I don’t know when exactly baby L has turned into a proper little boy. It seems as if it has just happened over night. Luca is now a little tornado and he wants to explore everything – and when I say everything, I really mean e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g.

It amazes me every time I watch him how much energy such a little person can have ;-) It’s so much fun to play with him and to see him laugh every time he succeeds in doing something new. But to be honest, sometimes, I wonder how I managed to cook, clean the flat, play with little L, do some outdoors activities, bring him to bed etc. – while finding some minutes to take a shower, do some reading and sleeping myself – without the amazing help of my husband (who is currently on holidays) and Luca’s grand-parents.

Our two-month trip to Europe is nearly over and I wonder even more how I will manage to do all of this when we will be back in Dubai again at the end of next week :-O Especially now that Luca is much more mobile (yup, we started cruising and walking with the walker quite late but now that we started we don’t want to stop and mummy is just a tiny little bit exhausted by this walking thing haha).

Now that Luca is already one year old and I have seen him interact so well with other family members and friends here in Europe, the time might be right for both of us to spend a little time apart from each other. To appreciate the time we spend together even more. And to prepare little L for the time when mummy will be working again or when there might be a little sister or brother one day.

Of course, my husband and me have already talked about nannies and nurseries before. But I somehow never felt it was the right time for neither one nor the other. I don’t think that Luca was ready. And neither was I.

Now that the time has come to slowly but surely think about the different childcare options, I feel a little bit lost, I have to say… When you live in Dubai, having a nanny to look after your children is of course quite common and one of the first options you might think of when it comes to childcare. Back in Switzerland, we would probably never have been able to have a nanny but, here in Dubai, it is much more affordable. Nevertheless, I am not sure if I feel comfortable with this option. Maybe because I am just not used to it….

So, here are basically the different options I see:

Option N° 1: Live-in nanny

• loads of one-to-one attention (+)
• little L’s routine would not be disrupted as the nanny can adapt to his schedule (+)
• no rushing to the nursery in the morning (+)
• for as long as I am not working, I would still be with Luca while getting him slowly used to being with someone else (+)
• a nanny would be able to help with some domestic chores linked to little Mr. L (+)
• someone would be around 24h/24 (or let’s say, someone would be living with us and that probably feels the same) (+)
• euhhh….someone would be around 24h/24 :-/ ! (-)
• we would probably need to move :-/ cause there’s no space left in our flat… (-)
• from what I have heard, there are amazing nannies and not so amazing ones… I always feel uncomfortable with leaving little L with just one single person who is not a family member or a close friend (-)
• there would be fewer interaction with other kids than in a nursery (-)
• you need to sponsor your nanny (apply for residence visa etc.) (-)
• often, live-in nannies are no native English speakers and, sometimes, it is even difficult to communicate (-)
• knowing myself, the interviewing phase might take a while… (-)

Option 2: Live-out nanny

• same advantages and downsides except for the accommodation

Option 3: Nursery

• loads of interaction with other kids. Luca being an only child for the moment, he would get the opportunity to play with others even more than during our play dates (+)
• qualified staff (+)
• great environment, toys and activities (+)
• there seem to be really good nurseries in Dubai and some of them are even French/English or German/English ones (+)
• but…. it doesn’t seem to be easy to get a place in one of the excellent ones (-)
• oh and they come at a cost (-)
• there would be a lot of traveling back and forth for not so much time spent at the nursery, especially if little L would only go to a nursery two or three half-days/week (-)
• probably, little Mr. L would be ill in no time and then… all the time?! at least, this is how it feels when I talk to friends whose children go to a nursery (-)
• some nurseries require the parents to adapt their children’s routine to their schedule (not sure if that’s a – or a + though)
• the adaptation phase might be harder for Luca (-)

There might be other options such as au pairs or grannies from Europe but, to be honest, I  don’t know much about these options for now. I am not sure about how to handle the sponsorship questions in these cases, for example.

I guess it will take some time to evaluate the different options and to choose the one that is most appropriate for our family ;-)

If you want to share your personal experience with the different childcare options (in Dubai or elsewhere ;-)), please feel free! I would love to hear your thoughts!

x

Tani