Daycare vs. Nannies
A fundamental choice nearly all working parents are faced with is choosing between daycare and a nanny or baby sitter. At the end of the day your decision will come down to your personal beliefs on raising children. In our experience, we found that babies/toddlers from 6 months to 2 years benefited most by connecting with adults and so at this age we opted for Nannies who came and worked in our home, played with and cared for our children. At this stage our children were not very interested in other children and socializing with adults had a much higher level of reward for them. I have found this to be true for other children in our circle of friends as well. If you can afford it, I would highly recommend that you consider having a Nanny, Au Pair or baby sitter instead of placing your child in daycare when they are below the age of two. Ultimately, your child will receive a much higher degree of care and attention and will be able to bond well with you and your nanny (provided you find the right one!) despite you being out of the home for extended periods (assuming you are working).
Once they reached the age of 2 years they became more interested in other children and socialization takes on a much higher level of importance. As we had children who are two years apart, we placed one in pre-school and the other was cared for by a Nanny who came to our home during working hours. After our older child came home from pre-school, our nanny was able to care for both of them. If you have one child (over 2 years) and are working, you may opt to have them attend pre-school in the morning and be picked up by a nanny or baby-sitter in the afternoon. This provides social interaction with their peers and one on one adult time both. You can try Sittercity by using this code that gives you 10% off on your purchase between now and 10/31/08.
As these choices are deeply personal, we aim to share our perspective and experience and encourage you to make the choices that make the most sense for you personally, financially, and your child’s well being. Please post a comment if you have a different point of view, we’d love to hear from you! Also, please subscribe to our newsletter (placed on the upper right hand side of this page) to receive a regular letter from us providing service recommendations, insights and and special offers we come along that we’d like to share with the community.
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