It was too good to be true

If you have read my book (which I hope you have) you will know that one of my cardinal rules is find childcare you love. We had childcare we loved for 5 years from when my son was 10 months old til this past August right before he turned 6. We were are our company's daycare and had tremendous support and love for our kids each day.

But with my son starting Kindergarten in August, and it being only half-day (we have mornings), we knew we had to make a change. Rather than have do pre-school care, and then be picked up by a local daycare (so 3 different caregivers each day) we decided to switch to a nanny that would come to our house each day from 8-6.

We were so lucky in finding our nanny. We found her through Word of Mouth and it ended up she had been a nanny for a prior boss of Arnie and me, so we had a first hand reference. She started in August and the kids and we love her. She is great with the kids, managing their stuff (toys, laundry, etc) and even does our grocery shopping.

Well, I should have known it was too good to be true. We found out last week that in order for our nanny's husband to keep his job he must move to Cleveland. So, it is greater than 50/50 that come December we need a new nanny. So, this weekend we begin our word of mouth search again. We may turn to an agency if we have not luck, but we'll start asking around as we had luck that way last time.

The morale of the story is their are pros and cons to every childcare situation as my book says. The daycare gave us stability...it was there every day with multiple teachers in case someone was sick, etc. But, once we had two different schedules it didn't work. The nanny is in your home, so can put kids on the bus, get them off, shuttle them to dance class, etc...but when you that one person who has become part of your family, it is not always an easy transition and can cause a lot of stress while looking. The key is like any thing in a busy household, start early, go with the flow and keep the big picture in mind.