Tag: Georgetown

Why You Can’t Find a Nanny

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Finding the right nanny for your family can be an overwhelming process. You may receive messages from candidates who suddenly stop responding with no discernable reason. Or, you receive zero responses and can’t figure out why no one is interested.

Here are some common mistakes many families make that can sometime limit the amount of nannies interested in working with them.

A Bad Schedule

The standard 9-5 jobs generally have no issues being filled. Many nannies are desperately looking for consistent full time schedules. However, it can be much more difficult to fill a part-time nanny position. Many families work from home these days and prefer schedules like Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. While that looks good on paper, it is a very inconvenient schedule for most nannies.

If nannies are looking for part-time work, it is typically because they have a second job or they are in school. It would be very rare to find a family just looking for a Monday/Friday nanny. If nannies are in school, taking three days out of the middle of the week when they may have classes is incredibly inconvenient.

If you are looking for a part-time nanny, it is best to consider having an alternating schedule. Have a nanny come Monday, Wednesday, and Friday so they can supplement with a Tuesday/Thursday job. Or have a nanny who comes in the mornings, so they can have their afternoons free for classes.

Not Enough Hours

At Wilco Nannies, we require part-time positions to start at 15 hours a week. One of the reasons we do that is because of how difficult it can be to find a nanny interested in less than 15 hours. Many families only see themselves needing a nanny for a single day of the week. For example, maybe they have a consistent meeting on Fridays and simply need a nanny for that time. With few exceptions, nannies are looking for a job as a form of income. So keep in mind, that it will be very difficult for a nanny to pay any bills on less than 15 hours a week. If you are finding you only need care for less than 15 hours, consider looking for a drop-in daycare instead.

Not Enough Pay, or Paying Weekly Rates

Inflation has hit nannies and babysitters too. If you have good hours but still aren’t receiving a lot of interest, consider raising the pay. Another option is to offer nannies extra perks like gas reimbursement or a year-end bonus.

Many family prefer to pay a weekly salary. Unfortunately, that is a giant red flag for a lot of nannies. Some families who pay salary instead of hourly use it as a reason to over work their nannies without fair compensation. Nannies can get stuck working 60 hours a week or spending their working hours cleaning, for little pay.

Also note that, generally, household employees in the state of Texas must be paid an hourly wage.

Wanting to Start Short Term and Then Extend

It can be nerve wracking as a first time parent allowing a stranger in your home to watch your child. Many parents think a simple solution is to post a job asking for a nanny for a few weeks or months. Then if that time period goes well, they want to extend the job for a year. The problem with this idea is that if you post a job for only a few weeks or months, many nannies will pass it because they are looking for long term employment.

It is a much better idea to post how long you intend to have the nanny in your service. Then schedule a trial week with a nanny to make sure it is a good fit. It does not take a few months to know if your nanny will work within your family. If it is a good fit, you will know immediately!

Too Little or Too Much Job Detail

When posting your job, it is important to post just the right amount of information to get the right people interested. The most important things to post are your general location (zip code or neighborhood), how many children, ages of the children, hours, and pay. Forgetting any of these items could cause nannies to express interest and then stop responding when they realize it isn’t enough pay or is too far of a commute.

Many families like to post as many details as possible. Unfortunately, to many nannies, this can be a red flag of a micro-managing family. Keep specifics for during the interview process. Those details are all important and appreciated by your nanny. But in a job post, keep it simple and include the most important details.

Looking for a nanny can be very overwhelming and time-consuming. Here at Wilco Nannies we want to take all the stress and pressure off of your shoulders. Let us weed through the candidates and find the best nannies for your family!

What Should be in Your Nanny Bag

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When Mary Poppins placed her carpet bag on the table and pulled out a lamp, we knew she came prepared! While the average nanny and babysitter don’t need to pack an entire room in their bags, here are some great items to bring on your next job.

Things for you!

Your nanny bag should always have items you might need while you are in someone else’s house. Packing and extra set of clothes can be a lifesaver. We know kids are the best at getting messy! Many of us childcare workers have come to home to realize we have Cheerios in our shirt, or stickers on our pants. You never know when food, paint, glitter, water, or bodily fluids might get on your clothes and make for an uncomfortable drive home.

There are some items that are always good to have on hand when you are spending your day or evening at someone else’s house. Bring your phone charger so you will always be able to stay in touch with the family and call someone in case of an emergency. If you have any emergency medicines, such as an EpiPen, be sure to pack them. Do you wear contacts? Pack some extra contact solution or your backup pair of glasses.

For those of us working late nights or babysitting on Friday evenings, there can be a lot of down time. Consider packing some quiet activities to do while the children are asleep. While watching the TV is always the easiest option, we’ve all been in situations where we don’t know how to work someone else’s TV. And no one wants to be the person that breaks it! Bring a book, your own tablet, something to knit, or anything else you can sit and do quietly until the parents get home.

Things for the kids!

If you are a crafty nanny, have some ready to go crafts in your bag. Simple projects are always the best. Pack some string and beads to make necklaces. Try some stickers, paper, and crayons to make fun pictures. Try these print outs on how to make paper boats and airplanes! 

Sometimes a single item can lead to a night filled with fun. Bring a flashlight and do all kinds of activities! Make shadow puppets or trace shadows on paper. Grab some bubbles from the grocery store! Or make some homemade bubbles with the kids. 

If you are a baking nanny, bring some ingredients for simple recipes to make. Did you know you can make slime with just glue and baking soda? Or fill some sandwich baggies with ingredients for mug recipes! These are easy and quick for kids to make.

Not much of a crafter or baker, bring your favorite board game or childhood book. Kids love to see other things people are interested in. Pulling out an old game or book they may have never seen before can be very exciting! Be sure that all items are age appropriate.

What not to bring!

As excited as we can get to show our kiddos fun things to do, there are some items that are always good to keep at home.

Never bring anything sharp, such as scissors, or anything that could potentially stain, such as nail polish. If you are with children under four years old, stay away from items with tiny pieces that they could swallow.

Always check with the family to make sure there aren’t any items the children might be allergic to, or that are against house rules.

Never bring headphones to a job. It seems logical to put in headphones while the children are sleeping so you don’t wake them up. But it is always safer to be able to hear everything going on in the house in case of emergency.

A “Bad Weather” Plan

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While Texas weather is like spinning the prize wheel at a carnival, we typically don’t have the type of weather that causes cancellations.  However, since most of us are survivors of Snow-mageddon in 2021 and Tree-pocalypse of 2023, planning for potential bad weather has become a necessity.

While bad weather can stop families and nannies from going to work, it doesn’t stop bills from being owed.  It is important to discuss with your nanny a policy for days with snow, floods, or power outages.  Whatever you and your nanny decide, always get it written down in a contract.

Define “bad weather” with your nanny.

Sometimes small ice storms can wreak havoc on our Texas roads.  And sometimes a huge storm early in the morning is gone by the afternoon.  When defining what you consider bad weather to your nanny, the roads should be the primary concern.  If emergency services are asking people to stay off the main roads, your nanny should not be required to drive to work. 

A good rule of thumb is to check with your local school district about cancellations.  If your local school has cancelled classes for the day, your nanny may not be able to come to work safely.

Consider your nannies location and your location.

Very rarely do nannies live in the same neighborhood as their nanny families.  While your neighborhood may be dry as a bone, your nanny’s neighborhood may have been hit hard by a storm.  It should be noted in the nanny’s contract that if the schools in her area are closed, she may not be required to come into work.  If you have to have your nanny come in, consider they might have their own children who’s school has been cancelled.  Be sure to establish your rules on the nanny bringing their own child to work for these days.

Consider your own job expectations.

Many of us are lucky enough to work from home and are not expected to drive in bad weather.  But if you are a person working as a doctor, nurse, police officer, etc you will most likely be required to come into work.  Make sure that is expressed to your nanny upon hiring, as well as in writing.  If a nanny understands they are expected to come in, no matter what the weather, they can plan accordingly.

Letting the nanny spend the night.

Families know their job expectations better than anyone.  If you have very important meetings, or have a job that requires you to come into the office, seeing if the nanny is willing to spend the night can be the perfect solution.  It is very important to have good rules and expectations set for when a nanny spends the night.  Do you have an appropriate place for them to sleep like a guest bedroom or an office?  Will they have access to their own bathroom?  Should they bring their own food?  Also always consider if the nanny has their own family or pets who need their attention.

Is it guaranteed minimum hours or paid time off?

Guaranteed minimum hours refers to the minimum number of hours a nanny is paid during a given week.  These hours should be paid even if the family asks the nanny not to come in to work for any reason, such as the nanny family is going on vacation.  Paid time off refers to days the nanny asks to take off.  With these parameters in mind, bad weather days should always be included under guaranteed minimum hours.  Nannies are not asking for these bad weather days off.  They are being forced to have them off due to outside circumstances.

Above all, the safety of everyone should be at the forefront.  If you wouldn’t put yourself in any kind of danger, you should never expect your nanny to put themselves in danger.

What is the going rate?

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The cost of living has affected everyone, including nannies and babysitter.  With prices rising every day, it can be hard to determine how much to pay a babysitter or nanny. 

At the end of the day, all families must look at their budget to identify what they can afford.  Keep in mind all household workers must be paid an hourly wage.  It is illegal in Texas, and many other states, to pay a household worker a salary. 

Here are some tips to help decide what rates work best for you.

Below $15/hr

This rate should be exclusively for babysitters under 16 years old.  If you have a neighbor who is looking to get into babysitting or a middle school student who wants to start babysitting for the first time, this is the range for you.  Keep in mind how many children are in the house.  If the babysitter is working with two children who will be in bed the majority of the job, the rate can be lower.  If the children are younger, there are more than two, or it is during a time when the children will be awake and active, the rate should be higher.

$15-$20/hr

This is the perfect pay starting for 16 years olds to young adults who are getting into babysitting and nannying for the first time.  This group will most likely have to drive to work which costs gas and car maintenance.  This is also a good pay range for college students who do not have a lot of previous experience working with children.  If someone was a neighborhood babysitter in high school, and now is looking to continue during college, they should be on the higher end of this pay range. They do have school expenses and other living costs to consider. 

$20-$25/hr

Here is the part of the pay range where it can get a little more complicated.  At the lower end of this pay range you will have people who might have some babysitting experience or other child care experience.  This experience includes jobs like church nursery worker, coaching, or camp counselor.  This kind of experience is great training to be a nanny or babysitter.  As we move up this pay range you begin to see people with solid childcare experience.  They have worked for a daycare for more than a year or they have at least one family they worked with long term.  You can also see many people coming from related fields like home health care, teaching, etc..

$25-$30/hr

These are nannies who have already developed great experience in childcare.  They are up to date on their certifications.  They have references they can easily pull from.  They know that working with children is their chosen path.  Determining where they should be within this range should be based on how many children, and the expected duties of the job.  This range is for people who consider being a nanny or a babysitter their job.  Not a side gig, not a hustle, this is their job.  If you are a nanny with at least five years’ experience, this is your starting pay range.

$30+

This pay range is where you start to find your “career nannies”.  Career Nannies are people who have decided that nannying will be their chosen profession.  They’ve worked for several families specifically as a nanny.  They are people with experience not only with children, but specifically with helping families as a nanny.  The range is not only determined by the expectations of the job, but by the experience the people have. 

Perks:

Gas Mileage:  In any nanny or babysitting position where driving is expected to be part of the job, reimbursement for gas should be included.  In the state of Texas, gas reimbursement is 67 cents per mile.

Money for activities:  Many families like for nannies to take their children out to activities or playdates.  Nannies and babysitters should always be reimbursed for these activities.  One option is to provide a nanny with a Visa gift card that you can load money on for your child’s activity expenses.

Bonus:  While not required, it is always a great sign of respect for your nanny to give a bonus at the end of the year.  Something that says “we appreciate you”.

Ghost Stories

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Halloween weekend is upon us!  Some good, old fashioned, scary story telling never ages.  I asked around friends and family for their favorite ghost stories from their childhood.  The nice thing about most of these stories, we have all heard them enough that we can put our own spin on it!  You can creep it up or creep it down.  Just remember, you reap what you sew with scary stories and kids.  You creep the story up, you will have a bunk mate for the evening.  Happy Halloween! 

La Llorona

  Once there was a beautiful woman named Xochitl.  She fell in love with a wealthy rancher.  They were married and had two children together.  One day Xochitl saw her husband kissing another woman.  In a fit of rage, she drowned her two children in the river by their house.  Realizing what she had done, Xochitl flung herself into the river drowning.  When Xochitl went up to heaven, they would not let her in until she finds her children.  So now she spends her days by the river, forever weeping and forever looking for her lost children.

Bloody Mary

There once was a little girl named Mary who lived in a cemetery with her family.  Her father was a gravedigger.  When he buried a body, he would always leave a string leading into the grave with a bell on the other end.  That way if anyone was buried alive, they could ring the bell and the gravedigger would be able to dig them up.

One day a terrible disease swept through the village.  It would cause people to fall into a deep sleep before dying.  They would check to see if the person was alive by placing a mirror under their nose.  If the mirror fogged up, then they were still alive.  Mary came home sick one day and fell into a deep sleep.  Her parents were devastated when they place the mirror under her nose and no breath fogged up the mirror.

They buried Mary behind their house in a grave with a string attached to a bell.  Shockingly, Mary wasn’t dead.  She awoke inside her coffin.  She pulled the string on the bell, but she pulled too hard and the string yanked the bell off its hook.  Days later her mother went to visit her grave, and saw the bell on the ground.  Realizing what happened they dug up Mary’s grave and found she died with a petrified look on her face and scratch marks on the ceiling of her coffin. 

To this day if you light a candle in your bathroom with the lights off and call Bloody Mary three times, Mary appears and scratches your eyes out!

Hook for a Hand

Once there was a teenage couple who went out on a date.  At the end of the night, they decided to go drive into the woods and gaze up at the stars.  As they are parked, they heard a radio story about an escaped inmate from the nearby insane asylum.  This inmate had previously killed several teenagers with his hook he had instead of a hand.  The girl got scared and decides she wants to go home.  The guy starts his car and pulls out of the woods when he hears a long scratching noise down the side of his car.  They continue home and when he gets out of his car to check the damage, he sees a hook stuck in the car door handle.

Babysitter ghost story

A young woman decided to take a babysitting job on Halloween night.  When she gets to the house the parents let her know the kids are already asleep.  She is welcome to watch TV until they get home.  The parents leave and the babysitter goes to check on the kids who are sound asleep in their beds. 

She comes downstairs and turns on the TV.  The house has a lot of odd collectibles all over the shelves.  The oddest being a statue next to the TV.  It appears to be a large gnome dressed in overalls and a small red hat.  Even though the gnome is just a statue, it makes her feel really uncomfortable.  She feels like it’s watching her.  She decides to take a blanket and place it over the gnome.  Then she plops on the couch and turns on a scary movie. 

After the movie is over, she gets a call from the parents checking in on their kids.  The babysitter goes upstairs, and the kids are still sounds asleep.  She tells the mom the kids are asleep and that everything is okay.  She asks if she can move the gnome statue because it is kind of creeping her out.  The mom pauses on the phone and says “we don’t have a gnome statue.”  The babysitter rushes down stairs to where the gnome statue was sitting next to the TV all night.  But all that is there is the white sheet on the floor.

A Trip to Mesa Rosa

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I put out a post on Facebook asking for parents’ favorite place to take their kids for dinner.  This particular TexMex restaurant popped up several times.  I grabbed the six-year-old and the four-year-old and gave Mesa Rosa a try! 

I am a big weirdo because I love taking the kids out to dinner!  But I have very specific qualifications for restaurants I go to with the kids.  It must be a noisy restaurant.  Nobody wants to be that person with the loud, obnoxious kid in a restaurant.  But in noisy restaurants, if your toddler decides to hate the world, you only feel vaguely like you want to crawl under the table and hide. 

Having an outdoor section is also a big plus.  Sitting outside with kids, even when there isn’t a world ending pandemic, can help save a life!  Outside there are more things for kids to look at and enjoy.  They can be super noisy and you won’t be disturbing an entire restaurant.  I don’t think you need a playground to have a kid friendly restaurant, but I really appreciate how many Austin area restaurants do.  It’s nice to have a restaurant experience, that isn’t fast food related, where you can sit and enjoy your meal while the kids play on the playground.

It can’t be a breakable restaurant.  There are some great kid friendly restaurants that have good food, and a great atmosphere for kids.  But any place that brings us glass cups for our drinking water, is just asking for trouble.  We need plastic cups, cups with lids, and if you have some plastic plates wrapped in bubble wrap, we can probably get through a meal without breaking anything! 

I took the kids during the week to Mesa Rosa.  We went right around five, so it was pretty dead in the restaurant.  The inside is your standard TexMex style.  Fun pictures and bright colors cover the walls.  We heard there was great playground so we asked to sit on the patio.  The patio is fabulous!  This is the type of patio that Covid conscious people wish all restaurants had.  It is a huge patio with tons of room!  It opens up into a truly awesome playground.  It can be tough to see your kids from certain areas of the patio.  But there is still enough space for them to easily run back and forth from your table to play.

The playground itself is pretty awesome.  Lots of room for the kids to run.  They even have a water cooler to the side, with little paper, cone cups for kids.  Do the kids just end up pulling out all the cups to play with them?  Yes, they do.  But it is still a nice gesture from the restaurant.  The kids were on the playground the whole time.  When the food came, they’d run back to get a small bite, and chug some water.  Then it was back to the playground.  You’ll definitely be able to enjoy your meal and a few drinks without having to worry if the kids are having a good time. 

If I’m being honest the food is only so-so.  It is your average TexMex cuisine.  The kids ordered burgers and fries and only ate a few bites because the portions are HUGE!  You can certainly find better TexMex food in this area.  But overall, it’s an enjoyable outing with your kids.  You can sit back and enjoy some chips and queso, let your kids run around on the playground, and then wonder how they got a giant bruise on their head in under five minutes.

The Great Snack War!

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The great Snack War has been waging in American kitchens for years!  Kids and adults need snacks throughout the day.  But while we all know we need the healthy snacks, the bad snacks are just……so good!  How do we help not only ourselves to be better eaters, but our kids too?  I have several strategies below to help you win your next Snack Battle!

Don’t Buy It

There is a reason why people are very disappointed when they raid my pantry for snacks.  I have not bought cookies or chips in years.  Why?  Because they last about five minutes once they enter my house.  Self-control is difficult for most adults.  It is next to impossible for kids!  If you don’t want your child to eat the unhealthy snacks, do not buy them. 

Look Out For “Healthy”

The food industry is really good at making bright colorful packaging, slapping some buzz words like “real fruit juice”, and convincing you it is healthy.  But we all know the truth.  Veggies Straw are just skinny potato chips.  Fruit Snacks are just gummy bears shaped like fruit.  It can be hard to market healthy food, because actual healthy food is boring to advertise.  A banana is just a banana.  I suppose they could put some more fun stickers on bananas!  Brand bananas for boys called “The Ultimate Banana” and for girls like “Princess Banana”.  But at the end of the day, there is only so many ways to make healthy food look “cool”.

Snacks For Home

Snacks at home are a lot easier to plan.  You have good storage and are able to prep snacks for the week!  Fruits and vegetables should always be your number one choice for snacks.  Always have a fruit bowl filled with easily accessible apples, bananas, etc.  If your kids don’t like certain fruits, don’t give up!  There are a lot of fruits out there to try.  Great vegetables to have on hand are pickles, carrots or celery.  Dips like hummus or guacamole are filling and perfect to have with your vegetables.  Great items to have stocked in the refrigerator are things like yogurt and string cheese.  Healthy pantry snacks for kids, who need something to crunch, are items like nuts, trail mix, or plantain chips.

Snacks For School

Snacks for school can be a little bit trickier.  It can be tough to plan ahead and schools often restrict certain snacks kids are allowed.  Here in Texas the heat can also play a big factor in what snacks are best for kids to take to school.  While yogurt and cheese are great snacks, school lunch-box ice packs only do so well for a long school day.  Fruits and vegetables should once again be your top choice.  Dried fruits and vegetables are a great option if your kids don’t keep their lunch boxes indoors during a school day.  If nuts are allowed in your school, trail mix is your new best friend!  If not try some popcorn for your kids who need that crunch! 

Controlling The Snacking

While in a perfect world, you’d have a house full of healthy snacks and your child would skip merrily home from school and say “dear mother, might I please have an apple before supper?”  But life happens and we all just do the best we can to keep our household happy and running.  There are other ways to keep the unhealthy snacking at bay.  Having snacks be a part of your normal routine is a good way to start.  If children have expectations of one morning snack and one afternoon snack, the angry demands for more snacks goes down.  Also keep in mind, kids get ravenous when they go through growth spurts.  This is when begging for snacks is at an all-time high!  Best way to see if your kid is going through a growth spurt, offer your kids a healthy snack, if they take it, vacuum it down and immediately ask for more, then it’s a growth spurt.

Another good trick to control snacking is a snack box.  Make a nice box for each one of your children.  Every day fill the box with the number of snacks your children are allowed to eat.  Tell them they can eat these snacks whenever they want.  But once the box is empty, that is all the snacks they get for day.  It helps give some control to the kids.  They pick what snacks are in the box and when they can eat them.  Also take the blame off of you when they eat everything in their box! 

The Snack War is one we all battle.  Best we can do is try and give our kids the tools to fight that battle as well.     

Volunteering with Your Kids

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Volunteering may seem like an activity for older children and adults.  Many volunteer projects involve large scale clean ups, or manual labor that are next to impossible for the younger crowd.  But while it is easier to get your middle school and high school kids into volunteering, it is not impossible to get your elementary and even preschool kids into the practice of helping their community.

Knowing where to start can be one of the hardest parts.  If you are members of a church or any other religious organization, you are already ahead of the game.  Even if there aren’t programs specifically for younger kids to be a part of, plenty of people within your community can do with some help.  Helping an individual can be just as rewarding as helping a large group.  Your neighbors are also a great source of volunteer opportunities.  Reaching out to elderly neighbors or people who need a helping hand are great ways kids can help people around them.  Below are some other ideas that even your toddlers can do!  It can be a struggle to teach toddlers independence let alone helping out other people.  But simple things can imprint those lessons early. 

Donating Items

You know that thought you have every year?  The thought that your kids have way too many things they never play with?  Here is your solution.  Before every Christmas or birthday give your child a box and ask them to fill it with toys they don’t play with anymore.  Even little kids have items they don’t really like.  It can get kids in the habit of giving away things they don’t need, as well as clear out space for new toys! Send your gently used toys to your local daycare, hospital, or children’s center.  It is a great opportunity to talk to your kids about children who are less fortunate.  It also teaches children to treat their toys with better care and respect.

Helping the Homeless

Here is Austin we have a large homeless population that is very visible.  It naturally brings up questions from kids.  There are great ways kids can help the homeless community.  One of those ways is making small kits to pass out to homeless neighbors.  Head to your local store and get several large Ziploc bags.  Then go pick up some travel sized items for the homeless.  Some of the best items for the homeless are chap stick, deodorant, sunscreen, socks, tooth paste, tooth brush or any other small toiletries.  Have your children fill up the bags and then pass them out!

Cleaning up Your Local Park

When taking kids to the park, I’ve gotten in the habit of picking up random trash I see on the playground.  It has always been a pet peeve of mine when people throw trash on the ground when there are trash cans close by.  After doing this for a while, my little one came up behind me with an empty juice box she’d found on the playground.  People think of park clean-ups as a big weekend project.  And while those projects are great things to do, park clean ups can be made way simpler for little kids.  Simply acknowledging that we should pick up trash will encourage kids to keep an eye out for litter in the park. 

Fun Run

We live in a great city for runners.  There are so many great races to enter with your kids.  Look for races that specifically host fun runs.  Also look for races that allow strollers.  Your little ones can dress up and relax in the stroller while enjoying the spectacle of a race!  If there are charity runs that are too long for kids in a stroller, make your own water or snack station.  Kids get a big kick out of passing out water and treats to runners zooming by. 

These are just a few ideas for getting your littlest family members in the habit of volunteering.  It is such a rewarding thing to do as a family.  There is no shortage of volunteer opportunities especially around the Austin area.  Our kids are a part of our community and it’s important to teach them to make it better too!