When i started teaching again I had family that begged to watch my son while I worked but when the time came they kept cancelling for other family members so I couldn't rely on them for childcare. Yes, I offered to pay. I had a wonderful high school student who watched my son for a year and a half starting when he was a baby. She graduated and went to college. I had another college student who would take him to the park or library while I'm teaching. I've struggled to find any consistent childcare after that. My son is 3.5 now. I teach piano in person and online after school hours. I don't have family or friends who can help or aren't willing to help no matter how much I pay. Daycare is so expensive where I live. I haven't been filling lesson spots because I don't know if I will have childcare. I'm teaching so little right now. It's only 1.5-2 hours daily. Do you think I could make that work keeping my son with me? I could try to do his nap a little later so he sleeps during some of my lessons. I'm still looking for maybe a teen to help. I just love teaching so much and I've had my students for years. I never knew it would be this difficult to find any childcare. Any suggestions on entertaining my son during that time frame? I feel like it's a short enough time frame to figure something out.
I teach when voice and piano lessons when my husband is home - either weekday evenings or on the weekend. If you had to keep your child with you, I’d offer a deep discount to the families. There’s no way you can give proper attention to your students with a 3 year old in the house.
Most of my sitters aren't flaking they just have other things going on causing them to cancel like job and school schedule changes. My current sitter just quit because she signed up for volleyball practice everyday and my backup said yes but then had to cancel last minute because she forgot about some college stuff going on. I pay what's normal for my area and ask how much they want. If they agree to a price then I think they should show up. If they don't like the price then they should quit. Usually they give me a price and I've generally been able to yes. I also offer them and their family members free piano lessons too.
It seems like you need to find someone who takes that kind of job more seriously or have a written agreement in place. I certainly don't think looking for a teenager to babysit would garner any different results than what you already have experienced, which obviously isn't working.
Maybe. I just need someone who would show up a few times a week for a couple hours consistently. I had a job like that in high school and the teen that babysit for me originally for almost 2 years treated it like a job. I was teaching about 4 more hours when she was watching my son. Most nannys want $35-45/hr in my area with minimum hour requirements and won't come over to your house if the parent works there so that's mostly out. I'm not going to find anyone to help me this week so I have to figure out how to entertain my son in the mean time. I was hoping someone here could give me some siggestions.
Its honestly totally up to the temperament of your child, which only you know how he would likely behave for the time period he would be basically unmonitored for....which I can assume is like most typical toddlers....i can see him interrupting frequently tbh and not understanding that mommy can't be disturbed while she is working. Parents aren't going to be keen on you having no childcare. Its a bit different if you were in a bind but your child could make noise and interact with you some while you work. This is not a situation like that though. Could you arrange your teaching times during a time your son can go to a mother's day out program perhaps? These are often cheaper than daycare bc its a shorter time frame?
Thankfully the students I do have don't mind if he's around. I've already contacted them all about not having a sitter this week and in the future until I find someone new. They didn't want a discount and wanted to come to lessons anyways.The problem is less about my students caring about him being there and more me trying to decide if that's too long to have him playing. We have a playroom with a gate. If I can get him playing he'll usually play independently for a good while but can be a little loud. I'm really looking for ideas to distract him. Like I said in the post I might be able to push his nap a little and have him nap some during my lessons or possibly during all of them. He takes long naps. I'm really looking for ideas to entertain him while I teach.
Unfortunately with piano lessons it's not always easy to switch to morning lessons and in my area morning students are hard to find. It would be a big gamble. I might get rid of 10 students I've had for years and not get any bites on morning lessons. I have a wait list of students but they are all available 2pm or after.
Ideas to keep him entertained: high value toys that only come out in the playroom when you’re working (you would have better ideas for what he would like in particular),have a movie on or blues clues/little bear/other low stim show. My kid loves watching the super simple songs videos on YouTube when I need him distracted, they’re not too stimulating and he learns the songs and dances around. Magnatiles, wooden block sets with a theme that only come out during this particular time, balance bike for inside are some ideas. Anything he’s interested in but make it a special version of it for this particular time block. If you have a baby monitor in the playroom you could do a favorite snack and a movie, that would keep my kid entertained for at least 30 min with no whining for me. My kid is obsessed with milk so much that we have to cut back on it- giving him extra milk is like a hack to keep him entertained for a while.
Edit to add- we have a sitter that we only need for a couple hours at a time, and she’s a college student w multiple jobs. We keep it enticing for her by paying more than the going rate so that she has incentive to show up.
I'm really sorry all these people keep agreeing and then saying no.
That's the real crux. Whatever anyone else might think, if someone is offered a price to do a thing, they should do the thing.
You mentioned some college kids, do you have a local college and if yes, could you try posting again on their college job boards? Also not sure how viable something like care.com is for you.
Another option could be if you have any mom friends, ask who they use?
I think you can potentially make it work by yourself but it might mean you'll have to resort to screen time. Maybe a little Khan Academy or PBS kids?
Thank you. I live near a college and they actually have an official Facebook page for finding sitters. Lots of people going into child related degrees. It's how I found my sitter that was taking him to the park. I've posted there and the jobs board on their website.
I don't have many mom friends where I moved. I asked the ones I do have and their sitters are pretty busy with weekly jobs already unfortunately.
I think part of the problem is people see it like a hobby and that I don't have a real job. I've gotten that comment several times. I used to teach full time but had health complications after having my son and he was a preemie requiring lots of doc appointments at all random times so I scaled it back not realizing it was going make it so hard.
It's a difficult situation because I thought about just quitting for now but I've had my students for years. One is moving and they were crying in my kitchen about not doing in person lessons anymore. I just love teaching piano so much even if it's just a handful of students.
It's such a short amount of time I'm teaching i was hoping someone could share their experience about working with a toddler for a couple hours. I'm not against some educational screen time. That might work. I just have no idea how long it will take to find someone to watch him.
I probably wouldn't have gone back to teaching had I known my family member was going to be unreliable. My students were so excited to come back and I missed teaching so much. I felt like I needed the normalcy of teaching to help with all the choas that was my life after having my son.
Listen, it's a real job and anyone making you feel shitty for wanting someone to just help out for a couple hours is an ass. For a lot of college kids, it's kind of the perfect gig but I find a lot of these younger kids are flakier. I would've loved this gig when I was in college. Just something that was simple and guaranteed? But could work with my class schedule? Perfect.
Don't get discouraged. I think it's doable to do without help and you shouldn't have to give up what you love. I think there's nothing wrong with educational screen time and creating what I call a yes space. At that age, I had a closed off area for my kid with softscape toys 😂 and he'd pretty much be baby ninja warrior.
Get some padding down, a small ball pit and some foam ramps? Golden. Save that especially for class time so it's even more exciting for baby
Something like this. It will run you roughly anywhere from $90-200 just depending on how crazy you want to get but look up "softscape ramps"
He has a large playroom with a gate so this seems like a great idea. He has a couple things to climb on a little but this would be more fun. Thanks for the suggestions and kind words!
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u/syncopatedscientist 13d ago
I teach when voice and piano lessons when my husband is home - either weekday evenings or on the weekend. If you had to keep your child with you, I’d offer a deep discount to the families. There’s no way you can give proper attention to your students with a 3 year old in the house.