Hi there,
I live in Providence, where I'm a new mom to a ten week old daughter. I'm looking ahead to September when I return to work, thankfully only two days per week and am really trying to avoid sending my little girl off to daycare. Particularly because my hourly child care need is so small (probably on the order of 16 hours/week), I've been thinking about some alternatives and I wonder if anyone else out there in the Providence area would be interested in discussing.
(1) Go in on a nanny together (aka Nanny Share). We’d interview nannies, agree on someone we both/all like and have them watch our babies at one of our houses and split the cost. Generally, the cost is less per family than 1:1 care would be, but you still have the benefit of close attention and in-home child care.
(2) I’m not sure what to call option two: child swap, baby barter? Basically we’d alternate days watching two babies (two would be my limit, I don’t know about you). On the day(s) I’m at work, you’d watch your baby + mine and on a day(s) you’re at work, I’d watch your baby along with Lea. The advantage to this is it’s free and again, with someone you know and trust. We don't know/trust each other yet, but I figured meeting on mothering.com was a good start. This option has the potential to be challenging, which is why I’d want to try it out a few times first (maybe a few hours to start) to see how it goes. Another way to work this would be to set up a kind of bank where you could earn hours and cash them in depending on your schedule.
I really like the idea of something more closely approximating family providing childcare. If you think you might be seriously interested, please let me know. Thanks!
