Paying for a nanny adds up but has its benefits | Canada Voices

My husband and I pay $1,000 a month per child for a coveted spot at a local daycare in our Ontario town. That’s $2,000 a month for our two kids: less than a private daycare in larger cities such as Toronto but much more expensive than subsidized daycare.

We never seriously considered getting a nanny, since we figured it would be too expensive and tough to find someone in our rural area.

When you crunch the numbers, nannies aren’t cheap. According to CanadianNanny.ca, the average cost is between $17 and $23 an hour, depending on where you live, how many children you have, the nanny’s experience and qualifications, and whether you expect them to also do household chores.

At those rates, a full-time (live-out) nanny costs minimum $35,360 a year, not including payroll taxes or bonuses. Add all that in and it’s roughly double what we’re paying for daycare for our two kids.

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In 2023, the average Canadian household income for a couple with children was $113,700. For single-parent households, that drops to $61,300, which makes a nanny an unaffordable option. In 2020, StatsCan reported that only 5 per cent of families with children under six employed a caregiver in their homes who wasn’t related to them.

But for parents who do choose the nanny over daycare route, the consensus is clear: While nannies are a significant investment, in many cases double daycare fees or more, it’s one that allows them to balance work, parenting and life.

Erin Richards is the founder of Hype PR, and a mom of two girls ages three and five. When her family moved from Toronto to Prince Edward County in Ontario, she struggled to secure childcare locally and decided to look for a nanny. She found a former kindergarten teacher from Brazil, who has been working with her family for several years.

Because she and her husband travel often for work, their nanny helps cover hours outside of the nine to five, which a daycare provider could not. She also chips in with the laundry, cleaning and cooking.

“With her help I’m able to control the many variables related to the kids, knowing they are in the care of someone we love and trust,” Ms. Richards said in an e-mail.

When does it make financial sense to hire a nanny?

There are ways to reduce that $35,000-$50,000 a year price tag while still getting the flexibility and one-on-one care a nanny can provide. You can look for a part-time nanny or nanny-share with another family, something Ms. Richards is considering when her youngest goes to kindergarten in the fall.

Jennifer Couldrey, an Etobicoke, Ont., mom of two, owns her own business as a certified EOS implementer, or a strategic planning coach for entrepreneurs, and hired a nanny for childcare and some household tasks so she could return to work earlier and still spend quality time with her baby and toddler son.

She and her husband have discussed the cost savings they’d get from putting their kids in daycare – if they were able to find spots at a subsidized care centre – but for them, time is money.

“We do not make big investments in our house, travel or fancy things at this point in our lives,” Ms. Couldrey says. “Instead of looking at our nanny as an expense, we look at it as if we are buying back our time. We are buying happiness.”

For working parents like Ms. Couldrey and me, paying for childcare is unavoidable. Paying a bit more to alleviate the mental load of meal planning, sick days and ensuring our house isn’t a toddler disaster zone might be worth it, even if it means sacrificing other things.

While I’m not pulling my kids out of daycare, I can see why others choose that route. One thing to remember is that while the nanny and daycare years are expensive, they are a short-term financial pain.

Erin Bury is the co-founder and CEO of online estate planning platform Willful.co. She lives in rural Ontario with her husband and two young children.