Childcare arrangements: Nanny interviews

Making childcare arrangements for the next few months is kind of a full time job at the moment.  The arrangements we've made include a nanny, childcare and <fingers crossed> after school care/ pick ups from friends.

I requested the help of one of the big childcare agencies and they (eventually) got back to me.  By the start of this week I had three CVs from them.  However, one didn't meet the criteria, one was overseas and non-contactable and the other didn't call back - until yesterday.  Luckily a friend happened across a woman keen on nannying during school holiday activities and collected her contact details.

I got a lot of good tips from friends about interviewing nannies:

• Judge not the presentation of their CVs.  Only one of the CVs I received looked like any kind of CV I've written before.  I would have been horrified had I not been prepared.  But I need to recognise the CVs I've written for jobs I've applied for need to present information differently than the CVs of people who professionally do childcare.
• Nannies may not engage well with you, but it is mostly how they engage with the children.
• Being a good employer is important - remembering that nannies can be quite vulnerable in their employment as they are often the only employee in the house, and might not be great at standing up for themselves.  We have tried hard to get good salary information so that we can offer a fair, liveable salary.

I've interviewed people for jobs before but this felt quite high stakes.  I was also once a manager for about six weeks during which the person required no particular management.  But having a nanny, an employee, looking after your kids and who you will be forced to spend a lot of time with while very unwell feels kind of high stakes.  Also, I really hated the two or three weeks that I used a nanny years ago via ACC when H was six months old (I sprained both ankles simultaneously in one of the weirdest ever accidents).  I resented the heck out of that nanny because I wanted to be caring for H myself, and not a stranger.  Also, we were just about oppositely sited on every single issue in life, including parenting.  When she started ringing at night for medical advice from my husband we realised that she had no particular perspective on our working relationship and we solved the problem with my ankles healing and no longer needing help.

I interviewed two women and I'm really hoping the first woman agrees to taking the job. She has varied interests, a mature outlook, good educational and practical experience and seems really, really keen.  She tried engaging both girls, had a fantastic CV (information and photos which worked well) and seems like she could deal with the unusual situation of one parent being at home but variously being able to engage with her child.

The other person I interviewed had a bit of a disaster interview.  She got really lost finding our house and I spent ages outside our house in the rain trying to work out where she was and guide her over the phone.  She has a nasty tooth infection and was in awesome bad pain.  I tried really hard to ignore these factors and focus on the interview itself.  I've learnt not to do a job interview in serious pain or ill health!

Finger's crossed the first nanny says yes!

After school care is proving tricky at the moment (they have a waiting list).  I've spoken with the Headmaster for his ideas and he has been very helpful.  There is a possibility of getting H into the programme and her teacher has offered to have H stay on a little later if necessary.  We are very grateful to the school for their kind help.  But it might only be a problem for a couple of weeks - between my Mum leaving and me being well enough to drive.  We might be able to wing it with friends/ playdates etc.

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I had just relaxed after my mini hospital disaster earlier in the week when I got a call from the familiar 'blocked' number.  After being assured that there was no hurry to get my blood tests done it seems that there was, in fact, a hurry to get them done.  I took advantage of having the nurse on the phone to go over the prep instructions (I think these should be written down for all ops, not just the routine ones with prepared brochures). In an embarrassing moment I forgot the word for enema and had to describe the process while my brain tried to catch up! 

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I'm assembling my emergency bag of books.  Since I read quickly I need a lot of books around to satisfy my reading habit.  I've trawled through the annual library book sale and the cheap bins in book stores.  If I get a huge stack from the library before going in to the hospital I should be OK.  My next plan is to download/ borrow a lot of DVDs.

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An oncologist friend has suggested that I self-refer to the Cancer Society and I think I will do it.  I've been trying to minimise the 'cancer' part of all of this - after all, it is probably gone and the surgery is more of a preventative need rather than a cure.  But they do have great written resources and a lot of support (bowel cancer doesn't really have any kind of glamorous support organisations/ foundations, just some sensible information booklets and kind people acting as peer support).