Sunday 20 June 2010

Childcare: to tell or not to tell?

My dilemma today is in the placement of an advertisement for a new nanny. I am going back to work in September, 3 days per week, and I am advertising next week for a nanny.

In drafting the ad, I am thinking about who I want to care for Charlotte. On top of all the usual concerns over finding someone caring and competent to look after my children when I am not with them, I have this extra layer of concerns of what Charlotte may need. Or may not. She is only a baby and not mobile and I don't really have a very good sense yet of how "special need-y" she may turn out to be.

My instinct is to treat this as a normal recruitment process and talk to the person about the extra care she needs at the interview stage. Sort of as a "By the way, she needs sunglasses on when she goes outside". What about the curtains drawn part? Am I recruiting someone for a job where I am requiring them to spend most of their day in the dark? I don't like doing it and I am Charlotte's mother, how can I ask someone else to? And how can I not ask them to? Maybe it will be good for Charlotte to have a bit of a middle ground lighting level around the house. There will also be breaks for the nanny: when Charlotte has her nap, during the school run and when Charlotte is playing by herself in her room, those are all times that the nanny doesn't have to be in the dim lighting. During the winter, as long as she doesn't turn on any lights, she probably won't have to draw the curtains.

What about reciprocity? If I don't disclose Charlotte's medical concerns whereby they affect the nanny's working conditions, I should not be surprised if a candidate were to not disclose something about herself that may affect her ability to do the job too. Am I setting a bad precedent for Charlotte in her future life applying for jobs and such?

At the end of it, I'm not that concerned about finding someone good, but it does add an extra layer of complexity to everything.

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