Wanting to Stay Home with My Son

Hello A.-

I am currently a Parent Coach, but not too long ago I worked as a Nanny. It’s a great job and a lot of fun, but you do need to be careful. I have a few suggestions for you about how to move forward.

1) Find out what your family needs financially
2) Talk with your husband and decide how many hours/ days you would want another child in your home
3) Figure out where this other child would nap etc
4) Think about this other child being ill, would you want to have him/her in your home
5) Think about working in the other child’s home, and how it would effect your child
6) Think about how another child would make your child feel.

If you still feel this is a good solutions, instead of advertising on Craig’s List, I’d use Care.com, urbanmamas.com or mamasource.com. I’ve used Craig’s List in the past, but you do need to be very careful.

Once you’ve met a family, you must:

1) do background checks to make sure they have enough money to pay you and they don’t have a criminal record
2) You’ll need to be first aid & CPR certified
3) Write a contract stating hours, days, late fees, sick rules, activity cash for the other child and everything in between. Having the rules written out is crucial in this type of situation.

I hope this helps some. If you ever have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

R. Magby
Parent Coach
Everything Baby, LLC
www.everythingbabyllc.com

The upside: Right now you have a paying job that you can take your child to, while you figure out what direction to head next.

If you'd been laid off instead of switched to 1/2 time you wouldn't recieve ANY monies until unemployment came through 1-3 months down the road, and even then it would be less than you're making now.

This way you're still getting paid and have an extra 10-20 hours per week to jobsearch, or look into starting your own school or your own in home daycare.

Actually, it seems like you've got the best of both worlds, as far as making a transition goes.

And why advertise in Craigslist? Why not start with local schools, businesses, churches/synagogs/temples, friends? That is, unless you're going to go all out with the small business loan, & licensing process...why not start off with word'o'mouth and locally?

Anyhow, just some thoughts.

It all depends on your motivation. You could try to get a few kids to come to your home to be cared for. You could try to find another center that will give you more hours. You could talk to your boss and let them know that you really need more hours. The state has a childcare resource list that will have people who care for kids in their homes. you can try to get that list and call around to see what people are charging on average. Also find out what the centers charge and figure that you do not have everything they have to offer, but it gives you an idea of what they charge and as long as you are well below their fees you are probably okay. There is also a lot of great DSA businesses like AVON that you could look into to try and bring in extra money without the responsibility of caring for someone else's child.

Hi A. - Years ago I went from working full time (before kids) wondering how we would make it to loving being at home full time (my kids are now 6 & 8 and am homeschooling the youngest, the 8yr old is in private school). I was able to get a job (it actually found me) that I was able to work on-call (vacations, sick, extra person needed, etc) in one office. It was nice to help keep up my skills and bring in a few dollars (worked anywhere from 2 weeks at a time to nothing for a month or a day here & there). I also was able to use a daycare that allowed drop-ins (saved money). My husband & I also reviewed many of the questions that Rebecca mentioned below about sitting down and taking a real look at your finances and life. In addition to reviewing all of this look at things in your life to see if you really use them (example: cable/satellite tv - can you get away without it? Use the free antenna - PBS Kids has just as much if not better quality than cable). For us we no longer have satellite (saved $ right there and we really dont miss it). We also only have ONE cell phone & it is for who ever is away from the house. Another option is to have the family cell phone plan & get rid of the landline phone. We very rarely eat out (living in a small town helps with that). We also reviewed our insurance (where can we cut back or change companies to save - dont skimp on coverage but really compare apples to apples with insurance - car, house, etc). Look into your mortgage/rent to see if there is a way to reduce it (or even downsize if needed). Look at your home to better weather proof it (save money in the long run). Car payments - do we really "need" a new car? For us we have always bought "used" and saved soooo much. Our most recent car purchase about 6 months ago was a 3 yr old car (2006) that had been a leased car (very well maintained and had less than 26K miles & gets 27 miles to the gallon - seats 5 very comfortably with lots of extra room), we bought it for less than $10,000 take home. Had we bought it new more than likely it would have been at least twice if not three times that. This not only saved on the payment but the insurance to cover it. We also keep our cars a very long time - dont care what the "Jones" have).

One thought if you are really considering having a child in your home to watch is to check with the local zoning to see if this "business" that you would now have is OK (you may also have to get clearance from Washington State to do this type of "daycare"). Also check with your insurance (car & home) to see if this other child will be covered on your property & under your care! Stay away from internet referrals but rely on local connections to find a family that would be a good match for you. You will find out that if you are not feeling good, what is going to happen to your "client", you need to look at and really review the what "ifs" with any venture and have a backup plan. This will help you to see if this is a real opportunity or if it is too much work (not covering the "new" overhead costs, etc). You will also need to know that you will have to report this as income for your taxes so keep good records.

Review everything and maybe working 22 hours or less per week will work out. If you can cut other expenses then 22 hours might be enough (remember that working less you will have less taxes to worry about & might qualify for other tax incentives). As time progresses look at what is going to happen when your son gets a little older and ends up being more of a distraction at work? (what a blessing that you can take him at this time!) Again have a backup plan. For me I found that I enjoyed (after some adjustment) working less hours and practicing some cost savings it was not too much of a struggle as we had first thought it would be. It does take time and I know for us it is much better in the long run - it just takes practice but being at home is possible with the right planning and looking at real life through clear glass. God Bless

I don't know if any of them are hiring right now, but Gold's Gym has a childcare area that you're allowed to bring your own child to if you work there. You might want to check it out. Sounds like it's a somewhat similar situation to what you're doing now.

Good luck to you!

This is going to sound crazy but I just found a new child care center for my kids and I feel like they are home. I can visit, call, and talk to them any time it great! check it out! www.pacificparkchildrenscenter.com