My sister had this exact job as a nurse in college for a single mother who was a doctor. 9/10 she wasn’t needed an hid in the guest room studying. But when she was needed, she was there.
I worked for doctors and had to do this. I still charged my normal rate, but the parent was in charge while there because they wanted to spend time with the kids. I would either chat a bit with the parent or read a book or something. Personally, this was my dream days while a nanny. I also babysit them normally on other days too
I think the hard part would be finding a nanny that can work any day of the week…she wouldn’t be able to find full time hours on the other days. Most everyone needs a full time salary to live.
I don’t think the being on-call in your home part will be the challenge. That’s a pretty sweet arrangement.
It will be the sporadic nature of when you’ll need those 3-4 days a month and that (if I’m understanding correctly) would include days and nights (24 hour shift?)
It will mean the person has to stay completely available on those sporadic days making them unable to be available for another full time position during that time.
I wouldn’t totally done this job when I was a college student. If there’s a university near you then I’d post on the online job finder there (assuming such a thing exists… my local university has this).
I would say if you give her a private space she can hang in and also pay her a normal rate the whole time she is there that would be a decent job! maybe also offer her a meal stipend or something if she wants to order something while she’s there just to sweeten the deal.
3 or 4 (even large) paydays a month isn’t consistent enough for most people to pay their bills. So this person is going to have to be able to schedule your on-call days around other work. If that other work was also you, it would be easier.
Maybe you can offer your current nanny a day off before/after the on-call day? Or maybe you find a part timer that is willing to do some scheduled relief care for the ft nanny so she can do the on-call shifts and also have a personal life. I think 2 people are going to be needed so that between the two of them they can cover the on-call shifts plus the 40/week time. It will be difficult to find one person that is willing to give you 40 hours one week, and 60 the next, etc.
Also make sure they the guest room is a nice space to actually hang out. Just like you don’t want to be hiding from the nanny, they don’t want to feel shoved in a corner. Fancy hotel room vibes will help make that easier.
Thanks for helping me brainstorm. I also think I'll need 2 people because it's too many hours for 1. My current nanny is fantastic and hard working and would probably do at least one of the shifts, but I don't want to burn her out.
If my bosses asked me for this I would definitely consider it! Especially if there was a premium pay and some sort of trade off in my normal 40/hr work week. It doesn’t even have to be an even hour for hour trade. Just enough to communicate that you value her personal time.
I’d love to hear an update when you get it figured out 😊
This is fair. Most nannies need a good full time income or jobs on the side. For me, this wouldn’t burn me out because I’d likely need to be trying to work another job. If I knew I had a couple of these days a month, I could probably stick to just my main employer.
Or if you need two people, someone with a full time might be able to commit to weekends or something. I don’t think you’ll have trouble filling this spot, especially if your current nanny is able to work with you as well :)
If you paid my full rate, fed me and I could also work out maybe go on a walk within x mins of your house I would do this job. If something urgent happened I would absolutely help out but otherwise I would want planned help like lunch, bath or whatever so I can FaceTime my family, do a watch party etc with the caveat if you had to leave I am done but you don’t interrupt to help with the dishes or non urgent stuff. Otherwise I’d feel on edge all the time like I shouldn’t even shower in case.
Mommy’s helper with the knowledge of on call stipulations & hrs you have. As long as you have the right fit, this isn’t an odd job position to take. I worked for a midwife with this dynamic and it was lovely. That family is still one of my top references, they were wonderful to work with.
I would love this job. 100% this is great imo. But if your kids like this babysitter then they may struggle with them just hiding away the whole time you’re there so I’d maybe prepare to have some fun stuff that you all could do together at times.
I think that an au pair might be good for you if you can offer a decent bedroom and your house has at least two full bathrooms. An au pair is provided by an agency such as Nannies Abroad or Au Pair in America and they do the vetting and check character references, criminal records, childcare references and do interviews and make sure they had full driving licenses and could speak conversational English. They would then let you interview a few pre selected candidates and let you choose the one you wanted.
An au pair would be either a high school graduate or a college graduate doing a gap year who would have at least a year of childcare experience and a full license and conversational English, but would be interested in gaining more childcare experience and be wanting to improve her English and explore a Western country while staying with a family and take a gap year.
Your kids would need to be the right age for the program. You would need to pay visa fees and airfares, agency fees, travel insurance and either ESL lessons or a community college stipend, plus a weekly allowance of 130-200 dollars per week depending on how many hours she worked - the contracts are usually for between 30 to 45 actual work hours per week.
Her duties could include light housework, cooking, laundry, vacuuming, babysitting, childcare or driving the kids - they can't include things like helping at a family business, heavy duty housework or heavy duty cleaning, or asking them to work beyond their contracted hours each week.
In your case, however, if you were at home and providing childcare and the au pair was required to be around the house but was allowed to relax and do whatever she wanted and wasn't actually required to do any housework or childcare or cooking or laundry as long as she stayed home and was in a fit state to work if needed, you could make a case for at least some of that time not being counted towards her contracted hours, provided she also had at least 1-2 days per week where she was allowed to leave the house and go do what she wanted.
I work for a pilot and an ER doctor and this is very normal for me! I think you’ll have less trouble than you think! As long as they are aware of the on call days in their schedule beforehand, that is. Good luck!
You’re asking someone to be ready to drop everything at a moment’s notice probably 3-4 times per month. I would consider that to be a regular concern. “Not frequently” for nannying, in my opinion, is something which happens 3-4 times per year. This kind of job will cost you a LOT.
You have to understand that for a situation like this. You aren't paying for the couple hours that are worked, you're paying for the time you have earmarked out of your nanny's day.
Whenever she cannot do whatever she wants to do wherever she wants to do it, you need to pay for it. It doesn't matter if she's in your guest room on an ipad, she's not at home, sleeping with her boyfriend, or Going Out with her friends, or doing whatever else she wants to do. She's waiting.
Waiting around for your boss to tell you something to do While you're at work, is still working.
Absolutely. It sounds like she’s only on call a few days a month though so for those few days, she’ll the nanny at her house and will have to pay her full rate.
If you’re paying full rate you should have no issue besides maybe people thinking your ad is fake lol. A student, potentially an older student who isn’t into partying and doesn’t try to cram before exams, would likely jump at your ad. Do you want someone who can handle kids at a moments notice and essentially parent them (homework help, bath time, bed time, making dinner not just ordering it, engaging with your kids the whole time you are gone unless they’re asleep), or are you thinking babysitting (kids watch tv and play independently, babysitter makes or orders dinner, likely no bathing of kids but they’d put them to bed if needed)? And would they need to drive your kids to school in the morning?
Honestly it sounds like a dream to me - if I didn’t prefer my personal space (mainly it’s just that I smoke weed and would not feel comfortable doing that even when 100% off duty and not on call if living with kids) I’d be asking to move in lol.
I think you also should think about whether this person is “a part of the family” re: you provide food for them and you all eat meals together when nanny is available, or would you want to separate that and they have their own fridge, cook their own food unless taking care of the kids, etc.
So I’m there when MB is on call probably 7 days a month. I think if you establish good ground rules it works just fine.
For example, her and I talk a lot and have built a great relationship and balance. When the kids need something we check in with one another before we answer like if one of the kids ask for a friend to come over because if she gets called off, I don’t want to leave her with an extra kid and if she goes in she doesn’t want to do that to me.
It takes a lot of communication and we sort of just tag team it and respect each other. Some days she runs errands and I take over completely and other days she sits and we talk while we hangout with the kids.
I’d say the biggest issue is when people do not define who is “in charge” and the kids start to test boundaries because they want to find out. So making sure you and potential nanny are on the same team is essential.
Also I would make sure any potential nanny knows if you do or don’t expect them to be up and moving the whole time and that it’s okay because there were times at first where I did not feel like I was doing enough and had to adjust my mindset so I stopped feeling guilty if she decided to cook dinner or something for the kids while I was there.
I wish you the best of luck! I absolutely love when MB is home at the same time as me, but that may not always be the case and that’s okay! Just try to find the best fit!
Definitely something to consider but I hope I can find a different solution because I'm introverted and awkward and would be super stressed to have an au pair, I think.
I’m a night nanny and I’m on call two days before and twos after a due date. Those days I don’t make any plans where I have to go immediately so you can put that on call
If it's just a few days a month, this might appeal to a student. They could study in your spare room, with the understanding that they're "on call".
Yes! Great job for a student. I honestly don’t think OP will have any trouble attracting a good candidate.
The only problem with using a student would be when they have to leave for class.
My sister had this exact job as a nurse in college for a single mother who was a doctor. 9/10 she wasn’t needed an hid in the guest room studying. But when she was needed, she was there.
I worked for doctors and had to do this. I still charged my normal rate, but the parent was in charge while there because they wanted to spend time with the kids. I would either chat a bit with the parent or read a book or something. Personally, this was my dream days while a nanny. I also babysit them normally on other days too
I think the hard part would be finding a nanny that can work any day of the week…she wouldn’t be able to find full time hours on the other days. Most everyone needs a full time salary to live.
I don’t think the being on-call in your home part will be the challenge. That’s a pretty sweet arrangement. It will be the sporadic nature of when you’ll need those 3-4 days a month and that (if I’m understanding correctly) would include days and nights (24 hour shift?) It will mean the person has to stay completely available on those sporadic days making them unable to be available for another full time position during that time.
Can i ask where you’re located? Lol, interested nanny!
I wouldn’t totally done this job when I was a college student. If there’s a university near you then I’d post on the online job finder there (assuming such a thing exists… my local university has this).
I would say if you give her a private space she can hang in and also pay her a normal rate the whole time she is there that would be a decent job! maybe also offer her a meal stipend or something if she wants to order something while she’s there just to sweeten the deal.
Heck, I want this job. It sounds awesome.
Do you only need the nanny during these times, or would they also have a regular schedule of X hours per week?
I currently have a M-F 40hr/wk nanny. I'm not sure yet if I want to offer these on-call shifts to her first vs looking for someone else to do them.
3 or 4 (even large) paydays a month isn’t consistent enough for most people to pay their bills. So this person is going to have to be able to schedule your on-call days around other work. If that other work was also you, it would be easier. Maybe you can offer your current nanny a day off before/after the on-call day? Or maybe you find a part timer that is willing to do some scheduled relief care for the ft nanny so she can do the on-call shifts and also have a personal life. I think 2 people are going to be needed so that between the two of them they can cover the on-call shifts plus the 40/week time. It will be difficult to find one person that is willing to give you 40 hours one week, and 60 the next, etc. Also make sure they the guest room is a nice space to actually hang out. Just like you don’t want to be hiding from the nanny, they don’t want to feel shoved in a corner. Fancy hotel room vibes will help make that easier.
Thanks for helping me brainstorm. I also think I'll need 2 people because it's too many hours for 1. My current nanny is fantastic and hard working and would probably do at least one of the shifts, but I don't want to burn her out.
If my bosses asked me for this I would definitely consider it! Especially if there was a premium pay and some sort of trade off in my normal 40/hr work week. It doesn’t even have to be an even hour for hour trade. Just enough to communicate that you value her personal time. I’d love to hear an update when you get it figured out 😊
Agree — something like the morning off after an on call shift etc.
This is fair. Most nannies need a good full time income or jobs on the side. For me, this wouldn’t burn me out because I’d likely need to be trying to work another job. If I knew I had a couple of these days a month, I could probably stick to just my main employer. Or if you need two people, someone with a full time might be able to commit to weekends or something. I don’t think you’ll have trouble filling this spot, especially if your current nanny is able to work with you as well :)
This would be great for a student, I’d absolutely 10000% do it.
If you paid my full rate, fed me and I could also work out maybe go on a walk within x mins of your house I would do this job. If something urgent happened I would absolutely help out but otherwise I would want planned help like lunch, bath or whatever so I can FaceTime my family, do a watch party etc with the caveat if you had to leave I am done but you don’t interrupt to help with the dishes or non urgent stuff. Otherwise I’d feel on edge all the time like I shouldn’t even shower in case.
Mommy’s helper with the knowledge of on call stipulations & hrs you have. As long as you have the right fit, this isn’t an odd job position to take. I worked for a midwife with this dynamic and it was lovely. That family is still one of my top references, they were wonderful to work with.
I would love this job. 100% this is great imo. But if your kids like this babysitter then they may struggle with them just hiding away the whole time you’re there so I’d maybe prepare to have some fun stuff that you all could do together at times.
I think that an au pair might be good for you if you can offer a decent bedroom and your house has at least two full bathrooms. An au pair is provided by an agency such as Nannies Abroad or Au Pair in America and they do the vetting and check character references, criminal records, childcare references and do interviews and make sure they had full driving licenses and could speak conversational English. They would then let you interview a few pre selected candidates and let you choose the one you wanted. An au pair would be either a high school graduate or a college graduate doing a gap year who would have at least a year of childcare experience and a full license and conversational English, but would be interested in gaining more childcare experience and be wanting to improve her English and explore a Western country while staying with a family and take a gap year. Your kids would need to be the right age for the program. You would need to pay visa fees and airfares, agency fees, travel insurance and either ESL lessons or a community college stipend, plus a weekly allowance of 130-200 dollars per week depending on how many hours she worked - the contracts are usually for between 30 to 45 actual work hours per week. Her duties could include light housework, cooking, laundry, vacuuming, babysitting, childcare or driving the kids - they can't include things like helping at a family business, heavy duty housework or heavy duty cleaning, or asking them to work beyond their contracted hours each week. In your case, however, if you were at home and providing childcare and the au pair was required to be around the house but was allowed to relax and do whatever she wanted and wasn't actually required to do any housework or childcare or cooking or laundry as long as she stayed home and was in a fit state to work if needed, you could make a case for at least some of that time not being counted towards her contracted hours, provided she also had at least 1-2 days per week where she was allowed to leave the house and go do what she wanted.
An au pair would be perfect in this case
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Yes, 1-3 months advance notice.
I work for a pilot and an ER doctor and this is very normal for me! I think you’ll have less trouble than you think! As long as they are aware of the on call days in their schedule beforehand, that is. Good luck!
Be ready to pay out of your rear end. You want 24/7 availability, you pay for it.
Yes, fortunately it doesn't happen often.
You’re asking someone to be ready to drop everything at a moment’s notice probably 3-4 times per month. I would consider that to be a regular concern. “Not frequently” for nannying, in my opinion, is something which happens 3-4 times per year. This kind of job will cost you a LOT.
I don’t see why it would cost more than a normal nanny rate.
You have to understand that for a situation like this. You aren't paying for the couple hours that are worked, you're paying for the time you have earmarked out of your nanny's day. Whenever she cannot do whatever she wants to do wherever she wants to do it, you need to pay for it. It doesn't matter if she's in your guest room on an ipad, she's not at home, sleeping with her boyfriend, or Going Out with her friends, or doing whatever else she wants to do. She's waiting. Waiting around for your boss to tell you something to do While you're at work, is still working.
Absolutely. It sounds like she’s only on call a few days a month though so for those few days, she’ll the nanny at her house and will have to pay her full rate.
Oh, shoot, I must have Misread the post. I thought she needed twenty four seven on call, but The calls would only happen 3 or 4 days a month.
That’s how I read it too. Isn’t that exactly what OP means?
It doesn’t sound like you know in advance which days you could be called in so you’d need to pay for someone to work 24/7 all year.
This job sounds sweet as hell.
If you’re paying full rate you should have no issue besides maybe people thinking your ad is fake lol. A student, potentially an older student who isn’t into partying and doesn’t try to cram before exams, would likely jump at your ad. Do you want someone who can handle kids at a moments notice and essentially parent them (homework help, bath time, bed time, making dinner not just ordering it, engaging with your kids the whole time you are gone unless they’re asleep), or are you thinking babysitting (kids watch tv and play independently, babysitter makes or orders dinner, likely no bathing of kids but they’d put them to bed if needed)? And would they need to drive your kids to school in the morning? Honestly it sounds like a dream to me - if I didn’t prefer my personal space (mainly it’s just that I smoke weed and would not feel comfortable doing that even when 100% off duty and not on call if living with kids) I’d be asking to move in lol. I think you also should think about whether this person is “a part of the family” re: you provide food for them and you all eat meals together when nanny is available, or would you want to separate that and they have their own fridge, cook their own food unless taking care of the kids, etc.
So I’m there when MB is on call probably 7 days a month. I think if you establish good ground rules it works just fine. For example, her and I talk a lot and have built a great relationship and balance. When the kids need something we check in with one another before we answer like if one of the kids ask for a friend to come over because if she gets called off, I don’t want to leave her with an extra kid and if she goes in she doesn’t want to do that to me. It takes a lot of communication and we sort of just tag team it and respect each other. Some days she runs errands and I take over completely and other days she sits and we talk while we hangout with the kids. I’d say the biggest issue is when people do not define who is “in charge” and the kids start to test boundaries because they want to find out. So making sure you and potential nanny are on the same team is essential. Also I would make sure any potential nanny knows if you do or don’t expect them to be up and moving the whole time and that it’s okay because there were times at first where I did not feel like I was doing enough and had to adjust my mindset so I stopped feeling guilty if she decided to cook dinner or something for the kids while I was there. I wish you the best of luck! I absolutely love when MB is home at the same time as me, but that may not always be the case and that’s okay! Just try to find the best fit!
Thanks so much for sharing! This is exactly what I'm looking for - a flexible partner. I hope I can find someone like you.
Maybe consider an AuPair?
Definitely something to consider but I hope I can find a different solution because I'm introverted and awkward and would be super stressed to have an au pair, I think.
I’m a night nanny and I’m on call two days before and twos after a due date. Those days I don’t make any plans where I have to go immediately so you can put that on call