Making a decision on the right child care for your family can be huge. Child care comes in many forms, whether you are working full time or just need occasional help. We’ve already discussed three of your child care options. Now, let us take a look at the remaining three. Which options fit well for your family and your life?
Parent Co-Opt Care
There are two different forms of parent co-opt care. With both forms, four or more parents who get along well share care of their children. This care can be rotated through each home. For example, five parents may get together and host a different day of the week for care in her home. The co-opt would probably need to hire another caregiver to help, especially if the children are young. The other form of this care is to have a group of parents hire two caregivers to watch all of the children every day in one of the homes. In this way, parents can share the expenses and more closely control the care of their children. It helps if all of the participating parents have similar values and parenting styles.
On-Site or Employment Care
Many companies offer on-site day care for the children of their employees. This may be a day care that is arranged and supplied by the company, or it may be a day care that has be allowed to “move in” to the corporate space for a reduced rate. Having on-site day care means that parents can visit their children during work and feel reassured that they are close at hand in the case of an emergency. If your office does not offer this care, consider lobbying for it.
Commercial Day Care
This is the option that most of us think about when we think about day care. While many facilities are wonderful, most are not advisable, especially if you have a young infant. With commercial day care, you generally get what you pay for. The best facilities are astronomically expensive. Most commercial day care places have a hard time keeping enough staff for one-on-one attention, as well as keeping contagious illness away from your child. That is not to say that you won’t find a real gem, but if you choose a commercial day care, make sure to do extensive research.
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