When you have to return to work or for another reason are thinking about day care you may be wondering which the best is for your child/children. The only way to come to a fair conclusion is to know about home day care vs a day care center. Everyone will have in mind what kind of environment they want for their children and one surrounding may suit a family better.
Being within a home environment a child can settle in better and be able to cope better with the fact that one day may not have the same routine as another. The child can get to know their care giver and form a relationship whereas in a day care center this is not always easy, especially with so many different children requiring attention.
The structure within a center will set children who attend up for school. It makes a great bridge between the home to school transition making them more aware of surroundings where they will not always be the center of attention with the teacher child ratio being much less than it would be at home.
There are many child careers working from home in different ways, some will use their own home where as others may come in the form of a nanny who comes by day to day or resides with the family. This can make the hours they work more flexible and allow parents, when there to observe the relationship and feel reassured. Although a carer who works independently will have to undergo certain background checks, the people who a child may be taken to visit might not have. This could put them at risk and make any parent feel uncomfortable that their child is taken into a home or other establishment which they will not necessarily have knowledge of.
A lot of children who have experienced day care tend to have a head start on others who have not because there are certain things that they are required to teach a child to do, including being independent in removing clothes and re dressing. This is handy when they partake in physical activity once the time comes to begin schooling as are the rules put in place that every child needs to follow.
The age groups of a home child carer can be very varied, especially when they have their own children to think about too. This could increase the chance of toys or equipment being left around accidentally that is quite safe for an older child but extremely dangerous for a young explorer just learning about their surroundings. On a plus side, dealing with all ages could give them better communication skills and great companionship if they do not have siblings of their own.
Any accident occurring a center for children is noted down by a member of staff with additional information such as where they were if they fell, what happened and what steps were taken to make the child comfortable like applying a cold compress or band aid. Every child falls at some point but having every aspect of the injury given to parents is the next best thing to actually being there.
There is usually another person around on hand to help if one of the staff at a bigger establishment is ill and need to take time off, so from that sense they can be more reliable. This means no need to take time off work because your child care lets you down because of something that is happening in their life such as ill health, family problems or booking of a last minute holiday.
A home carer can have more flexibility and children get to go to the usual places such as shops or banks and some will be more than happy to take the children in their care to a dental appointment or another place they need to be. This is not usually an option at child day care center’s because of staff to child ratio being regulated by the law.
Every parent will have to think about what they feel is best for their own child. Even if an older sibling had one kind of care, another may benefit more from a different kind. Both have regulations in place, it is mainly down to the type of environment that will be best so they feel comfortable in their surroundings and build a good relationship so that their care given knows what they need and how best to deal with any problems that could arise.