Choosing the right childcare situation is never easy. Determining what situation best suits your family requires careful consideration of your needs, budget, and care giving expectations. If you’re wavering between nanny care and daycare, here are 10 reasons why nanny care may be the better choice.
Nanny care offers:
1. Personalized and customized care. Unlike a daycare setting where your child needs to adapt to the center’s routine and their way of doing things, your nanny will take great care in providing personalized and customized child care. For example, many babies sleep best when swaddled. A nanny will gladly swaddle your baby, but many daycare centers do not allow for babies to sleep swaddled, which can severely impact your child’s amount and quality of sleep.
2. A handpicked provider. An agency can help you find the right caregivers. You decide who will be caring for your children. During the screening process you are able to gather information about your nanny and use it to make an informed and educated hiring decision. In a daycare setting, there may be several people caring for your child, none of whom you have personally screened.
3. The title of boss. As a nanny employer, you are the boss. Unlike in a daycare center, where the director calls the shots, you have complete authority over your child care provider. As the boss, you set the hours, determine the schedule, and give your caregiver specific instructions, duties, and responsibilities.
4. A decreased risk of illness. In daycare, your child is constantly around groups of other children. Young children often share toys and don’t realize they need to do things like cover their mouth when they cough. Many daycare's also provide care for mildly ill children. For these reasons and more, in daycare centers illness spreads quickly. While a nanny will socialize your child by participating in mommy and me type classes or going on outings and play dates, she’s able to call the shots when it comes to exposing your children to sick kids and ensuring proper precautions are taken to prevent unnecessary exposure to illness.
5. Consistent care. Because daycare workers are often paid poorly, the providers typically have a high turnover rate. Nannies, on the other hand, usually commit to staying with a family for a minimum of one year. In daycare centers the staff often rotates and your child may not be able to develop as close of a bond with his primary provider.
6. Savings for siblings. Many parents don’t realize that if they have two young children who need child care, nanny care is often more cost effective than paying for two slots in daycare. Nannies charge per family, not per child. For this reason, nanny care can be comparable and even less expensive than daycare.
7. Convenience. There’s a lot to be said for not rushing around in the morning in hopes of getting out of the house on time. With nanny care there is no need to wake your child up if she is still sleeping or to rush her through breakfast and get her ready for the day. Your nanny is willing and able to manage those tasks and more.
8. A lower ratio of caregiver to child. Depending on the age of your child, the provider to child ratio could be one to three, four, or even more children. With nanny care, your nanny has only your child to care for, giving your child exclusivity.
9. Increased flexibility. If you work long days or nontraditional hours, the flexibility that a nanny offers is unsurpassed Daycare centers often charge exorbitant fees for early or late care, sometimes even charging parents by the minute if they are late. Nannies tend to be much more flexible and are able to work longer hours to accommodate your schedule.
10. Family support. While a nanny is hired to care for your child, by default she also ends up caring for you and supporting your family. From taking on all tasks that pertain to the children, to running a few errands, to doling out parenting advice, nannies are partners in helping their employers raise happy and healthy children.
While only you can choose what child care option is best for your family, there are certainly many reasons why nanny care may be the better choice. As you consider your care needs and budget, also consider the things nanny care offers that daycare does not.
An agency such as Perfect Nanny Match will be able to help you sort through all the potential nannies out there. They will also be able to help you background check, reference check and interview all candidates. Many nannies are also matched with families based on their personality, parenting style and other factors that a daycare would never consider.
Give us a call for a free consultation today!
(248) 227-0016
-Lena (Owner of Perfect Nanny Match)
Written by nannyagency.net