Daycare Deals

Advantages of Home Daycares

Monday, July 5, 2010

I was working before I had my daughter, so I had to make the decision about whether or not to stay at home with her or go to work and find her a daycare. I did choose to stay home with her, and it was a great decision for me. I also chose to start an in-home daycare so that she could have friends. These are some advantages to home daycares:

1. Individualized Attention: Groups in home daycares are usually smaller than groups of children in center daycares. So, children in home daycares will likely get more one-on-one attention. (I only have 6 kids at the most, so I can spend more time with each child.)

2. Stable Environment: Children in home daycares will likely stay with the same provider throughout infancy, toddler stages, and preschool ages. They might even stay through some of their school years. This allows children in home daycares to develop deep, meaningful relationships with their caregivers and the other children. (It is hard when one of my daycare kids leaves due to job changes or moves to another state because I truly develop a relationship with my daycare kids. I know what foods he/she likes, when he/she naps, the coloring book he/she prefers, etc)

3. Flexibility: Daycare homes are more flexible with drop off and pick up times than center daycares. (I'm really flexible on the times with my parents.)

4. Cost: Daycare homes are generally cheaper than centers. Daycare homes don't have to worry about paying for buildings or employees, so caregivers can charge less. (My rates are less than centers in Wichita)

5. Development: Watching other children move and play causes younger children to want to emulate them.

*I know that my daughter is happy in a home daycare environment. As she has grown from an infant, she's watched the older kids walk, run, jump, and climb. She's now emulating them because she wants to do what she has seen them do. This also happened with my youngest in care (10 months). Before starting care at my house, she wasn't even scooting. After the first day, she was starting to pull herself around my carpet. Now, she crawls everywhere. My home daycare also allows my daughter to have friends. She loves when her friends are over here; she shrieks with glee when I carry her out of her room every morning!

The information in this post is based on "Advantages of Placing Kids in Home Daycare: Benefits of Family Childcare Programs for Kids" by Charlina Stewart. Obviously, I did throw in my own comments and thoughts as well.

Labels: Kids, Parents, Providers