[speaker002:] any uh child care situations or experiences
[speaker001:] I I have had um I did a stint as a single parent for awhile and my circumstance dealt with kids who were in school and I thought that that was probably more difficult to deal with because finding someone who would fill those small time slots early in the morning and after school what you were left with were uh high school girls or boys
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] and uh never mind that they had all those noble uh qualities like you know you know the same philosophy of raising children that you did you were probably lucky to get anybody because you weren't paying them very much and uh it was just a short period of time so
[speaker002:] indeed yeah
[speaker001:] uh it was really kind of someone who would sit and watch TV with them it it wasn't the kind of thing that you would get involved in if you had small children and you had child raising thoughts in mind it was kind of a temporary um babysitting kind of thing have you dealt with that
[speaker002:] yeah right well I've got three kids the oldest is nine and the youngest is three and we have actually a live in child care worker here that we you know a nanny that lives here and that makes it very easy for us
[speaker001:] oh are you pleased with the situation
[speaker002:] yeah we've had um we're on our um our third our second our our second long-term person you know it's been just about two years for each of the two people that we've had
[speaker001:] hm
[speaker002:] and prior to that we had you know to take child care we took the kids to somebody else's home and that worked out okay but it wasn't that great
[speaker001:] it wasn't convenient
[speaker002:] well we you know it was just it was partly the convenience and partly you know the woman the women that took care of our kids also had kids of their own and the households were a little hectic you know how it sometimes is
[speaker001:] hm I understand from people who have live in help au pairs and and you know just people who live with them that very often you end up involved in their personal problems and they're taking care of your kids and you're taking care of them do you find that
[speaker002:] oh yes definitely without a doubt I'm you know it's like having a a a young adult in the family just about
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] but that's okay I mean you you know as long as as their problems don't get too far out of hand well
[speaker001:] you said you have a couple of changes do the kids get attached to one person and then it's a problem to wean them off them
[speaker002:] a little bit of a problem but you know that's just reality of it and you know you have to work with them and tell them ahead of time that somebody's leaving and somebody else is gonna be coming in and help them adjust to the situation
[speaker001:] how old are the kids
[speaker002:] oh the youngest is three and the oldest is nine and the middle one is six and the after school school situation is great it's really convenient to have somebody whose job it is to make sure they're that they get home and and you know are taken care of properly
[speaker001:] hm I imagine that is a luxury of sorts
[speaker002:] oh yeah it it's expensive it'll it'll probably have to change when they get you know all old enough to go to school have to use some after school service our local YMCA has something like that
[speaker001:] uh-huh have you ever discussed with your caretaker how you want your children raised what your philosophies are
[speaker002:] but it  well yeah to a certain extent um I guess you know my wife does more of that sort of I mean she she and the and the caretaker have intense discussions about that and I suppose I'm sort of a slug for not getting more involved but that's the way it is
[speaker001:] you just appreciate the situation oh
[speaker002:] oh it works out pretty well I think it's a good plan um I think it's kind of disgraceful that it's so hard for so many people
[speaker001:] well I you know I think this the thing is um your situation is what I would call ideal but it's probably taking both you working you know you and your wife working to afford this person isn't that so
[speaker002:] well yeah oh no doubt if one of us got laid off she'd be gone in two seconds I'm afraid I'm or have to
[speaker001:] right when I was home by myself and I had a uh an eight year old and a six year old um there aren't that many choices and that's the scary part you're just happy to get someone you know you really are in such desperate need and if your child's sick there's the panic it's like I can't stay home what do I do and you know you import grandma from the other town to come over it was an emergency you know Christmas vacation comes around and then you've got to fill in that block of time
[speaker002:] oh we've got those situations and you know we've got to deal with that kind of stuff but but it's absolutely you know situation like ours you know where we could make enough money to cover it properly you know both we both work and then we pay the pay the nanny and we pay the compensation workers compensation insurance and we pay the the withholding taxes we