Nanny vs Au Pair vs. Daycare in Manhattan (New York, Roosevelt: apartment, renting)

[tonyman121]

Thanks to those that helped me in the previous thread (deciding between Philly and NYC).

Should I move to New York (UES), the biggest unknown for me will be what to do about day care. I have a 4 month old and a 2.5 year old. I started to look into day care centers near my employment/putative apartment locations and from what I gather they will be crazy expensive or near-impossible to get into.

2 examples: Roosevelt Island Day Nursery- full time per child: $31K/29K []

Children's All-day school (on 60th st)-$33K/$31K

I'm sure there are better deals out there, but >$60K for day care is INSANE. Let's sayI can find a daycare with more reasonable costs, say 1.5x what I pay now (~25K)- 38K. That's a ton of money.

I saw something about hiring an Au Pair. They are relatively cheap, about $17-20K/year. The downside is they live with you. But there is no way they are going to cost me $18K in food. And they won't clean your house.

I've also seen ads for Nanny placement agencies, as well as nanny ads on craigslist that claim anywhere between $300-$1000 per week. They will also do basic errands like clean your house and do your laundry.

Anyone have experience they would like to share? Has anyone found a good nanny for $300 a week? That seems like the best solution to this problem for me, assuming I don't have to pay for their room and board as well.
What's a pricepoint to get a good nanny? $400/wk? $500/wk (assuming they are not live-in)?


Also, I heard that in some apartment buildings the mothers get together and start their own daycares, all putting in some part time work. Has anyone heard about this? Is it feasible?

If I had to pay $60K for day care there is no way I move to Manhattan. In Philly I am seeing reasonable prices- about $30K for both kids right by where work would be.

[livingsinglenyc]

How many hours to you expect this nanny to work for $300 a week?

[sirtiger]

Do you speak any language other than English? Having a foreign nanny could dramatically affect the price point.

[BeautyinthebBX]

Originally Posted by livingsinglenyc

How many hours to you expect this nanny to work for $300 a week?

$300 a week for two kids- a toddler and an infant!

OP, you just need to search in other locations. Maybe place the 2.5 yr old in a daycare and hire a nanny for the infant?

[bumblebyz]

I did a bit of research on this before and most people have indicated that they paid from $450-$800 a week with most paying about $600 a week in Manhattan. Of course there will always be those that paid more or less etc. with some people even paying their nannies thousands of dollars in year end bonus.

I have a coworker that did the Au Pair program and it was a bad experience for him. Apparently their 18/19 year old nanny got corrupted by all the wild parties she went to in the city and came home dead tired 5/6am many mornings.

[tonyman121]

Originally Posted by livingsinglenyc

How many hours to you expect this nanny to work for $300 a week?

When I price it out for a year that is really low. I'm just quoting the prices I was seeing on web sites like this:

Manhattan Babysitting & Nanny Jobs in Manhattan - Care.com

[tonyman121]

Originally Posted by sirtiger

Do you speak any language other than English? Having a foreign nanny could dramatically affect the price point.

I do- my first language was Spanish... I thought it would be cool to have my kids exposed to my native tongue as well, but not to the detriment of their English skills. I find a lot of young kids with bilingual exposure have slow development of their language skills.

[livingsinglenyc]

Originally Posted by tonyman121

When I price it out for a year that is really low. I'm just quoting the prices I was seeing on web sites like this:

Manhattan Babysitting & Nanny Jobs in Manhattan - Care.com

Yes that was my point. You your used to paying 31K for child care which is about $600 a week so why not look into paying a nanny $600 a week for 40 hours. And thats not even that high of a yearly salary.
Your children are probably your most important people in your life. Remember that when looking/paying for child care. You get what you pay for.....

[Cruznmore]

You might look back at your link again. Those are ads for Nanny's in Manhattan, KANSAS, not New York.

[mc33433]

Originally Posted by tonyman121

I find a lot of young kids with bilingual exposure have slow development of their language skills.

They may be slower to become fluent in both, but that's normal and expected. And once they hit school where they speak english all the time with their friends, it's a quick learning curve. There was actually a thread in the parenting section recently about raising bilingual children.