How/should I pay nanny if child starts after school activities?
Hi, this is my first time hiring a nanny so I'd love some advice. My child just started K and I hired a nanny to pick her up and play with her until I'm done with work. I pay her $25/hr. Now, my child is interested in joining some after school enrichment classes which means she wouldn't need to be picked up until 1-2 hours later. She also might start music lessons.
So my question is: how/do you pay your nanny when there are similar schedule changes that reduce their hours?
Aug 16, 2024
Parent Replies
If I had the resources to pay for an afterschool nanny AND already had one lined up, I would definitely keep that arrangement and forgo afterschool activities for my kindergartener. It's a very long day and a tough adjustment for 5 year olds. I think it's really nice to let them come home and play and rest with a trusted adult. It's ok to schedule a class or activity on the weekends, but the afterschool ones are for families who need the care, and you already have that covered. Keep the nanny, skip afterschool classes this year.
I would keep in mind that your nanny is likely wanting a certain number of hours per week.
Our experience (pre-COVID) with school-based enrichment classes was that there were occasional last minute cancellations for various reasons (eg illness, or outdoor class cancelled due to air quality), and the classes didn’t span the entire school year/quarter How would you be able to handle these uncovered days? For that reason, I did not consider the enrichment classes to be a reliable form of childcare. We always did them in concert with the school-based after school program.