In-Home Childcare Choices

Working parents need daycare for their young children. There are many choices available to parents and some of the possibilities can be arranged in your own home. If you want your child to remain in his own home while you are working, read on! You might find the answer to your childcare needs.

If having a parent become a stay at home mom or dad is possible, this might be one of the best choices. Perhaps the mother could stay home while the father works, or vice versa. You and your spouse might even be able to stagger your working hours so that child care is always in the hands of one of the parents at all times. Advantages of having a stay at home parent are that your child will raised with your philosophy, your child will be in familiar settings, you have no child care expenses and you will not miss seeing your child's milestones and rapidly changing development. Disadvantages of becoming a stay at home parents is that one parent may feel overburdened and the loss of a second income.

Many modern working parents have the option of leaving their children with a family member who is willing and able to help out with child care. Love for your baby is already built in and your child should already be comfortable around the person. More than likely you will not have to worry about your child when she is sick because the family member will be more willing to continue sick care. The cost of a family member caring for your child is often far less than other methods of childcare. However, if you have an older family member caring for your baby, it may become a burden and make the person too tired for daily care. Another disadvantage is that you might have differing childcare opinions and it might be hard to tell a family member your expectations.

Becoming more popular are babysitting co-ops. Some are loosely organized groups where working parents take turns baby-sitting in their homes and some are formal arrangements with contracts and paid staff. In informal arrangements, there is no cost for childcare and everyone is an experienced caregiver. You do have a number of caregiving parents to choose from, although some will have different caregiving styles than you do. If you use the service often, you will have to babysit often yourself. This method generally works well for parents that need part time care.

If you have a friend, neighbor or relative that also needs childcare, you could always share a caregiver. Several working families could join together and hire one experienced caregiver to watch the children in your home. Rules and arrangements should be considered in advance and all people involved should agree. You can control the number of children that the caregiver watches and your baby will have playmates throughout the day. You do have the support of other parents and the cost may be significantly less than other childcare methods since it is being shared. However, the caregiver might get overwhelmed with the amount of children in her care and you may have to compromise on your own childcare philosophies.

You could hire a babysitter or mother's helper if you only need to have childcare for a few hours a day. Mother's helpers and baby-sitters are usually younger and less experienced than nannies or other caregivers. Baby-sitters and mother's helpers generally do not cost as much as other childcare options, but you might not feel totally comfortable with the judgements they make in true emergency situations. Baby-sitters and mother's helpers are ideal for a few hours or for work at home parents.

Many families find that hiring a private nanny is the best choice for their situation. Some nannies live with the family and some do not. Nanny's often will do housework in addition to childcare duties. Nannies often make a career of child care and expect to be paid at that level. In addition to a higher salary, you may need to offer her room and board, transportation, paid vacation, insurance and sick leave. Children often develop very close relationships with the family nanny.