Choosing between Childcare, Family Day Care and Hiring a Nanny
During the first three to five years of their life, children are absorbing the world around them and developing key physical, cognitive, emotional and social skills. For this reason, it is important to choose the right early learning environment for your child.
Choosing between childcare, home daycare and hiring a nanny is often a difficult choice that parents face. In the hopes of making this decision easier for parents we have listed some of the key differences between each of the early learning environments:
Child Care
Research shows parents feel it is important for children to attend a structured form of non-parental care before they start school, to promote school readiness and adaptability. With regularly scheduled activities, children are able to learn new skills and challenge themselves to reach the next step of their cognitive and social development in a stable environment.
Not only does childcare provide children the opportunity the learn through playing and exercising – promoting a healthier lifestyle, it also provides flexibility and convenience for parents’ work hours.
Family Day Care
This less formal type of early learning environment, involves supervised care for children, being provided in the private homes of licenced carers, usually mothers with small children of their own. Many family daycares look after smaller groups of children providing the ability for more individual and personal attention.
Carers can accommodate more to each child’s wants and must either have completed or be studying towards certification in early childhood education. Family day care is personal and intimate, with parent’s satisfaction heavily relying on the relationship established between their child and the carer.
Hiring a Nanny
Similar to home daycare, hiring a nanny is intimate, allowing children to adjust more gradually with parents going back to work. However, this can often be the most expensive option depending upon how many children need care.
The one-on-one setting does allow for more personal attention to, however, it can limit social development and benefits of interacting with other children, both important skills to have before entering formal schooling.
Although it’s a more convenient option having a nanny coming to your house, there can be a disadvantage regarding reliability, if the nanny is unwell and unable to work and a lack of privacy, with the carer working from your own home, often alone.
As the nanny’s employer, time will also need to be invested in meeting the legal and financial responsibilities including a contract agreement, holiday entitlement and other obligations. While it is convenient to arrange last-minute changes in working hours with a nanny, there is still the risk of unpredictable cancellations, so it is important to arrange back up childcare.
If you think long day care is the best option for your child, give Bonny Babes Child Care Centres a call today!