We're thinking about a live-in childcare provider. When autumn arrives, D can't continue dropping A off at day care every day -- he needs to leave earlier for work than 7 a.m. (which is disgusting in itself, but that's a separate post). If I take her and bring her back two to four nights a week, history tells us, I will strain my back so much that physical therapy will turn into nothing more than Anne groaning while the therapist gingerly rubs her back and then applies ice packs. Getting various sitters in here to help on the various nights that D can't get home in time to pick A up has worked okay, but is far from ideal. We are barely managing to keep our kids happy and healthy, our house liveable, our laundry clean and our grass mowed and I am struggling to provide a cooked dinner 4 nights a week while working, running errands and trying to actually work 37 hours. Forget reading parenting books, experimenting with healthier meals, planning for the future, or decorating, cleaning or maintaining my house.
So, what? An au pair? A younger woman is less threatening (less likely to take my place as Mommy), has more energy, and possibly may be more intelligent than a middle-aged woman who has decided to become a nanny rather than just doing it for an interim period before moving on with her life. A slightly older nanny may be more skilled, more reliable, possibly more of a long-term solution so that A doesn't have annual turnover in the people she loves.
Which one f's up your kid more? Which one would solve more problems than she created? Either? Neither? When are are my husband and I supposed to find the time to think about this individually, much less talk about it together, much less research and hire someone?
As Steve Irwin might have said, "Crikey. Someone find me a stingray."
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