Recession & Nannies in Canada

Yesterday, CNN.com did a story on how the childcare industry is being affected by the recession. The article reports that nanny agencies are reporting a 45% decrease in business due to the current state of the economy. Apparently, the recession is affecting nannies, babysitters, and day care centres in the United States. As with other aspects of the recession, the US has been hit harder than Canada. CanadianNanny.ca has not seen a large decrease in the number of families looking for nannies across Canada. This is caused the by low cost to register for parents, and nannies can register for no cost. However, it is evident that families are finding new ways to be able to afford this type of personal care for their children.

Many families are now opting for nanny sharing, where they and another family provide a full time schedule to a nanny, at a lower cost to each family. Many families will do this with other family members or friends, but so many more don’t have a family they can share with. CanadianNanny.ca has a feature allowing these families to find each other across Canada. The “Nanny Share” feature is included with a parent membership, and allows parents to see ads posted by other parents. Some ads boast that the family already has a nanny and are looking to share, while others are looking for a family and a nanny at the same time.

Nanny sharing is great for nannies as well. By working for two families, the nanny is able to have a full-time workload, even if each individual family is unable to provide them with more than part-time. Depending on the arrangements made between the families and the nanny, a nanny may find that the amount of money he/she makes is more than if she was working for one family. As an added bonus, if two families require care at the same time, the children can play with each other alone or together with the nanny.

This clearly helps families to receive the quality, one-on-one care of a nanny, while sharing the cost of that individual with another family in the same position. But in addition to this, it keeps nannies in Canada employed! For nannies, rather than working for one family part-time and needing to find some way to compliment that income, they work for two families providing them full-time hours.

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Posted by Martha @ 4:20:52 PM

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Earth Day

Earth day is an important event that all Canadians should take part in one way or another. I would love to use this blog to create a list of things that parents and nannies across Canada do to help the environment. Here are a few things that my staff and I have done:

1) I now send all my kids lunches in Tupperware containers. At first, I was having difficulty getting the containers back and having to replace them all the time.  So I purchased labels from www.mabel.ca and put labels on all of the containers that leave our home.  Their labels are fantastic and they have not faded and are completely dishwasher proof.  Just putting labels on lunch things has saved us time and money. And is really a unique way to be environmental!

2) I always bring re-useable bags on every grocery trip.  We actually try and to keep them in our car so we do not forget them.  Really, these bags hold more than plastic ones and are easier to carry.  We also use them for other things, like beach days, soccer gear, etc.  They're so durable and strong!  The kind that I have are actually made from old plastic bags, and they are completely washable!

3) For the business, we turn everything off at the end of the day: computers, radios, space heaters (which also cut the energy bill), and lights. We also re-use paper wherever we can, and recycle what we can't.

4) My family has our own herb and vegetable garden in the back yard.  We have a small backyard, but we are making a larger space for a vegetable garden this year.  Hey if the Obama’s can do it why not us!  The kids also love helping with the gardening and get a real kick out of it when we pick lettuce and make a salad with it right away!

5) Garburtors are not actually environmentally friendly; despite what I previously thought. I didn't know that until this year. Since garburators need a considerable amount of water to run properly, they place a strain on treatment plants and negatively impact aquatic life.  Before we were using the garburtor several times a day, now we have greatly decreased that. 

Well parents and nannies what about you?  What have you done this year to improve the environment?  What are you planning to do?

~ Remember: Earth Hour 2009 is this Saturday, March 28th. Turn out the lights for one hour at 8:30pm local time, and join millions of people worldwide in saving the planet! ~

Check out Martha's blog on Today's Parent at www.todaysparent.com/marthasblog!

Posted by Martha @ 2:33:57 PM

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Birthday Parties

I am deep in the heart of birthday season.  For my husband and I, we have reflected on our daughters birthdays and have decided to scale back.  The reason for this is that we feel that children’s parties have gotten out of control.  There is pressure to make the party bigger and better than the year before.  My youngest daughter wants to invite the entire city to her birthday.  Some parents feel that the party should be memorable, fun, and overall the perfect experience that everyone will talk about.  I know of one family that spent over $800 on a party for their 8 year old daughter.  Although I must admit the food and activities were amazing, $800 could be a mortgage payment for some.

Here is how we have scaled back:

• The entire class cannot be invited.  It has to be friends that they play with on a regular basis.  For us, we do not pressure ourselves to have family friend’s kids and siblings.
• There is a cost cap to the party.  There are some places in our city that are so expensive that we have flat out said “no”.
• The goodie bags cannot be filled with plastic junk.  For my daughter Charlotte’s party we gave out a clay pot, potting soil, and seeds.
• My daughters can choose between a family adventure or a birthday party (not both).  Last year with Sophie, we went together as a family and saw the new baby beluga at the Aquarium in Vancouver.
• At 10 years of age the big parties end.  Instead they are allowed to have a few friends over to have dinner, cake, play and sleep over.  

What about you?  Do you feel the birthday parties have gotten out of hand?

Check out Martha's blog on Today's Parent at www.todaysparent.com/marthasblog!

Posted by Martha @ 1:10:39 PM

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