Home daycare?

Question

Due to some personal reasons i am looking into the option of going to work early, my son right now is 4 mths old. And i plan to go when he is 6-7 mths, the professional daycare do not take babies until they are a year old, hence i have to look for home daycare,my neighbour who babysits has agrred to take care of him, hence what should i be looking for, and do i have to sign an agreement with the lady ...and should i pay hourly or weekly or daily and how much

Answer 1

maybe you should look into a different daycare center... the daycare i work at takes infants once they are 6 weeks old, so i'm surprised that the daycare you're looking at makes you wait until the child is one year. also, if your child is in daycare he is getting to interact with his peers, whereas if he was taken care of by a neighbor he probably wouldn't be able to play with children his ownn age (although i'm sure your neighbor would be able to take just as good care of him as the daycare center).

as for the pay, i'd say $10 an hour is about the going rate for your neighbor to babysit him. paying her hourly would probably be in your best interest too, because assuming she was taking care of him for 8 hours a day most days, you'd be paying around $80 a day, and $400 a week. but some days you might pick him up or drop him off early or late, so you might actually end up getting jipped out of some money by the end of the week.

Answer 2

Yes you should sign an agreement, and you should pay her on the schedule the two of you choose, that works best for both of you. You should take note as too how many children she will be caring for, is her home clean, what activities she will do with children, what she will feed your child or will you bring food. And most importantly in my book who else lives in the home and who are frequently vistors. I do daycare out of my home, and you will be surprised at how many parents don't bother to ask that question. You have the right to know these things.

Answer 3

Nobody can tell you exactly what you should be looking for because you have to decide what you want for your kid. Basically, you should go for a few different interviews and see what feels right.

A couple things you should definitely do, however, are make sure the person running the daycare is licensed and up to date on all their CPR and first aid training. I would also recommend finding out how much experience they have with infants.

As far as pay goes it really depends on the person running the daycare. Some people have a fixed daily rate, others have an hourly rate, it's different for everyone. Negotiations are sometimes possible, but not always.

I'd also like to offer some personal experience with home daycares. I grew up in a home daycare and the kids have always loved coming here. There have never been any serious problems and because the number of kids who can attend is limited they tend to become very close with my mom, my sister and I as well as with each other. I have also assisted at several home daycares other than my own and it's always a similar situation. The parents and kids often become very close with the provider and the provider's family and that feeling of trust and friendship tends to be helpful, at least from what I've seen.

As far as comparison to Centers I couldn't really give you a whole lot of information, but at least you have some firsthand background on home daycares now so you can make a more informed decision.

Unfortunately I can't tell you too much about what all home daycares are like because they're all different. Some are more structured than others, some are run like camps or schools, others are run in a way that the kids pretty much do what any kid who was a member of the family would do, some have pets, some don't, some have longer naptimes, etc. You'll find out all the details you need in the interview, though. Also, don't be afraid to ask questions.

Anyway, good luck.