Childcare Options

I am thinking about putting Oli into some sort of care for a morning  or 2 each week - starting later on in the year....I think it would be good for both of us! I am unsure which direction to go - a childcare centre or a home educator type set up. I am interested to hear opinions / pros & cons for each. Its tricky as I dont really want to commit to anything too rigid but it seems that all places are going to want that..so I guess I will need to. (Unless anyone knows of a "casual" option?!?)

 

I'm not sure what you mean by casual .. if you mean you take him "when you feel like it", I think that could be quite hard to find .. although places like Les Mills have child care facilities that allow that type of situation to happen.   However I think in that type of environment its more "babysitting" than the child getting anything educational.

Issy goes to a daycare facility for a couple of reasons.

Firstly I didnt like the idea of a home educator as I like the safety of having other adults around as a "back up" .. however Flissty's son is in a homecare situation, where there are two adults on site and the main caregiver has a degree in ECE and vast experience, something like that would give you the best of both worlds.

Also SD works at the facility (even though we would have chosen that facility if he didnt work there. Its just as a worried Mum, I was more at ease as I knew he was on the premises if Isabelle needed a parent straight away.

I think there are also public creche's .. however the waiting lists are horrendous (although much much cheaper than dc)

Another thing to consider is that it a dc (or creche) near where he will go to school will help him make friends that he could know for the rest of his life .. which is another reason I like the dc Issy goes to, the dc, kindy and primary school are all on the same grounds, so the kids she is meeting now will grow up with her.

just a word of warning on the casual basis. Ella used to go to daycare for 2 days a week and loved it and had no problems settling, then due to work cutting my hrs I had her going just the 1 day a week and so far it has been a nightmare........ she is so unsettled there and has started crying and taking a while to calm down. We have now decided to have her going 2 days again, as it just wasn't fair on her and the time between visits was too long.

I know every child is different, but whatever route you do decide to go down I would probably recommend going for at least 2 days (2 x 1/2 days would probably work as well), just to help with the settling in.

I agree with what Mum2Ella said.
I work in an early childhood centre myself, and it often seems a bit hard for children who only come once a week. Children who come twice (whether it's 2 full days or 2 half days), settle much easier.
Most centres that I know do half days.

I'm not sure what you mean by casual. If you mean just go when you want to, that's not really possible, because centres are bound by child-teacher ratios. So if people just decide to drop off their child, there might not be enough teachers. Centres also have a maximum number of children they are allowed to have on their premises.
Therefore centres require you to commit to certain days and times. You don't have to bring in your child if he's booked in, but you will still be charged for that day.

Considering the age of your child I think a centre is a good option, because of the possibilities for social interaction. Also centres have usually larger playgrounds than homebased carers, so there is more opportunity for physically active play. (Personally I'm very big on things like climbing and jumping and balancing etc.)

I would do a centre from about Oli's age & homebased if they were younger

LOL, thanks for posting on my behalf LF !

At Oli's age, if it's only for a couple of sessions a week, I'd probably go with day care centre if I found somewhere I was really happy with, particularly if you're keen on the socialisation side of things.

My two are the same as Mac, full time from Jan and haven't been any sicker than what they used to be.