24 Jul Should I Hire a Nanny or Put My Child in Daycare?

The controversial topic of nanny care or daycare is something most parents need to decide upon when they start thinking about returning to work. Today, with the increasing amount of entrepreneur parents and working moms, it’s inevitable that the time will come when you will need help taking care of your little person. For those who don’t have family support around them, the options are either hire a nanny, or put your child in daycare. 

It can be an incredibly daunting experience hiring a nanny, ensuring that you are welcoming a trustworthy, reliable, nurturing, loving and warm person into your home to take care of the most important thing in your life! Not only do you want your nanny to possess the former characteristics, but you also want to make sure she follows your parenting playbook, as though you were home each day. 

Once you find that perfect person, the benefits surely outweigh any risk. 

Your child gets to remain in their comfort zone while you are absent. Forget feeding hour at the zoo, bundling up the kids and piling them into the car for an 8am drop off so that you can make it to work on time – a nanny provides your child with consistency and reliability. With the help of a nanny, your children get to stay home and start their day smoothly. They get to stay in their familiar surroundings, and eat and nap on their own schedule. 

Having a nanny at home with your child is also reassuring in the sense that you know your child is getting one-on-one care and doesn’t have to vie with other children for attention, as is the case in a daycare setting where there can be up to 15 children to 2 caregivers. This has also been proven to be incredibly beneficial to children’s development – they’re attended to relatively quickly when they’re upset or need something. 

On the flipside to this, having a nanny can mean that your child has less social interaction, so here you want to make sure that your child is signed up to classes, goes to the park regularly and participates in play dates with children of similar ages. 

A nanny can also be a great asset when she’s an extension of you; whether she’s helping prepare dinner or taking care of the child’s laundry, this affords you one-on-one time with your child. 

If you have a very busy and unpredictable schedule, a nanny can provide you with the flexibility that a daycare cannot. Daycare centers close at the same time each day, and your child must be collected before closing hour. If you have hired a nanny that is capable of working with your schedule and being flexible, you can rest assured that your child is safe at home until you can get there. 

While the benefits of hiring a nanny outweigh the risks and disadvantages, it’s important to be aware that nanny care is a largely unsupervised profession, therefore it’s vital that you only hire a nanny that you completely trust.