Babies

Hire A Nanny

Melissa Brooks decision to hire a nanny.

When Melissa Brooks' son was 3, she decided to go back to work part time as a Litigation Paralegal. She put her son Trevor in day care and got a job at a medium sized law firm.

But life doesn't always work out like we planned it. Trevor hated preschool and started regressing on many of his developmental activities. At the same time, a major case at the office heated up, and her managing attorney asked her to come on full time.

I was at wits end. I wanted to work this big lawsuit and I also wanted Trevor to be happy. In the end, her solution was to hire a nanny.

She looked at several options. Someone at church suggested that she hire a woman they knew. She looked into it, but the woman didn't have the right to legally work in the United States and she also did not speak much English.

"I wanted Trevor to develop strong language skills and I felt the only way that would happen is if he was surrounded by rich language."

Then she looked into a nanny agency. The agency told her that there would be upfront placement fees of $2000 to hire a nanny and that she would be expected to pay $36,000 plus health insurance for a live out nanny.

"If I would have to pay $36,000 to hire a nanny, I might as well stay home. I make $45,000, but that's before taxes."

Melissa ended up hiring a nanny through AuPair America, a firm which places young foreign women with American families. Their au pair was named Inna and she was a 20 year old recent college graduate from the Ukraine. Inna wanted to see a little bit of the world before settling into her graduate pgrogam in Psychology.

If I was going to hire a nanny, I couldn't have done better than Inna, Melissa says. She says that Inna has a real commitment to Trevor and that he is getting exposure to global cultures.

The total cost to hire a nanny from Au Pair America was about $16,500 excluding the cost of room and board which was nominal as they put Inna in the guest bedroom.

Melissa found that to hire a nanny was more expensive than to put Trevor in full day preschool. But the flexibility it offered allowed her to take on a challenge at work and gave Trevor the best care possible.

Article Published: Monday 17th December 2007