Struggling to decide between a nursery, childminder or other childcare setting for your little one? We鈥檙e here to help.
We caught up with educational psychologist Dr Alison Gurney to find out about the different childcare options and the questions to ask before making your decision.
Childcare Choices
To see how you can get financial support from the government to help cover childcare costs, head to their . To find the right offer for you, simply select the nation you live in, your rough earnings, and the age of your children and they鈥檒l help you to get started!
For example, if you are an eligible working parent living in England and your child is 3 or 4 years old, you can apply for 30 hours childcare or early education across 38 weeks (up to 570 hours per year). And from April, eligible working parents of 2-year-olds can get 15 hours childcare across 38 weeks.
Types of childcare available
There are five main childcare options to choose from. These are:
1. Day nursery
Nurseries take children from babies up to school age. They are usually open all year and have longer opening hours than preschools or creches. Nurseries can be privately run or attached to schools or your workplace. Your child will be given a key person and will be in a room with children of their own age.
2. Childminder
Childminders will look after your little one at their house, usually alongside a small group of other children. They look after children from babies up to school age and often beyond as they start school. Their hours are more flexible than a nursery: they may only work during school term times or offer slightly shorter hours. Childminders are OFSTED registered and have to do certain training and qualifications including first aid.
3. Preschool playgroups
Preschools usually take children from two-years-old. They might be privately run or attached to a school. They are usually term time only and have shorter hours to match the school day. If your child is younger, they might just do a morning or afternoon session.
4. Nannies and au pairs
Nannies and au pairs will look after your child in your house. They are employed by you and sometimes will live in your home too. They can look after just your child or you can do a nanny share with another family. This means they look after all your kids at the same time, or on different days. Nannies don鈥檛 have to be OFSTED registered.
5. Creche
Creches only take children for a couple of hours at a time. They might be attached to your gym, your work or a shopping centre.
How to choose the right childcare
Deciding where to send your child can feel quite overwhelming. To help you make the right choice, Dr Gurney suggests thinking about:
Where the childcare is
Think about the logistics. How far away do you want your childcare to be? Do you want it to be closer to your work or closer to home?
How much it costs
This is a big consideration and will depend on where you live. Sometimes childminders or nannies might look cheaper than a nursery. But when you鈥檝e added up all the extras you need to provide like food or nappies, they might not be.
Whether you can use your free childcare hours
Some families with two-year-olds are eligible for 15 hours of childcare per week. All three and four-year-olds are entitled to 15 hours per week, and you could be eligible for 30 hours, so at a particular setting (they have to be approved childcare providers).
What happens if someone is sick
It鈥檚 worth thinking about how reliable the care is. A nursery is usually open all year round and if your child鈥檚 key person is off, someone else will step in. If you have a nanny or childminder and they call in sick, do you have a Plan B for childcare?
What happens when you鈥檙e on holiday
If you have a childminder, you may not have to pay them when they are on holiday or when you go on holiday. At a nursery, you have to pay for your child鈥檚 place all year.
Does it fit with your routine?
Think about your own routines before making a decision. If you start work at 7.30am a childminder might not always be the best option but a nanny or nursery might be better.
Do you need term-time childcare or all year round? It has to fit in with your family鈥檚 routine.
Tips for when you visit the childcare setting
You鈥檝e got your childcare shortlist and now it鈥檚 time to look round before you make your final decision.
Don鈥檛 be scared to be nosy. Ask as many questions as you want when you go for your visit.
Here are her top tips on what to ask, and what to look out for:
Is it a safe place?
You鈥檝e probably spent time baby-proofing your own home. So you want to be sure that wherever your little one goes is just as safe.
Dr Gurney says, 鈥淚f you鈥檙e thinking of a childminder, ask to look round the whole house including where your child will be sleeping. Is it a safe place? And what about the outdoor area at nursery or preschool?鈥
All childcare settings (apart from nannies who work in your home) have to be OFSTED registered so you can also .
What training have the staff had?
You want to make sure you鈥檙e getting quality childcare for your little one. So ask about the types of training the staff, the childminder or nanny has had - and is still having.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 want someone who did their initial early years training and then years down the line hasn鈥檛 done anything else鈥, says Dr Gurney.
鈥淵ou want to be certain you are sending your baby to someone who is really experienced. Ask how much training the staff have access to, including first aid training and health and safety. You can also ask whether they have any accreditation. For instance, a lot of nurseries might work towards accreditations in speech and language therapy, nutrition or social and emotional wellbeing.鈥
What are the staff ratios?
In England there are legal ratios for children of different ages. In other words, how many children one adult staff member can look after.
Will they work around your baby鈥檚 routine?
You might have spent months getting your child into a nice routine and they are sleeping through the night. But a lot of nurseries might not stick to it, says Dr Gurney.
鈥淢aybe you want your baby to have a nap at a certain time but that鈥檚 not the time the nursery puts children down for their naps. A childminder might be more flexible, so it鈥檚 another thing to weigh up鈥.
What does your gut say?
This is the most important thing to bear in mind, says Dr Gurney.
When you visit, what is your gut reaction? Does it feel like a place where you want to send your child?
It might meet every single one of your criteria but if you walk in and don鈥檛 get a nice vibe, you should take that into consideration.
