Articles | What Every Parent Should Know About Day Care

Day care has come quite some distance since the temporary babysitting jobs of the 60's and 70's that paid fifty cents an hour for one child, perhaps 25 percent more an hour for two children. Neighboring teens made good babysitter candidates, as did kids of friends or older family members. All that was required of the babysitter was to fix a dinner plate for their child, tidy up afterwards and fool around with their child before tucking them into bed. The majority of the sitting was done on Friday or Saturday nights allowing the parents to enjoy a night out. Today, day care means a whole lot more.

As reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, over the last 10 years almost 65 percent of women with children six years of age or younger were working outside the home. Particularly in a single parent household, it is necessary to have entry to day care, if other alternatives like relatives or grandparents, are not available. In a family where both the husband and wife work full time jobs, ongoing day care is sometimes the only choice.

There are several options available today. More corporate employers are adding on-site day care facilities, in-home providers are available, and full or part time day care centers are found in nearly every city large or small. Some centers only accept children ages bear toddler, while others welcome children of all ages. There is an increasing trend toward drop-in child care, with facilities offering affordable short-run, high-quality care. Schools, gyms, rec centers and even churches are jumping on the child care bandwagon by providing such occasions as Mother or father Nights Out. Some communities are organizing child care co-ops. Nannies, a.k.a. a child's nurse are likewise an alternative, even so, a more expensive one as it requires full-time in-home care by an individual who may or may not reside on the property.

Nannies may be male or female; although nannys are becoming popular. Families can select the care that fits their changing needs a nanny for the newborn, drop-in look after the toddler, and a setting rich day care for preschoolers. Summer needs may alter from those during the school year and mothers and fathers may switch programs to contain those needs.

Day care centers that are evolving into highly structured learning centers now offer a wider array of pursuits. Still available are simple arts and crafts projects, but the inclusion of early learning programs has been assigned to research showing an answer to academics at an earlier age. Moms and dads want their kids to start developing skills that previously weren't taught until much later. Extra extracurricular activities such as gymnastics, ballet and martial arts are provided for an additional fee. The instructor comes to the center on a weekly basis providing on-site instruction, and this is specially beneficial to those parents who are short on time and cannot accommodate weekly lessons. Keeping moms and dads up-to-the-minute on the schedules and occasions was done by a simple newsletter; today many providers have websites which even include the weekly menus. You can likewise request an update on your youngsters conduct, which is in turn emailed to you.

Communication between the provider and the parent is important, but early morning goodbyes can be awkward for younger kids and keeping it short and sweet encourages a better day for both child and provider.