Nanny bringing her baby to work vs nanny-share

Setting aside your more generalized question about the pro's and cons of such an arrangement, I would not hire this particular nanny. She wasn't honest with you in the interview process, and that's an automatic disqualifier.  She waited until she had you 'on the hook' to bring up a new, and significantly different, condition of her employment.  Based on experience, I can assure you that hiring this person would lead to more problems down the line, and you will only find it more and more difficult to jettison her once your kid gets attached to her.  So, cut your losses now.  

P.S.  Even if there was some change in her circumstances in between the time you made the offer and she accepted it that caused her to ask for this, and she didn't deliberately conceal the info from you, I still wouldn't hire her.  Good employees have their stuff together and don't need to be changing the terms of the job before they even start working. 

This situation would raise a huge red flag for me and I would not hire her.  Unless I'm misunderstanding something, the fact that she didn't bring this up until after I gather you essentially hired her and set the rate indicates to me that she is, frankly, deceptive.  I have a feeling you will encounter many issues down the line that may even be totally unrelated to this particular issue. 

(Beyond that fundamental issue: I personally actually think it would be fair for you to pay at least close to a share rate if her kid is almost always there, as that should be her own cost of her own childcare).

You should find another nanny. This type of arrangement should have been very obvious from the outset (assuming there hasn't been some family emergency on her part). I would not trust her judgement. Even if something came up during the hiring process, she should have been open about what that was. 

In general, I would think for a such an arrangement you should pay the same rate as a nannyshare. Maybe even get a discount. She's doesn't have to coordinate with two families and you have to contend with the fact that the other child is hers. 

I think that nannyshares are a great option. Just not with this nanny. 

I agree with the others that this nanny bringing up such a huge conditional issue of employment late in the game and offering a $2 discount does not seem adequate. Other nannies without kids are possible to find - go out and search for someone who will not raise a red flag during the interview and offer process.

I agree with some of the concerns regarding the shift. That said, I've found that when caregivers bring their own children, it's not so much like "half the attention" in the way that nanny shares are. There's a difference there that's hard to explain. As parents, nannies are very in tune with their children and of course keep their needs as a priority, but they can also often figure out how to skillfully address their children's needs in the course of things, while making your child's needs the priority during the time that you're paying for care. For instance, I'd assume that they'll arrange the location and start / end schedule around what works for you, not balance your needs against those of a co-nanny-share family. Or, in a hypothetical situation in which your child seems like s/he's having low energy and should leave the park, they'll likely do that, whereas in a nanny share, they might say "oh, but Child 2's parents really wanted him/her to get some park time with other kids" and try to get your child to tolerate it for the benefit of Child 2. To me, that means that an intermediate rate is probably right, not that of a nanny share.

But this can also simply not work out -- are their nap needs relatively in sync? does the nanny feel that she's able to meet both of their needs at the same time? etc. It's a wild card. Of course, so is any nanny share.

I also wonder why this didn't come out up front. Was there a change in circumstances? If not, this signals either a lack of forthright communication, or the fact that s/he's figuring things out as s/he goes along. Forthright communication is essential to a good parent/caregiver relationship. You want a nanny who will tell it like it is, even when it's unpleasant. (When your child really hates the vegetables that you really want them to be eating, do they get you to pack different lunches, or just discard the vegetables?) Some amount of that flexibility will always be needed, (e.g., sometimes the nanny's child will get sick, and s/he'll have to stay home), but if she's figuring things out on the fly either due to a lack of experience or general disorganization, then you might have more of this than average.

Finally, though, finding a nanny that you connect with isn't always easy. Even if your child is not yet attached, if you have a really good feeling about this person's ability to relate to your child (aside from this one thing), then you might be able to work it out. The most important thing there would be for you guys to be able to start really communicating clearly. Good luck.

I had a very positive experience with a nanny "share" with a nanny that brought her own same-aged infant to the share. (In fact, I found her through the BPN child care listings.) I found the arrangement to have all the advantages of a traditional nanny share (built-in play partner, slightly reduced cost) without many of the cons (such as needing to coordinate with another family regarding schedule, issues starting/stopping the nanny share, juggling vacations, establishing rules, etc.).  So, even if this does particular situation doesn't work out, I would highly recommend this sort of arrangement as a general rule. 

Hi, I don't think you should hire this nanny! She should have been honest with you from the start and now she is being unreasonable. This is a definite red flag before employment even officially started.

I would not hire this nanny. She was not honest or forthcoming. I would not be able to trust her in case of things that happen in the future.  She should have disclosed this information  during the interview. She waited until everything was negotiated and almost finalized to spring this on you. Plus, $2 discount per hour is not adequate for a nanny share. 

We had this arrangement (nanny brought her similarly-aged baby), but in our case the nanny had formerly worked for us, so we already had a relationship. We told her we could only afford to hire her in a nanny share arrangement, so she offered to work for the nanny share rate and bring her baby. We paid her the share rate (i.e. half of 2-kid rate) for a while but eventually came to feel that it wasn't really a fair salary (even though she didn't have to pay for childcare) because we knew her family was struggling financially, so we raised it by a couple of dollars an hour. (That wasn't really affordable for us, but we made it through till our son went to preschool.)

I have experience with this arrangement working really well. I think it was great for my child to have a little buddy, especially when they got to be toddlers, and the amount of attention was totally fine. Honestly, if anything, I felt our nanny gave our son more attention than her own son (since we were employing her).

However, the fact that she didn't bring this up until you had pretty much hired her, and then she brought it up as a "oh, by the way" situation, is a red flag and makes me wonder how she will handle communication in the future. Also, a $2/hr discount on the fee doesn't sound like very much, given that you are getting a nanny-share situation. That said, paying the share rate is also really low for someone who is trying to support their family. I wonder if there might be a middle ground (if you do decide to hire her).

If the nanny brings her own child, that is a nanny share and you should be paying a nanny share rate because the nanny's attention is divided between 2 children. A $2/hour discount is not a nanny share rate, assuming you're paying the prevailing rate of $18-22/hour. It seems like this nanny is trying to trick you into paying more than most people would pay for a nanny share.

Your nanny is a working mom just like you are. Working moms have to make arrangements for childcare. Good for the nanny if she can find a job where she can bring her child to work. But she should be clear up front with her employer that's the type of job she's looking for, and she shouldn't be expecting the same level of compensation that other nannies receive whose attention is directed to one child only. If you were able to bring your child to your job, I think you know that your work would receive less attention because of it. You'd also be saving lots of money on childcare expenses, so a lower salary in exchange for this benefit might be agreeable to you.

I think a nanny bringing her own child to work can be good on all sides, but everybody needs to agree up front. My wonderful nanny of 5 years sometimes brought her son to work on days that her childcare fell through. Our two kids were 2 years apart, and they became friends, went on weekend outings together, went to each others' birthday parties, etc. We are still friendly with the nanny and her family - her son is about to start college! But when she was working at my house, I always viewed her as a professional working mother, the same as I was. I paid her a good salary and benefits so she could afford childcare. She in turn took her job seriously, and gave it her full attention when she was working. I think we need to view a nanny as a professional working mother, and ourselves as employers, and act accordingly!