Where did u find her from?

All the sites I have found on Google have an American bias.

 

www.greataupair.com

Ignore the septics and Filipinos and you will find someone here - worked for us a couple of times - in both cases found excellent local girls.

 

Tough it out lads its worth it trust me-my wife and i have been skint since the day they were born our two are beginning to leave there mother and me behind

And that gentlemen
Is what we are here for

p.s if you have a daughter or son bring them a sweet or comic every friday night( never forget this ever)

you have no idea what it means to them
iain

 

It IS tough - ours are a little older now, but it was very difficult to make ends meet.

We ended up with FT child-minding as it was the cheaper option (although the child-minder had to endure OFSTED inspections etc etc)
The upside was aside from the financial aspect, a smaller amount of kids, so more 1:1 contact.
The downside was when the child-minder was ill, MAJOR issues with getting cover.
We did have parents to call on, but due to my own sense of independence, we never called on them unless it was a REAL emergency.
They were more than happy with this (being dubbed "super-subs" ), as it meant in their retirement, they weren't our child-care.

My eldest has just started Secondary school, with my youngest in her 2nd year at Primary.
I'm VERY lucky that my working day is done by 4pm, and Wifey works shifts.

The only thing we take advantage of now is "Breakfast Club" - £1 per day. When we both can't make it home to pick up youngest (eldest walks from the bus home - a reassurance of Countryside living imho), Super-Subs kick in, or In-Laws have now moved to the area, and have missed out on some of the growing up, so are more than willing to help (their house is also on the way home from work!)

So, my only advice is that yes, it is VERY expensive (even with the "cheaper" child-minder, nearly one of our wages was covering just that!), it doesn't last forever.....

But it does involve some serious conversations and decision-making about the next 5-6 years and its affect on your lifestyle.
(No doubt people will tell you, "Having a baby changes EVERYTHING" - rubbish: that will only happen if you let it. Personally, we found compromise, life did change but not in a bad way and under our own rules - kids fitted around that mostly!).

But it does get better

Good luck

Dan

 

It all seems unfair somehow.

Les

 

That's with renting a building and employing staff.

 

we use the local homeless guy, that way u get cheap child care an ur getting people back into work,

 

Fot those that want it i know a geordie tramp who works a full day for 20 quid plus some tennants.

 

You would expect the government to reduce tax or help out more to allow people to go back to work ..

I pay a lot of tax and if they were to let me keep some of the money I earn I would be fine..

 

[I pay a lot of tax and if they were to let me keep some of the money I earn I would be fine..[/QUOTE]

so would the rest of us

 

Childcare international

We've had 5 german girls in a row now ( so to speak) and they have all been stereotypically reliable and punctual if a bit literal at times, but overall great.

 

Depends whether you want kids or not. If you do, you do what it takes.

 

and today the little one has an eye infection so the nursery wont take her in .. I still have to pay for the day and take time off work ..

Not great ..

 

At the end of the day you are paying for the place at the nursery. If you didn't pay today someone else would take your place and you'd have to wait until another child drops out. Worth it in the long run.

 

yeah I know .. doesn't mean I have to like it

 

 

I stand corrected, they took her in on the condition I would be there if her eye gunks up .. which is fair enough .. I got the whole health and safety speech I guess people must argue with them about having to come get their kids ..

I don't want my kids catching things, so don't expect mine to be in if their ill ..

 

I'm surprised they let her in. We aren't allowed to have any children for at least 24 hours after the symptoms have gone away.

 

They used to administer eye drops/antibiotics in our nursery no problem, although the trots or anything like that was a +24 hours situation.

Coincidentally, my daughter has gone into school today with conjunctivitis, but they won't give her drops (elf and safety) but this is where the au pair is handy (and the school is nearby) as she will go to the school twice during the day to do the eyedrops.