Planning for newborn childcare during Covid 19 shelter-in-place
I am giving birth this week to my first child and have not secured childcare. Originally, my husband and I were going to start looking in March and take our time through the process. I'm an educator and my husband is self-employed so we have some flexibility, and were hoping to secure something by July. With Covid 19 and California's shelter-in-place order I'm not quite sure how to navigate this at all. We are mostly interested in a nanny share. Thanks for any insights!
Apr 4, 2020
Parent Replies
My experience with both my children (5 and 10 mos) was that things fell into place with a nanny share about 6 weeks or so before we needed care. It can feel like you're cutting it too close but families and nannies often aren't looking before then so it can be hard to find something much earlier. So if you're hoping for care in July, you can at least wait it out for another month or so to see where we are with the epidemic and stay-at-home orders.
There is no reason you can't reach out and start talking to families who might be posting about nanny shares now. You don't typically meet in person until you think you're a match anyhow, so if you see a posting that seems promising, reach out, say hello, start a convo and meet up later. Also agree that you don't need as much lead time for nanny shares as you do with daycares, so 4-6 weeks is a good window.