Video Blog: Top 10 Questions Answered About Working With A Nanny: Part 1 🙋🏽‍♀️

Posted on June 25, 2021June 29, 2021 by Laura Kitchel

Hi everybody!

My latest video blog has dropped and it should be super helpful for families thinking about hiring a nanny this summer or when school starts in the fall!

Every month my team and I speak with dozens of parents that are thinking about working with a nanny (this month alone, we’ve already spoken with over 150 parents!). We’ve been compiling a list of their questions over the past several months and today, we released the first part of of our series, “Top 10 Questions Answered About Working With A Nanny”.

Some of the questions that we answer in this video are:

How nanny care is different than child care centers?

Is it difficult to find a nanny?

How long will my nanny search take?

How much does it cost to work with a nanny?

Scroll down and click on the video to check out the first part of “Top 10 Questions Answered About Working With A Nanny”

Continue reading “Video Blog: Top 10 Questions Answered About Working With A Nanny: Part 1 🙋🏽‍♀️” →

Video Blog: Six Tips For When Your Nanny Is Driving The Kids 🚗

Posted on June 3, 2021June 29, 2021 by Laura Kitchel

Happy (almost) summer everyone!

I just published my latest video blog, “Six Tips For When Your Nanny Is Driving The Kids” and I wanted to ensure you didn’t miss it!

Many parents have questions about whether or not their nanny should drive their kids and what steps to take to ensure everyone is safe.

In this video, I cover:

how to make sure the vehicle your nanny will be driving is mechanically safe

how to handle changing your insurance policy

the importance of a “test drive”

reimbursing for miles driven

Scroll down and click on the video to check out my top tips for when the nanny is driving the kids!

Continue reading “Video Blog: Six Tips For When Your Nanny Is Driving The Kids 🚗” →

Video Blog: What Can Happen If You Don’t Pay Your Nanny Legally

Posted on May 24, 2021June 29, 2021 by Laura Kitchel

Hi everyone!

My latest video is out and I wanted you to be one of the first to see it.

One of the questions I hear on a regular basis (especially from parents who are new to the child care world) is, “how do I pay my nanny legally?” or “when do I need to start paying my nanny or sitter over the table?”.

In this video, I cover:

the difference between paying your care provider “under the table” versus “over the table”

when you need to start paying your care provider “over the table”

some of the benefits your family can receive when paying your nanny or sitter legally

what can happen if you are caught paying your nanny illegally (hint: it’s not good!)

Scroll down and click on the video to check it out!

Continue reading “Video Blog: What Can Happen If You Don’t Pay Your Nanny Legally” →

Video Blog: Need To Find A Nanny FAST? We Can Help! 💫

Posted on May 7, 2021June 29, 2021 by Laura Kitchel

Hi everyone!

After posting my last video blog, “How To Find A Nanny In A Hot Market” (click here to check that out), I heard from SO MANY parents not only in the Seattle area but from across the US that are struggling to find the right provider for their family.

There definitely seems to be a huge imbalance between the number of families seeking childcare versus the number of providers offering care. I think a lot of this has to do with COVID but my suspicion is that there are other factors at play here (more on that down the road).

I spent many hours talking about and discussing our Concierge Service over the past two weeks so I thought that it might help to put together a video on how our Concierge Service works and how we are able to find nanny candidates so quickly (hint: it helps to have an entire team working on your search!)

Scroll down and click on the video to check it out!

Nannies – if you would like to hear about the families we are working with through the Concierge Service, please shoot me an email and let me know!

Continue reading “Video Blog: Need To Find A Nanny FAST? We Can Help! 💫” →

Video Blog: How To Find A Nanny In A Hot Market! 🔥👩‍👧⁉️

Posted on April 22, 2021June 25, 2021 by Laura Kitchel

Happy Thursday!

Later today, I’m releasing the second installment in my video blog series titled, “How To Find A Nanny In A Hot Market!” and I wanted to share it with YOU first!

Many parents in the Seattle area (and in other regions of the United States) are reporting that it is taking longer than usual to find the right care provider for their family. I’ve been noticing this as well since about the beginning of March 2021 as I work with parents in our community or through our Concierge Service.

I put together my top five tips on how parents can quickly and effectively find a nanny when the supply of available care providers is lower than normal. Scroll down and click on the video to check it out!

Continue reading “Video Blog: How To Find A Nanny In A Hot Market! 🔥👩‍👧⁉️” →

My First Video Blog: Six Questions To Ask A Nanny Before Inviting Into Your COVID Bubble

Posted on April 8, 2021December 23, 2021 by Laura Kitchel

Hi everyone!

I’m excited (and honestly, a bit nervous) to release my first video blog post, “Six Questions To Ask A Nanny Before Inviting Into Your COVID Bubble”!

Over the last couple of years, I’ve been writing and publishing blog articles to help parents and care providers learn more about the different aspects of in-home child care.

Most of the blog posts I have posted take a solid 10-20 minutes to read. If your days are like mine, you may not have that kind of time to sit down to read a blog article.

My hope in switching my written blog to a video blog is to make this information more easily accessible and enjoyable to digest 🙂

Continue reading “My First Video Blog: Six Questions To Ask A Nanny Before Inviting Into Your COVID Bubble” →

Childcare Pay Survey Results – December 2020

Posted on January 22, 2021December 23, 2021 by Laura Kitchel

Over the past several years, we have asked our members and site visitors to complete childcare pay surveys to provide the parents, care providers, and agencies of the Puget Sound region a snapshot of the average pay for different child care scenarios (i.e. one child, two children, nanny shares, sitter, part-time, etc).

You can find the results of those past surveys by clicking here.

After deciding to place our pay rate surveys on hold for most of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are excited to announce the results of our December 2020 Childcare Pay Survey! A HUGE thank you to the over 700 people who took the survey!

Continue reading “Childcare Pay Survey Results – December 2020” →

Do You Need a Nanny Search Service?

Posted on January 18, 2021March 25, 2021 by Laura Kitchel

Finding childcare can be stressful. Where to start? How much to offer? How much is this process going to cost? I need a nanny as soon as possible – is that even possible?

Nanny Search Service

Many more parents are working with a nanny these days than ever before (thanks, COVID-19). And many of them don’t even know where to begin. I created Nanny Parent Connection to bring all of the needed resources together in one place where you can learn about working with nannies and find your nanny (or your nanny share family!) as well.

A do-it-yourself search is a great option if you have the time to invest, don’t mind doing some research upfront, and have allotted at least several weeks (or even longer) for your search.

When should you hand off to a professional?

If you don’t have the time to invest in your search, you need to find a nanny in less than a month, or the whole process just seems to overwhelming, it’s a good time to consider having someone handle the search and due diligence process for you.

Continue reading “Do You Need a Nanny Search Service?” →

Year in Review by Melissa the Princess Nanny (and Member Discount to Ring in 2021!)

Posted on January 2, 2021December 23, 2021 by Laura Kitchel

I can’t think of one person who is sad to see 2020 go. It’s been a trying year for us all. Thankfully, a new year brings a fresh start! Here is a message of hope from a member of the Nanny Parent Connection community “Nanny Melissa” aka, Melissa the Princess Nanny – reminding you all we will get through this together.

It’s the most wonderful time of year again! Then again, with everything 2020 brought, saying that it’s the most wonderful time of this particular year isn’t a big stretch. Last year was a really rough year for many, many people. To top it all off, most of us had a very different holiday season.

My family of four (including our puppy, Princess Buttercup) spent the time quietly at home, away from our loved ones, which we view as just one more sacrifice that we are more than willing to make to get to better times again. That doesn’t necessarily make it easier, though.

“We have been enjoying the beautiful city parks Seattle has to offer while social distancing this year”

In 2019, I was a busy full-time nanny and homeschooling Mom to a kindergartener. I was cosplaying as a hobby and form of therapy to help me work through my anxiety and PTSD, which led to me performing at kid’s birthday parties as Disney princesses on the weekends. In short, I was busy and it was a promising year!

Continue reading “Year in Review by Melissa the Princess Nanny (and Member Discount to Ring in 2021!)” →

Nanny shares are a fantastic childcare option