extremely stressful. Finding ways to wind down at the end of the day, or even quietly blow off steam half way through, are vital for your well-being. Feeling alone and unsupported can really sap your morale so share your feelings with your loved ones or friends. Often as nannies we feel we can’t talk to anyone about what goes on in our job but it’s perfectly okay to reveal our feelings and frustrations. As a general rule talking in ‘I’ terms (I feel I…. etc) won’t give anything away and it will help you acknowledge your own emotions instead of bottling them up. Sport can be a great way to relieve frustration, and crafts that occupy your hands such as knitting or card-making can be a good way to calm down and focus on something positive and productive. Creating a time to work through your feelings and set them to rest is another good way to keep your kind clear and preventing stress in your job invading your life. Work on accepting what you can’t change and seeing the positives in the things you can.

Ultimately if you feel the parents are making it impossible for you to continue, or you are unable to destress at least at the end of a working week then it might be time for you to move on. You can change the children but you can’t change the parents, and sometimes accepting that is the hardest thing of all.

Sleep Difficulties with Children – How a Nanny Can Help

Having a young child who won’t or can’t sleep can have a knock-on effect for the entire family.

Sleep problems for babies and young children are becoming more commonplace and routines can be extremely difficult to stick to, especially when you’re not around your child 24/7. That’s where a nanny can step in and help to keep the routine running smoothly so that everyone in the family stays fully rested.

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A Nanny’s Guide to Staying Healthy

Life as a nanny can be hectic and exhausting. You spend all day taking care of the family you work for, but who takes care of you?

If you want to do your job well, and more importantly, live a healthy life, it’s important that you take good care of your health and well-being to avoid getting ill or simply burning out.

Follow these 5 tips to help keep your health in tip top condition:

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Nannying for children in hospital

Most children will end up visiting the hospital at some point in their life. The lucky ones have a quick trip to A&E and go straight home but sometimes a longer stay is needed. This can be a very testing time for the family and you may need to step into the breach to provide support but it can be difficult to know what to do beyond keeping everything ticking over.

If there are other children in the family your job probably won’t change much athough you might end up working longer hours to allow your employers to spend time at the hospital. Ask whether siblings are allowed to visit and if the parents would like your charges to see each other. Bear in mind that some hospitals don’t allow children to go onto the ward so be ready to suggest other ways your charges can keep in touch, such as drawing pictures or speaking on skype.

You can support the parents by packing supplies for your charge ready to take to the hospital. Hospital food often isn’t appetising so if they are allowed to take snacks in then you can go to the shops and prepare a care package for them to take in. You can also keep up a stream of clean pyjamas and other clothes as hospitals can be hot and sticky places. If allowed, toys from home will help relieve some of the boredom of being stuck in a hospital bed, and for school aged children keep in touch with school in case they ask to do some homework! It’s a huge help for parents to be able to come home, empty a bag and repack it with everything that’s been laid out ready.

Volunteer to take a turn sitting at the bedside to give your employer’s a break and provide a change of scenery for your charge. Your employers will feel more relaxed leaving their poorly child with someone they know and trust too. Children’s development doesn’t stop when they’re in hospital so you can talk to the doctors and nurses about providing some suitable activities. Encourage them to play, talk and laugh with you as they would at home.

You also need to recognise that it’s a worrying time for you. Most nannies become deeply aatached to their charges and it’s difficult to see someone you love in distress. Look after yourself and don’t be afraid to share your feelings with your family or nanny friends.

When they come home from hospital your charge may have medication to take or specific care routines to follow. Make sure you’re clear on what these are and don’t be afraid to ask questions. Communication will be more important than ever and be sensitive to the fact that your employers might want to check in with you more often to see how everything is going.

If you’re a nanny and have some tips about working with a hospitalised charge don’t hestitate to share them on our Facebook page, Twitter or our messageboards.