NURSERY
VERSUS
CHILDMINDER
Neither the decision to go back to work or not, nor the childcare choices you make should be the source of any sleepless nights – you’ll have enough of those, but how do you make the choice when it comes to caring for your child? What is the right childcare for you? Nursery or childminder? What about relatives, or an au pair or nanny? We take a look at the options and offer some advice about how to approach this very important decision.
Do your research
When choosing who will be involved in bringing up your child, it is a good idea to look at all the options and get as much information as possible.
Whether it’s a full time, stay-at-home parent, live-in nanny, nanny share, au pair, informal arrangement with friends/relatives, childminder, or nursery, there are passionate advocates of each.
If you are confident that you are well informed about local childcare options and have discussed the issue with the people whose opinions matter to you, you should feel free to make up your own mind about what is best for your child and family.
What works for the family as a whole
When choosing childcare it is really important to consider what works for the family as a whole, and not just the child in need of care for an insight into why happy, healthy parents are the best thing a child can have.
Adding on an extra half-hour of childcare to each side of the day, so you get the chance to grab a coffee before getting on with your job, or so you don’t stress if you get caught in traffic may be better for your child and the family as a whole – rather than cutting childcare down to the bare essentials and being continually stressed that you’re late, and exhausted from rushing around so much.
Does it feel right?
All parents need to be happy with the choice of childcare: it must feel right, be compatible with your values and priorities and make you confident that your child will be well cared for and their development facilitated in a safe, happy, healthy environment. No parent will make an arrangement that doesn’t satisfy that requirement.
All of the childcare options out there can provide this, but there are other issues to consider; issues which are often overlooked by first-time parents, desperate to give their child the best start in life.
Three main issues are
cost
flexibility
relationships
Looking at childcare options, it is important to consider the impact of these issues alongside your research on different childcare settings in order to reduce the stress, confusion and guilt that surround many parents’ childcare choices.
Nursery and Day care
The nursery setting is stimulating and sociable and for children over 3 months. Research exists which shows that academic achievement and social skills may be better for children in nursery settings than for children who stay at home with a single adult until going to school.
However, research on attachment shows that very young babies benefit from forming bonds with one or two primary carers.
Therefore, parents of children under 12 months who are looking for full-time child care will benefit from a nursery which has a low turnover of staff and a high ratio of key workers to children.
Good day care can be expensive, especially if you have more than one child. However, there are ways of making it more affordable:
The working tax credit and child tax credit schemes will contribute up to 80% of childcare costs, depending on your income.
If your employer doesn’t already offer it, you can request that they sign up to the childcare voucher scheme which gives any working parent tax free vouchers to use on childcare.
Check with the nursery about fees for extended absences and holidays, as most nurseries still charge the usual fees when a child is ill, or when they go away, but there may be some flexibility if you have planned absences. It is best to negotiate these before you sign the contract and make sure you get any agreement for reduction of fees in writing.
Whilst nurseries are open for set hours, many operate a late/early service, and they are normally open for at least 50 weeks of the year.
This makes it a stable option for children who become settled into their routine and do not have to cope with a variety of different childcare situations. However, it is not a particularly flexible option unless you are happy to pay for childcare that you don’t always use.
Before choosing a nursery, make sure you feel very comfortable with its philosophy, and especially that of the key worker. Ask to see their most recent Ofsted report and talk to parents and other members of staff before making a decision.
As with all childcare arrangements, good communication between parents and the nursery is a key factor in the success of the arrangement.
A common source of stress between parents is the drop-off and pick-ups. By talking this through before looking at nurseries, you can decide whether the nursery should be close to home, or close to a parent’s place of work.
A nursery close to home means that both parents are equally able to drop off or pick up the child, whereas a nursery close to a place of work is more convenient if you work longer hours or need to collect the child quickly (illness etc).
Thinking about whether you want your child to travel far to the nursery each day is also worth considering.
Childminder
A childminder will normally provide a more intimate arrangement than a nursery and is likely to encourage a young child to form healthy, emotional attachments.
If you are happy that the childminder is able to provide sufficient one to one time with your child to enable a healthy bond to develop, it can be easier for the child to settle into this situation as it is a home-from-home setting.
Childminders are generally cheaper than nurseries. Check policies on illness and holidays to ensure you understand how the finances will work. Some childminders charge extra for meals etc so make sure you know exactly what you’re paying for before you sign the contract.
The childcare vouchers and tax credits can also be used for registered childminders, but you need to check that your childminder is registered for them.
Although, like nurseries, childminders are required to be inspected by Ofsted, childminders are less regimented and arrangements can be made to suit specific working patterns so there is usually more flexibility.
If possible, you should build in time at the end or start of the day to chat with the childminder. It’s tempting to want to drop your child off and race to work, or pick him up and get home after a long day, but allowing an extra 10 minutes, preferably at both ends of the day, will reduce the stress and facilitate good communication, easing the transition from home to childminder and back again.
It is this relationship which makes the childminder arrangement more personal and intimate than a nursery.
Always ask to see the Ofsted report and discuss your child with the childminder to make sure you are happy with the environment, activities and meals that are being provided.
It is also worth asking about the ages of the other children that will be in the house at the same time, as unlike a nursery, there may be a wide range of ages and you may feel that your child will benefit from having older children, or you may prefer him to be with children of approximately the same age.
At First Steps we know Parenting is tough.
You won’t know whether you’ve done a good job for years, so don’t try to analyse the impact of every decision you make on your child’s development.
There is also nothing that says an easy option is the wrong one, simply because it’s easy (it doesn’t make it right either, but anything that reduces stress and exhaustion is really beneficial to families with young children).
We recognise the benefits of a nursery setting and have seen for ourselves our children transition from a young baby to a confident and happy school leaver. We love the family environment a nursery can have and have also seen children who do some time with a childminder and some time with us. The bottom line is you as the parent know what is best and you will get the right feel for the right thing for you.