Nanny vs Daycare: What You Need To Know
Are you considering what kind of childcare you want for your little one when you go back to work? There are a few options depending on your situation.
You may have a family member like a grandparent who would watch them for free, which can be very convenient both financially and emotionally. I feel like this is the unicorn scenario.
Knowing that you have someone you love and trust to take care of your child can be very comforting and ease any financial stress.
Most commonly though, it comes down to two options; daycare or hiring a nanny. There are pros and cons to each.
Letβs break them down and hopefully help you decide the route thatβs best for you and your family.
This post may contain affiliate links. That means if you click and buy, I may receive a small commission (at zero cost to you). Please see my full disclosure policy for details.
Nanny
There are several advantages to having a nanny and weβll go through those in just a second. The initial challenge of this option is finding the right person.
It can also be difficult to figure out where to start looking. There are services and apps that can help you find people who are experienced, have had background checks, profiles for you to get to know a little more about them and their availability, and what their pay rate is.
You can also ask around to your friends and loved ones for references to people they know who nanny or are families that have had a nanny that they would recommend.
Iβve gone both routes. My sonβs first nanny was a friend of a friend from her church. She had children of her own that she homeschooled part-time and used to be a teacher herself.Β
She was a great nanny and my son loved her. We were lucky enough to have her for the first five months after my maternity leave, but her husbandβs job situation changed, which ended up meaning that she could no longer nanny for us.Β
My next two nannies I found through a website called Care.com. This service helps you find care for children, seniors, tutoring, housekeeping, and pets.
You sign up and pay a monthly fee, which you cancel at any time. The subscription allows you to view full profiles, message potential candidates, and pay them through their platform (if you choose to, you donβt have to use that feature).
My first nanny from Care.com was in her early twenties and was great with my son and helping around the house, but was not very dependable and I eventually had to cut ties after one too many no-call/no-shows.
My current nanny from Care.com is wonderful. She is super dependable and my son adores her. She works with him on development activities for his age range, which she had experience doing in her previous nannying job.
Going the nanny route can sometimes mean youβll have to deal with turnover and some not-so-dependable people. Itβs basically trial and error.
Below are the pros and cons of choosing a nanny as your preferred childcare option.
Pros:
- – 1-on-1 careΒ
- – You get to pick the person who will care for your child
- – If you work from home, you get to keep your baby at home with you
- – You can set the schedule (days/time) & have them adhere to your babyβs schedule that you have set
- – Help with light housework (if this is something youβd like and they are willing to have this as part of their job description)
- – Extra services and structured activities of your choosing (that you agree upon – this may cost extra)Β
- – Convenient – No driving to and from daycare, no getting baby ready for transport/packed each dayΒ
Cons:
- – Limited socialization for your child
- – Can be more expensive depending on help needed per week
- – Dependability – as mentioned above, sometimes they are unreliable. Good help can be hard to find.
Daycare
With daycare there are essentially two options here; private daycare (in-home) vs a daycare center.Β
The private daycare option gives your child a little more 1-1 with your child and the provider because they are licensed to have a limited number of children to care for at one time. This also allows your child to still get some socialization with other children.
Be sure to check that they are a licensed childcare provider, can provide references, a background check, a tour of their home, and the structure of their curriculum for the children they provide care for.Β
Since private daycares are typically at the providerβs home, youβll want to know about their home life situation and who your child could potentially also be exposed to outside the provider and other children.
My mom was a private daycare provider when my siblings and I were younger. This allowed her to stay home with us while we were too young for school, provided a second income for our family, and meant we had other kids to play with besides our siblings.
A daycare center is usually the more common option of these two childcare services. A center has a facility built specifically for providing an environment for childcare for children of all ages.
The rooms are split up by age and have a teacher-to-child ratio that is determined by the age of the children (4:1 for infants, 7:1 for toddlers, 10:1 for preschoolers, and 15:1 for school age). Each curriculum is structured based on the age of the children in the room.
These centers have gotten very advanced in their communications with the parents. They now can provide things like in-time updates, an app to communicate and share information/important updates, camera feeds that parents can access, and more.
These features will vary depending on the facility. Be sure to sign up for a tour of the daycare center and ask about these when you go for your visit.
I worked at a daycare center for 4 years while I was in high school and both my mom and older sister have worked at that same daycare for over twenty years. I worked in all the rooms with all the different ages and can definitely say there are benefits and drawbacks to this childcare option.
Below are the pros and cons of choosing one of these daycare options, more specifically a daycare center.
Pros:
- – Socialization for your child
- – Dependability – knowing your childcare will be consistent to accommodate your schedule
- – Builds up your childβs immune system – sharing germs is pretty unavoidable and exposes your child to different bacteria that will strengthen their immune systemΒ
- – Structured programsΒ
- – Status updates – consistent communication on your childβs day
Cons:
- – Getting sick often – it does build their immune system, but this also tends to increase their chances of getting ill every so often
- – Donβt get to choose who takes care of your child – you choose the center and get to meet the teachers/childcare providers, but this doesnβt mean you get to choose who them specificallyΒ
- – Mimicking bad behaviors learned from other kids
- – Expensive – rates vary depending on the facility, the hours of care youβll need, or what the facility will require for enrollment
- – Less convenient to travel back and forth to the daycare and prepare your child for this routine on a daily basis
All of these childcare options come with benefits and drawbacks. Do your research, invest your time in exploring these different options, and find which one works best for you and your childβs needs.
The fact that I work from home made the convenience of having childcare come to me very appealing. I was also not eager to be away from my child for hours at a time while he was so young.
My son is now eighteen months and we just toured our first daycare center for him to potentially start going to this fall. Itβs only for a couple of days a week to get a little more socialization into his routine and help me with the separation anxiety. Lol.
Baby steps for this mama.Β
Cheers, Warriors!
I hope you enjoyed reading this post and found it entertaining, educational, inspiringβhopefully, all three. Please be sure to leave any comments or questions you have in the Comments section below.Β
Donβt forget to sign up for my email list and claim your FREE template for Organizing Your Fertility Information that includes documents to track your appointment notes, fertility notes, financial planner, journal page, and more!