When Christina and Tate Knowles opted for a live-in nanny instead of daycare for their three kids, the main reason was flexibility.
The Knowleses needed a childcare schedule that suited their needs, not one dictated by a daycare’s opening hours.
They needed care when their kids got sick, when a daycare centre might insist the children stay home.
And they hoped to have the option of someone who would babysit when they went out for a date.
“The flexibility is the key issue,” said Christina, 38, a lawyer who represents clients in discussions with WorkSafe B.C.
“We are not at the mercy of a daycare provider, or pro-D days, and I can have [the children] in the programs that I want, like ballet, dance, music.”
The couple has three kids — twin girls, Paige and Saskia, age 3 1Ú2, and 10-month-old Felix.
They’ve now hired their third nanny, a 26-year-old woman from Winnipeg who will live with them. The previous two were both excellent, they say, which buoyed their confidence this time around. But they were not live-ins.
Christina said bringing a stranger into their home “is a leap of faith, but it’s a leap of faith sending your kids to a daycare. And we feel a little better this time around, because we’ve had two very good experiences so far.”
Nanaimo-based Martha Scully, founder of Canadian Nannies, a web-based service where parents post jobs and nannies apply for them, said the need for flexibility is now the norm for modern Canadian parents.
Scully started her business 11 years ago in Oakville, Ont., before moving to Vancouver Island — “There is no better place to live” — where she continues serving parents across Canada.
She said parents come with their own issues or needs, and a one-size-fits-all daycare is often not the answer.
For example, women who have had multiple births — often older women who have used fertility treatments — find they need extra help.
They can get a workplace pregnancy leave, but taking care of two or more newborns is too much.
So they might hire a night nurse or a night nanny, somebody willing to work the nighttime hours.
“The mom brings these newborns home and they are on different schedules,” Scully said in a phone interview from Nanaimo.
“They don’t nurse at the same time, but they both need to be held at the same time.
“The night nanny offers the mom a chance to sleep, basically.”
Another new wrinkle parents are seeking is nannies with nursing credentials. A child might have special needs, such as a feeding tube, and the care might require some medical experience. Or a child might have been born prematurely and feeding every three hours is crucial.
Scully said women sometimes need additional expertise after they’ve had difficult pregnancies or deliveries — one mother broke her pelvis giving birth, for example. These moms can require in-house care themselves and need childcare at the same time.
“You can need that extra support, especially if you don’t have family in the area,” she said.
Another wrinkle is flexibility with respect to work hours. A mother may be returning to work only part time, creating an opportunity to share the services of a full-time nanny with another couple where schedules mesh.
Or, in some cases, nannies are sometimes willing to look after two children in one home, allowing some flexibility for the two families.
“Say you have a five-year-old and someone else has a five-year-old. You hire a nanny together and the nanny can look after both kids at the same time,” Scully said.
Another trend is nannies with children themselves, most often in the four-to-six age range. These women need to care for their own kids, but want the extra income, too.
Parents might pay a little less for a nanny bringing her own child, but at the same time, both kids have the opportunity to socialize.
“It’s all depending on the circumstances,” Scully said. “In general, in Canada, people are doing whatever they have to do to make the best arrangement for their kids.”
Meanwhile, in the Knowles home in Saanich, Pam Stewart is settling into her new role looking after the three children, and looking forward to exploring the Island.
One of the perks of the job was that the Knowleses offered a separate living space. Stewart studied English literature and gender issues in university and last worked in travel marketing. But she has worked on volunteer stints with kids in the past and enjoys it.
“I felt it was time for a change,” she said. “I like kids and I want to be around kids.
“Of the things that make sense to me, being around sweet, young people makes more sense than creating travel packages for wealthy people I don’t even know.”
To learn more about hiring a nanny — or working as one — go to canadiannanny.ca.
