Child Care Alternatives If Staying Home Is Not An Option
In my prior post about Child Care Can Be Controversial, I mentioned several alternatives if staying home with your baby is not a feasible option. To follow-up on that post, I provided a table below that compares the benefits vs. disadvantages of three (Nanny, Au Pair and Day Care) options side-by-side.
Good luck with choosing your child care. Please stay tune for follow-up post on How to Find a Nanny and/or an Au Pair and the cost analysis between the two.
| Nanny (Via Agency) | Au Pair | Day Care | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nanny (Via Agency) | Au Pair | Day Care | Notes | |
| Baby sitting services | X | X | For a Nanny and Au Pair it will require you to pay them the additional going baby sitting rate hourly fee. | |
| Background checks | X | X | X | |
| Back-up childcare if the care provider is ill or/on vacation | X | X | If you got through an agency to hire a Nanny, you will get back-up care if you; however, do not expect it if you hire a nanny on your own. | |
| Convenient | X | X | For example, if my son sleeps in, I do not have to get him up and dressed prior to leaving for work, the Au Pair can do it for me. | |
| Cost $300 - $600 per week per child (for 40 hours a week) | X | You will be required to pay additional cost for field trips and if you have more than one child attending the Day Care. | ||
| Cost $347 per week (for 45-50 hours per week) | X | This cost includes: room and board, food, gas money, and weekly stipend of $197. | ||
| Cost $640 - $800 per week (for 40 hours a week) | X | Depending on the agency and the type of Nanny you will require there might be additional cost including adding another child. | ||
| Cultural Experience | X | Note: Your child might get cultural experience based on the type of DayCare/preschool you send your child to. | ||
| Flexibility | X | X | X | If you are running late from work, for Nanny's you have to pay time and half and for day care additional dollars vary per day care. |
| Health insurance (Required to provide) | X | For Au Pairs, they purchase their own health care prior to coming to the States and day care facilities depending on their corporate benefits offer their employees health care. | ||
| High Employee Turnover | X | X | X | It is a fact of life that daycare centers pay their employees very low wages. Consequently, turnover is high. If consistency in care providers is important to you, this may not be the best option. Finding the right nanny can be challenging. Some families go through many nannies until they find the right match. This lack of consistency is difficult on the children and the parents. |
| In Home Care Infant care | X | X | Some Day Cares take an infant at 6 weeks, and an Au Pair can stay full-time with an infant after 3 months old. | |
| IRS: Child and Dependent Care Credit (up to $5,000 per family per year) | X | X | X | |
| Less Illnesses' | X | X | Nanny and Au Pair: children do not catch every illness that is going around. Parents are not required to find sick care for their child or to take as much time off to care for a sick child. | |
| Light household cleaning | X | X | ||
| Live In | X | X | ||
| Live Out | X | |||
| More children more money | X | X | For a Nanny the cost might vary depending if you go through an agency or not. There is an additional cost per child at Day Care. | |
| More control over values, rules your child is exposed to | X | X | ||
| More socialization opportunities | X | Of course with a Nanny and/or Au Pair you can ensure that they take them to the park, library, Gymboree classes, play dates to ensure your child is socialized. | ||
| Night time child care | X | X | For Nanny, there will be an additional cost for overnight stay and for an Au Pair, it might cost you additional depending on how you decide to arrange the schedule. | |
| One-On-One Time | X | X | This is especially desirable in the infant years. Babies are held more often, and comforted when crying. | |
| Paid vacation | X | X | X | I marked "x" for daycare because when you go on vacation, in order to reserve your spot; you still have to pay the day care service. |
| Paid weekly | X | X | X | Some Day Care facilities pay bi-monthly. |
| Prescreened | X | X | X | |
| Previous work experience required working with infants | X | X | X | |
| Privacy | X | Some families do not like the idea of having a "stranger" in their home all day. And, when a live-in is involved, the lack of privacy spills over to evening and weekend hours as well. | ||
| Professional/Certified | X | X | ||
| Required to pay taxes | X | X | X | |
| Special needs children | X | X | X | |
| Trained in CPR/First Aid | X | X | X | For a Nanny, it only can be guaranteed if you get them through an agency. |
| United States Citizen or on an approved Visa by State Department | X | X | X | |
| Upfront cost | X | X | Nanny and Au Pair agencies require fees upfront. | |
| Weekend child care service | X |
Disclaimer: I don’t work in child care services at all. I am a mom that likes to share my experiences and those of others in hopes it makes your child care decision making process more smooth.
This is excellent, Lara! Thanks!
I’ve read your three recent posts on this subject. Thank you. At this time we’re not going down the Nanny (Via Agency) or Au Pair path, but I’d love your thoughts on finding a good baby sitter for ad hoc purposes?
I have been thinking about that and I am in the process of writing a blog about that. Thank you for responding.