Show notes

At some point, when someone who has young children is working from home, the topic of childcare is bound to come up. Should I have someone come to my home? Should I bring my kids somewhere else? What are my options? How much will it cost? Should I ask a relative to watch my kid? Is it weird to have someone here while I'm working from home? Will they help around the house? Should I just try to keep them occupied while I'm working? The answer to all of these questions is, well... "It depends." It depends on so many factors such as where you live, what you do, whether or not there is another adult in the home, your schedule, how many kids you have, hold old they are, your proximity to family, the expertise level of the person you're hiring, what you're expecting out of them, and more. In this episode, I (April Malone) talk about my own journey, what it's been like having three kids while working from home, how my third-shift schedule helped dictate which route we went in terms of eventually hiring help with the children, and some of the things I learned while screening and interviewing the various part-time nannies/mother's helpers who helped us out over the years while the kids were little. Overall, we never needed to hire full-time help; because my husband and I were able to coordinate our schedules so they only partially overlapped and gave us each a lot of time with the kids. He was able to be available for the kids while I worked overnights, and I was able to be with them for the most part during the day; but at some point I realized I needed to sleep at least four hours a day to be able to do my job without falling asleep, and we didn't have any local family available to help so needed to hire a stranger. Finding a childcare solution is an emotional topic and a personal decision for every family, but I hope someone can learn from some of my experiences.