I remembered watching the movie Nanny and thinking how cold hearted and un-trusting these women were towards their nannies. Now I find myself in a similar situation… I either need to let my nanny go or install a “nanny cam” to monitor her.
So I have now tried all the daycare options and can safely say that neither of them has suited my needs completely and utterly. My first day mother had too many children, the second one too little and were not equipped to deal with a toddler. The crèche had too many germs and the nanny has long fingers, so here we are back to square one… or not…
I always think that if you at least learned something from the experience so, all is not lost. For one thing I am better equipped to find a suitable daycare option. I know what I do NOT want and how to spot it – I think. I also know that Mia verbal and are able to tell me if things bother her or if she is unhappy – I hope. My biggest concern is for her health and how she will be affected by the other children’s immune system and her ability to fight any infections; this by far the biggest uncertainty. This is also the one that I have no, to limited control over.
How did I get here? My nanny has decided that my two-year-old piggy bank is from where she will buffer her salary. She has systematically taken a number of coins from the bank and left us with some nickels and dimes. We are not talking hundreds or thousands yet, but we are talking real money and an obvious breakdown of trust.
Although I have not been elated with her as a nanny she did arrive daily and was very good at reading. She kept Mia busy most of the time, so there was no, to limited need to worry about her. She also provided limited exposure to infections – which in general was our key aim. Get Mia’s immune system to recover and try alternative daycare options, such as a playgroup again after the winter.
Well the whole morning was spent on talking and phoning playgroups in the area. This week is going to be interesting – mission find a daycare is on the way!
When I wrote this in August 2009 I did not know that daycare will always be one of my biggest headaches. After finding a lovely playgroup I thought that I would be sorted until preschool, this was not the case and there will be an update on the au pair diaries and aftercare.
I can safely confirm that regardless of how you look at the daycare conundrum it is a never ending story of trial and error.
Also read Daycare the options for some insights on available daycare alternatives.
