So you’re looking for childcare...
One basic resource that I started with was this website:
Baystate used to have a daycare in house, but that proved to be difficult to manage for them, so they have now arranged for the above company to do a free consultation for your child care needs. They can send you information about how to find daycare, nannies, etc. And they can send you information about daycare providers in your town.
I think it depends, though, if you life in Hampden or Hampshire County Holyoke Westfield it was, but Sarah said they were not able to help her in Northampton
Another resource I just stumbled upon while checking out Kindergarten programs in the Northampton area is the Northampton Easthampton
Daycare:
I was looking for daycare, initially, when I moved here for residency Daycare is typically a M-F 8-5 kind of arrangement. I happened to find the most fantastic daycare provider who was then there for me throughout the whole painful and messy years of residency.
At that time, Ian was 8 months old and I wanted to find a nice family setting – not some factory-like place with a big chain link fence around it. The advantage is for a young kid is really that it is like being in a family. (We consider April’s family to be our family, too.) April rarely got sick and over the years, the daycare rarely closed. But if it does close (like during that swine flu craze), then you are kind-of stuck and one of you has to call out sick.
If you do a non-in-home daycare, then you are looking more at an institution. This can also be very nice, if it is well-run. And it has the advantage that it doesn’t close, because one individual gets sick.
Daycare hours are typically 7-5 or 8-5 or something. That is usually limiting. I struck a deal with April for 6-7 and nights and weekends, if necessary. I paid her half my net income during residency for this excellent situation.
I have a friend who sent her son from the age of 4 months on to the daycare at the Williston Northampton School Easthampton
Apparently they close on school holidays, but they hired one of the teachers as a nanny for the summer... They all have summers off and she was sure that it is not hard to work that out.
The Waldorf School
They are similar to Montessori schools (most people have heard of this kind of school). There is a Montessori school in Northampton
Babysitting:
It is a really good idea to soon start cultivating a group of babysitters that can help you out in a pinch (like if daycare closes) or can sit on a night or weekend for you when you want to do a non-kid-friendly thing.
Here I think your neighborhood is a good place to start. In Westfield
An excellent resource here is the nurses at the hospital.
There are some nurses at Shriner's Hospital OR who have daughters of a babysitting age (not sure, but I think some live in Hadley or South Hadley ) and mentioned to me that their daughters are available. PACU or ICU are great places to meet a mom of a teenaged person.
Also, I would recommend making a flyer with rip-off tabs and hanging it up in various places around the hospital or around town (maybe at church?). I have gotten good sitters this way. PACU is a great place to hang up a sign and ask the nurses. Maybe you can get a nurse or a TA. Of course, the first couple of times with someone you don't know should be together with you (as you already pointed out), but if they are not someone you got recommended to you, then I would ask for references.
Typically I have paid babysitters $8/hr if I have to drive them. $10/hr if they come on their own. For an all-day babysitter, like if I have to work and April was sick (thank goodness this only happened like 4 times in 4 years!), I usually paid a flat fee... like $80 for the day. I was usually quite desperate and you can't put a price on a valuable thing like a reliable person to take your kids, so I was happy to pay lots and often would go up to $100/day or more just to get someone to be at my place at 6 am until 6 pm. It was hard.
A co-resident of mine has an older lady watch her 4 month old baby for $7/hr, but her husband works part-time and their policy is to always round up... Like if it comes to $35, give $40 etc.
Here is the basic way it works for au pairs:
They live with you, which is good, because they are flexible and always there (i.e. they are never late for work).
They live with you, which is bad, because you might have someone living in your house that you don't like or you might feel like it's not enough privacy for you.
There are regulations about how many hours/week an au pair can work. Typically it’s 45 hrs/wk. My kids go to daycare during the day and will soon go to school during the day, but as I have to be at the hospital early, I need someone to take them in the morning and bring them back in the evening. Usually Christin has made dinner for the kids and done a little grocery shopping during the day. If I work at night or on the weekend, that’s when I need her.
Usually people use the au pair for M-F 8-5, but that is not really what we need in our line of work. Also, they are not there to be servants or your cleaning lady. They are there to take care of your children, and that is something that most are very clear about. I did make a deal with Christin for extra money if she cleans and does laundry.
Personally, this has worked out well for me so far. It is my first year with an au pair, but I've been an exchange student before, so I was pretty comfortable with someone living with me and we have been luck to get along so well.
There are several other au pair companies (just type au pair agency in google). Basically it works like this: You sign up and pay a registration fee (typically like $200-300) and they help you match with an au pair. Once you match with an au pair, there is an agency fee for the year, this is like $5000 and can be paid at once, monthly or in some other fashion. This fee covers them flying the au pair to the US , training them (basic life support, crash course in English, etc.), US
Each agency is different. The cost varies significantly. My agency (http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aupaircare.com&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNH5FevIdkNmD1ugdU-sygarD88yzQ) is more expensive, because they do everything by the book. They fully register each au pair with US
The thing about au pair that made sense to me was that it is only a commitment for a year. If it’s not perfect, at least it’s not permanent. Also, they are allowed to extend for up to a total of 2 years, if they apply for this. Also they can leave sooner, if things are not working out.
Nanny:
Nannies are similar to au pairs. Sometimes you can hire someone who lives with you (“live-in nanny”) and sometimes you can find someone who just comes every day to your house (“live-out nanny”). I know that a doctor couple who had a woman who came to the house and also did some cooking and cleaning. That is probably totally excellent, but I am not sure how to find someone like this. A couple of Polish doctors in my department found an older Polish woman to come live with them… this was a good deal for them largely also for the language…
Anyway, for what it’s worth, that’s my advice. I think it is important to start early, have several layers of backup (so you have options if one part fails) and also to have a good network of other working parents to be supportive of each other.
On that note, please call me anytime.
Good luck!
Karin
P.S. Below I'm including a note from Biljana, who also had some advice:
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thank you so much for putting me in contact with Aupaircare. I spoke with the coordinator and emailed with someone in San Fran. At this time, on a short notice, we will not be able to go with an Au Pair, but are thinking about it for next fall. All the information you shared with me was invaluable and I am brainstorming now how to go about babysitting, emergency care etc. We will most likely go to a daycare center close to the hospital while we are residents. It came recommended to us by a physician couple who had their first child as residents and most recently they had their fifth one. They had a good and flexible experience with this place. I am developing a web (starting anyway) of potential on-call babysitters that would pick alexander up if we are running late.
I wanted to share with you a resource which you may be familiar with. It's called www.care.com<http://www.care.com> and you have to register to use it (there is a free version but I paid to have full access). The cool thing about it is that you can search people by the languages they speak, available on call (or short notice), years of experience, pay, etc. I actually found one girl who speaks 8 languages (so she says) and one of them is serbian. If you search by German there were around 7-8 girls all around Noho. I thought I would let you know just in case you did not know about it and ever needed someone in addition to your au pair (some are americans who speak german but there was a german college student too). I hope you are well. we are moving this weekend but hope to get together sometime afterwards, in our new crib. All the best, Biljana.
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