Category: Blog
Don’t miss out on FREE admission to these Seattle area museums today (and the first Thursday of every month)!
You can also find free admission to select museums through the Seattle Public Library’s Museum Pass program. Click here for more information.
Greater Seattle “Free First Thursday” of the Month Participating Museums:
I am excited to share that Seattle Children’s Theater has put together a special discount for Nanny Parent Connection members to go see The Little Prince! I hope you enjoy the show and a nice evening out as much as my son and I did…
…Read on for a brief review of the show and how to redeem the discount!
Continue reading “Exclusive Discount + Review of Seattle Children’s Theater “The Little Prince””
Happy New Year! I hope you all had an enjoyable holiday season!
For me (and many others), the New Year is a time of reflection. I look back over the last year and see what worked well and what didn’t for me and my family. I think about what I would like to accomplish in the year ahead. I don’t think in terms of resolutions necessarily, but rather in terms of goals to work on or things I can do differently.
Perhaps my biggest work in progress is to be more organized because:
1) I just need to be to keep things running smoothly in a household with four children,
2) My husband is one of the most organized people I know and he needs organization in his life. In our home organization = peace and happiness, but it’s a constant work in progress!
Another goal of mine is to embrace a spirit of flexibility. I feel that I am already a fairly flexible person. However, I feel like the more flexible I can be, the less I will be setting myself up for stress if something does not go as planned.
My original thought for this post was to do the year in review. Enter a whopper of a migraine on New Year’s Eve and that plan was quickly out the window! Falling asleep on the couch well before midnight wasn’t how I had envisioned saying goodbye to 2017 and hello to 2018. Sometimes life happens and you just roll with it. If anything will make a person more flexible, it’s got to be life with kids, right?
Looking for easy and effective ways to to save $500 a month on childcare? You’ve found it!
Last week, I received a message from one of our new members that recently moved to Seattle from the midwest. In all caps she wrote:
HOW DO PEOPLE AFFORD CHILDCARE HERE?
She went on to write that her family recently moved here because of a job change and were unprepared for the childcare costs in our little corner of America. She then stated:
CHILDCARE IS ALMOST TWICE AS MUCH HERE YET OUR TAKE HOME PAY IS NOT
She’s not alone. This topic is one of the top three concerns I hear about on a regular basis. In fact, it was the top vote by a wide margin in a poll we recently conducted on what childcare issues keep parents up at night.
This got me thinking about my family, our budget, and what simple ways families can save on childcare costs. I specifically left out suggestions like changing work schedules, hiring an au-pair, etc. because those aren’t simple nor necessarily easy to set up.
If you have other ideas that work for your family, please share in the comments below or send me an email and I will add to this post.
Note: The cost savings below are based on one child and an average childcare cost of $20.00 per hour.
Continue reading “4 Simple Ways to Save $500 a Month on Childcare”
Huge thank you to the Pacific Science Center for putting together this deal for us! My family loves checking out the exhibits at the Science Center (the boys are fascinated by the dinosaurs) and we have had a membership there for several years. The problem is that when our nanny took our kids to visit, our membership didn’t cover her admission.
Not anymore!
Until January 31, Nanny Parent Connection members can purchase a DUAL or FAMILY membership and receive one free FLEX guest pass for the entire year. A FLEX pass creates a permanent, unnamed guest on your membership that can accompany any listed member throughout the year. Perfect for nannies or sitters taking the little ones for a visit!
Continue reading “Exclusive Offer from the Pacific Science Center!”
Guest post from Seattle employment law attorney Noah Williams who is an Associate at Reed Longyear Malnati Ahrens, PLLC. Noah is also a parent and has personal experience navigating the world of nannies and nanny shares. Thanks Noah for sharing this valuable information with us!
As childcare for newborns and young children becomes more expensive, families may find they can hire a nanny (or nanny share) for a comparable cost as daycare. A nanny or nanny share are very convenient – location, child to caretaker ratio, no stressful waiting list etc. I know, because it appealed to my wife and me when we had our son. I was naïve enough to think it would be a piece of cake – I am an employment law attorney, how hard could it be? The bad news was that there was a lot I did not know, the good news was that I think anyone can do it, and do it right. Like most things with a new child, it was humbling.
What follows are a few common questions I am asked, my general response, and some general considerations.
Over on our Facebook group page, we recently surveyed our members to gather some current data regarding sitter pay rates. The results are in!
As the graphic below states, please DO NOT use this as a definitive guide to sitter pay rates in our area. We did not ask respondents to include variables such as driving duties, number of hours worked, the specific location in our area where the care occurred, etc. Use this as a general idea of current trends in the Puget Sound region.
As you can tell, there is a vast difference in sitter pay across our region – ranging from $10/hour to $25/hour. Parents – what do you pay for a sitter to care for one child? Sitters – what are you paid per child? Comment below!
Continue reading “Seattle Area Sitter Pay Rates – One Child Only”
This is a great activity for the family or with your Nanny Kids!
Mr. Popper’s Penguins is a 70 minute (no intermission) performance suitable for ages 4+.
About the show: Mr. and Mrs. Popper are an ordinary couple in an ordinary English town…until some extraordinary Antarctic penguins come to stay! Lighting up the stage with song and dance, these birds possess talents rivaling the best of vaudeville. Delight in imaginative storytelling, hilarious puppetry and charming musical numbers as these talented creatures warm their way into your heart, taking you and the Poppers on an unpredictable, toe-tapping adventure.
Guest post from Nanny Parent Connection member Becki Brack who is a Partner and Certified Public Accountant at Growing Numbers Accounting and Bookkeeping. Thanks Becki for compiling this list of frequently asked nanny pay questions. You’re the best!
According to the IRS, yes, a person is an employee if you are telling them what they will do and how they will do it. It doesn’t matter whether the work is full time or part time, or whether you pay the worker on an hourly, daily, or weekly basis, or by the job. Since nannies or babysitters are told what to do with the children and how to do it (parenting styles, schedules, etc.), a child care worker is considered an employee as opposed to an independent contractor. That distinction is the difference between providing a W-2 or Form 1099 at year end and changes who is responsible for the employment taxes.
The IRS Publication 926 – Household Employers Tax Guide, provides examples of who a household employee is which includes babysitters, domestic workers and nannies.
Continue reading “Top Ten Frequently Asked Nanny Pay Questions”
Every holiday season, my husband and I love to take our kids out to see the holiday lights. The problem is that we always seem to miss a light show that is just around the corner or a few minutes away.
So….I compiled our favorite Seattle area holiday lights (and some new ones we haven’t seen before but have heard about) all into one interactive Google map. Red markers are for free shows and green markers have a cost which I have listed. Click any of the markers for more information and ENJOY!
If you know of any others we should add, shoot me a note here and I will add them.
(Nannies – great activity for your kiddos if caring for them at night. Don’t forget the hot chocolate!)
