Sharing Care

Whenever you decide to go back to work after having children, the most important and difficult decision that you make is who will look after your child. You have to consider what kind of childcare is available, the cost and whether your child will be happy. If you want to work part time or take advantage of flexible working options, the inflexibility of many childcare providers can only increase that stress.

Part-time and flexible working practices are on the increase – more mothers work now than ever before, the majority of them part-time. Flexible employment requires flexible childcare and yet this can be both difficult to find and very expensive, leaving many working mothers looking for an alternative.

Or maybe you would prefer to have a trained, professional nanny to look after your children, but find the cost is prohibitive. Sharing your childcare with a local family can offer the perfect solution, as these mums found out.

Sharon Goode, an advertising executive, loved the idea of a full-time nanny for her child but couldn’t afford one. Sharon discovered Nannyshare.co.uk – a website that matches local families with a view to sharing childcare – and used the site to find a local mum with the same childcare requirements. Together they now employ a full-time nanny and share the cost.

Zoë Sinclair has a similar story. Zoë was working part-time and required childcare 3 or 4 mornings a week. Zoe found the nanny she wanted to employ, but like most nannies, Yveta was looking for more hours. Zoë used the Nannyshare site to try and find another family to share her nanny. It worked - Yveta now works for Zoë in the mornings and for another family in the afternoons, picking the children up from school and helping with homework until mum gets home. Both mothers have the flexible care they need and share the costs between them.

Jodi Chen, a London architect, was delighted to find a local mum through Nannyshare - they now share a nanny to care for their two baby daughters. “Nannyshare puts you in touch with people near to you with the same childcare needs. It is a great form of networking and helped me to solve the very tricky problem of getting the right type of care for my precious daughter.”

So if you are looking for flexible childcare or would like to see if there is someone looking to share a nanny where you live, you can visit Nannyshare to find out more and try a free search in your area now. You never know – cheaper childcare could be just around the corner.

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