Michelle, a mum of two, got some easy days to her week by mixing and matching nursery and nanny days during the week. Here’s how she did it.
@korukids A day in the life of a busy working mum with a Koru Kids nanny #workingmum #adayinmylife #nanny
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What does your usual week look like?
“I work four days a week while my partner works five. We both work from home almost full time; we’re both really lucky that we can be flexible with where and when we work, so managing childcare between us is usually quite easy. Plus it means we’ve got loads more childcare choices than a lot of families.
“We’ve got two young kids (3 & 1) who go to nursery two days a week and then we have a Koru Kids nanny two days a week.
“Our eldest was at nursery four days a week before our youngest was born, which worked well for us at the time because we lived (and worked) in a tiny flat.”
Why did you decide to mix nursery and a nanny?
“By the time our youngest was born we’d moved house giving us a little more space (although there’s never really enough with two under two) but it meant we weren’t near our amazing nursery where our eldest had been really well settled.”
1. It was time to re-evaluate our childcare choices
“I guess the first factor in what we decided on in the end, is simply that we were forced to re-evaluate it because of the move.
“We no longer lived over the road to our lovely nursery, so we started touring other places closer to where we now were.
“We were kind of mind-blown at the difference in the nurseries — in a bad way! We went to one place, which was part of a big chain, and happened to be on a tour at the mid-morning snack time – the staff brought round buttered white bread toast as the snack. We couldn’t believe it; that’s surely not the snack that’s going to help them have energy for all the growing and playing they’d be doing all day!?
“The difference in care to what we’d had before for the same price or often more expensive per place was jarring.
“Eventually we found somewhere we really love, that the kids have settled really well into. But it’s a little further away than we’d hoped (we were very spoilt that our old one was literally over the road from us), and – which I guess leads into the next factor – it’s a little more expensive than the other nurseries we toured.”
2. For two young kids in nursery, the fees didn't add up
“The second, and arguably the factor that had the biggest weight in deciding, was cost.
“The childcare fees quickly add up so we started looking more broadly at our childcare choices. First we looked at childminders, but we still would have had to pay for two separate places.
“So we started looking for at nannies instead, because two kids under 3 in full time nursery means two full places to pay for, whereas a nanny you only pay per nanny to take care of them both.
“With the Government free childcare hours we qualify for, we worked out exactly the split of nursery vs nanny days that would be most cost effective for us. It worked out to two days a week in nursery then an experienced nanny two days a week.
“Everyone’s always surprised when I say having a nanny ended up being more cost effective than full time nursery but I think people kind of forget that you’re paying two full places when the kids are as young as mine.
“I think it’s a bit of a missed opportunity for parents to twins or young kids like mine when they’re doing the nursery thing because it’s the norm.”
3. Peer to peer socialisation
“The third was more around peer to peer socialisation.
“We worried that too many nursery days would be a bit overwhelming for them both. We never really had an issue with this with our eldest, but she started a little older than our youngest would have been when he first went.
“We also lived much closer to our old nursery so we didn’t need to factor in a commute to their long day, which we do now.
“But I guess on the other side we were worried about having a nanny on too many days would mean they wouldn’t get to hang out with many other kids and get the socialisation they do at nursery.
“This probably shows how new we were with the whole nanny thing – our nanny takes them out all the time: to the library, to soft-play, to the park, to a local farm, on play-dates with other nannies and their kids. They get such good socialisation. It’s a little more relaxed anyway but then as soon as they need a break our nanny can bring them home to decompress before anyone gets too wired.”
It's the absolute best of both for us
“We never really thought about having different childcare throughout the week. We always assumed you just had to pick one for full time. I guess a lot of nurseries have minimum day requirements so maybe that’s where that came from, but it’s absolutely not the case.
“It’s worked out really well for us to be honest – the absolute best of both – with the added bonus of taking a bit of the pressure off fees.
“I’m really surprised by how easy it was for us to make it work. Once we’d had the nursery places and knew the days and times we needed care it was so easy to find a nanny with Koru Kids. I don’t think we’d have bothered doing it otherwise; our plates are full enough, so for it to be so effortless really helped.
“The kids LOVE their nanny too, I mean genuinely wake up in the morning asking if it’s ‘a Cece day’. As much as they love their nursery I can’t ever remember them being excited in the same way.
“It’s also just that bit easier for us; we don’t have to do the commute, we don’t have to rush out the door early, or panic about whether their backpacks are packed, or stop work in the middle of something to pick them up.
“Our nursery days are good too, I’d be lying if I said they weren’t and we wouldn’t use it if it didn’t work for us.
“It’s just that the nanny days are the easier days — it just feels like everyone has a bit more mental space on those days.”
