If you live in the Washington Metro area, I don't need to tell you how difficult it is to find child care for children under 3. I also don't need to tell you how expensive it is.
In our case, I called three different day care centers the morning I found out I was pregnant. The waitlist for each location would extend far beyond my maternity leave. This mean that I knew that I would have to seek out alternatives to a group child care setting (nanny share, home day care, in-home nanny). After taking into account our different needs, my husband and I decided to hire a nanny.
We soon learned that finding and securing in-home childcare is a bit more difficult than going the day care route. You are responsible for making sure your child is in the care of a trustworthy and dependable person. You also have to take on the responsibilities that other employers have which means that you need to set up your own systems so that you can properly manage this employee.
