[rjadams2]

All,

We arrived in Wellington on 14th June 07, where we stayed in an aprtment that my employer put us up in for 2 weeks.

We have now moved into a rental place in Churto Park, Wellington and have our son starting school on Mon 16th July.

This means my husband now can start looking for a job, which hopefully won't take too long.

The problem I have is placing our 17 month Daughter in a day care centre, all the ones in central Wellington, Johnsonville and Tawa are fully booked and when I looked in to a Nanny that is just too expensive.

Does anyone have any ideas?

[martin&maria]

hi i know exactly how you are feeling we have the same problem here in chch some kindy's won't even let you know how long the waiting lists are just that they are very long! Thankfully our little boy is 5 next may and will start f/t education. Well good luck with it and hopefully you get somewhere soon.Sorry i have no idea's to help you out!

[Tia Maria]

This is a common problem where we are in Auckland too.

The only tips I can offer are:

1) Sign up for every place you like - regardless of how long the waiting lists are - sometimes you can just get lucky or get 2 days at one place, 3 days at another etc.

2) Offer to do odd days when other children are on holiday or off sick.

This gets your foot in the door, its not ideal but I've known people managing to get their children in after 4 weeks after being told there was an 18 month waiting list.

3) Depending on your working situation a Nanny share may be a possibility. Like it sounds you share a nanny with another family and therefore share the costs.

Sometimes it means you have a nanny Monday/Weds/Fri, while the other family has them Tues/Thurs, or it can mean you have the nanny from 8.30 till 3pm but they have them for after school care. Or the nanny looks after both children full time but sometimes at your house and sometimes at the other person's house.

I know none of these are going to be ideal but it is unfortunately a normal hassle of settling into a new area/country.

Good Luck

Cheers

Tia

[martin&maria]

oh that's really good never thought/heard of the share a nanny thing and your so right it's all part and parcel of settling into a new country!

[andrewandjane]

have you tried places like barnados who sort out childminders this may be an option. its $4.50 per hour in auckland. I presume it would be the same rate down there.

[rjadams2]

Thanks for all your suggestions. I did try Barnardos but they quoted me a fee of $15 min an hour and I need childcare full time.

The other option of shared Nanny, who di I contct to arrange this?

[Tia Maria]

Sorry I just spotted this while looking up info for another thread. :o In answer to your question........

There is no simple way to organise a Nanny share as there is obviously a lot of luck involved that 2 families have compatable schedules and are happy to share.

In our case we got it through the PORSE network a couple of the Nannies we originally met with through them weren't suitable but then we met with one we really liked and she was already with a local family but they couldn't offer her enough hours. We only wanted part time hours and through a lot of organisation we managed to arrange a schedule to suit both families. This meant that sometimes the children of both families were looked after together but as the children went to the same school and got on really well this worked and was a very positive thing.

Another family I know put an advert in their children's school newsletter and another one put an advert on the local supermarket notice board. Both managed to find a share to suit them. It is one of those things you have to be quite pro-active with, I often hear nannies at the local playgroup being asked if they are free.

I met with 3 nannies before I found the right one. There was one I really liked but her family were not happy for her to share but the lady I dealt with at PORSE really worked hard to find someone for me, it took a few weeks but it all worked out fine. We only needed someone for part time hours and for a short term contract so we were quite hard to accomodate but we still managed to find someone.

Hopefully you don't need any of this info anymore - sorry it took so long to spot it!

Have you found childcare for your daughter?

Cheers

Tia