Childcare Choices and Your Family

It is not unusual for children in this day and age to spend more time with adults other than their own parents during the early years of their lives. Childcare is less the responsibility of the parents and more that of the teacher, childcare provider, or after school care giver. Childcare choices for your family; what is the right choice for you? Center based, home based or nanny, the differences are overwhelming. There are so many options that are available and appropriate for the many different life styles that we have these days in our society. The choices are out and the choice is yours to make.

"Once upon a time, not much more than a hundred years ago, the United States was a predominately rural culture. The farm family was then a self-contained economic and social unit, the heart of human groupings. With children numerous and desired, the family often included grandparents, sometimes aunts uncles and cousins. It was a communal center with parents at the hub." (Gestwicki, 2004, p. ix)

Family home providers offer at home childcare for the families they work with. These homes (usually the providers home) offer the care that you would find in a home like setting provided by a professional care taker. Laws governing these childcare home centers require the same levels of training as commercial centers such as, first aid and CPR, food workers permit and annual trainings provided by state governed teachers.

There are often several children cared for in these environments and often a family grouping or two. The care takers open their entire home up to the families and this can tend to make the children and parents feel more at home and not in a childcare environment. There is often teaching that does occur and a curriculum that is followed. These home based centers often are more affordable, have a more flexible schedule and often are a lower ratio of teacher to child interaction. The families that utilize these types of home day cares often stay stable within the care given from infancy to 12-13 years of age. These relationships are fostering emotionally stable and secure with everyone involved. The State of Washington, in particular, is fond of these "Family Childcare Facilities," as there are many of them that are state licensed and are strictly monitored by the licensers in the region.

A licensed childcare facility is often the most popular type of setting for your child to attend. These facilities are often a corporate based facility or stand-alone which are all monitored by the state licensing committee. Licensed childcare facilities are usually quite large in size providing care for up to 200 children on a daily basis. Facilities such as these are curriculum based focused on learning and follow strict Administrative Codes for each state licensed within.

While licensed childcare facilities are wide spread and often standardized across the board, they are not always the best fit for families. There are larger class sizes, often turn over of staff, and the children in lower quality centers may show lower academic advancement then those in higher quality areas. Another positive of commercialized care is the personal independence that the children gain in both socialization and basic life skills. The department of licensing in each state governs these larger facilities quite rigidly with annual and periodic walk-through. The classrooms are also required to be separated by age group, infants being 0-12 months, toddlers being 12-36 months, pre-school being 36-5 years and children enrolled in kindergarten and up are maintained separately. The breakdown of the age groups allows the children to develop at their own pace and they can all develop individually as well.

"The National Association for the Education of Young Children, NAEYC, has developed standards to accredit high quality programs for young children." (Gestwicki, 2004, p. 142)

Parents who choose the Nanny, au pair or a mother's helper: is an individual person who provides care for one or more children in a family as a service. These people will occasionally live within the house hold and be 'on-call' the majority of the day and night for the family they work for. One of the most ideal parts of this type of care is that the nanny or mothers-helper can assist or completely care for the children in the comfort of their own home. No packing the kids up each morning or picking them up each night. Dinner, laundry and home care is usually taken care of by this person as well. The whole family benefits from this type of care giver.

The misfortune of hiring a nanny or au pair is that they are not required to have a back ground check or the trainings required of state regimented programs. There is no way of telling if the person you have hired is trustworthy of raising your children. While there are Nanny finding Agencies that will provide references and the background check desired, these companies also usually are more expensive due to the high expectations of using an "agency" and the legalities behind it.

"In the 19th and early 20th century, the position was usually known as a "nurse", and was, as for many