Big vs Boutique – Is Family Day Care Important?

Here at Kin Sitters, we’re taking a look at the Big vs the Boutique in terms of family day care options for parents who are now often weighing the pros and cons of in-home care and child care centres to find the best fit for their children.

Child Care Centres in Perth: The Pros & Con

Sending your children to one of the many already established, professional childcare centres in Perth brings a number of positive and negative attributes parents should appropriately consider when making a decision over which style of family day care is the most suitable for their family.

PROS:

Head Start on Early Learnin

Familiarising your children with a similar learning environment to what they will be dealing with in their primary education years equips younger children with a head start over other kids their age. It can be the X-factor which makes that first day of pre primary all the less traumatic for both kids and parents! Get them comfortable with coming into a learning environment early and enjoying to learn and develop.

Social Advantag

The ability for your child to play and learn in a communal environment with other children their own age is vital for their developing personal growth and social skills.

The earlier you socialise your child with other kids, the easier time they will have making friends (some which will last a lifetime)!

More Children Means More Staff

Another added advantage of your child attending a child care centre in Perth and being with a large number of other kids is the child to carer ratio which requires a greater number of carers to look after kids.

Check out the National Educator to Child Ratio standards here.

Now, while some parents think this is a good thing and others think it’s not so fantastic, an extra set of eyes watching your child can’t be that bad, can it?

They will receive a broader cross section of care and be exposed to a wider variety of teaching skills from a range of different carers.

What’s more, if a carer becomes sick or unavailable to work, then there are a number of substitute staff to fill in and take their place.

Don’t stress about making alternative arrangements at the last minute as the centre will have this covered.

Safety, Rules & Regulations

Play centres in Perth also often have more strict, safely set up rules and regulations both for the children but also to operate and run the business.

See some of the requirements needed to become a family day care educator here.

Centres must meet required state standards for hygiene and safety while meeting building codes, plus have emergency procedures identified and well rehearsed.

Cons:

Less Play Time

Play is how young children test and interact with the environment or others around them.

This is critical to the early learning of any person.

If letting your children learn and grow through playtime is really important to you, this might factor into your decision.

Often due to reinforced teaching curriculums, there is often less time for your child to engage in play.

Germs

It’s not their fault…

Most children just haven’t quite yet grasped the value of personal hygiene and doing things like keeping their hands washed.

Play centres around Perth are typically bio hazard breeding grounds for a wide array of nasty bugs and germs which are brought in and then passed around by children playing with one another.

Parents who opt for using a child care centre, often begin to see drastically increased rates of their child coming home with an illness or bug like worms or knits. Check out this fantastic blog for parents on the risks of daycare bugs and how to tackle them!

However, family day care in your home is still your best option to keep those germs away.

Cost

The cost of operating family day care centres in Perth is considerably higher than the costs of operating as an in-home carer due to the overheads of things like the property taxes, upkeep and staff fees.

With little to no overhead costs, an in-home family day care provider is able to charge considerably less per hour for a similar and often higher level of care.

In-home Family Day Care Perth: The Pros & Cons

Pros:

More Attention on Your Child

Your child will be the sole focus of any family day care giver at your house looking after them.

Additional one on one time allows for more teachable life moments around your home like the opportunity to unclog a blocked drain using baking soda and vinegar or things like learning how to look after their pets properly.

Siblings That Stay Together, Play Together

Some families are close and it’s important for parents like this to nurture family bonds so their children can feel supported and safe alongside their brothers or sisters as they learn, play and grow.

This can often be a sticking point for many child care centres in Perth who prefer to seperate siblings based on their ages for age appropriate curriculums.

You’re in Control

Having complete piece of mind you as a parent are in control of all decisions is an invaluable benefit of opting for in-home family day care.

Most parents demand to feel comfortable and familiar with the person who is looking after their child.

It can be incredibly nerve racking, leaving an infant child in a child care centre in Perth, full of a large turn over of strangers coming and going to collect children.

This is not to mention the lack of control over which carers you want actually caring for your child once you’re enrolled at a given centre.

Personally hand selecting your carer from a list of professionals qualified home care experts is a far better option if you’re looking for greater control over the process. Check out our list of awesome and fully qualified Kin Carers to find the right fit for your family.

While your carer stays at home with your child, rest assured they’re following the curriculum you’ve decided upon and are doing the things you think are best for your child and no-one else.

You’ll also get loads more flexibility in terms of what hours are available for in-home family day care.

Cons:

Limited Back Up Plan

Most in-home family day care providers have a back-up plan in the event of illness or emergency but the level of detail to this plan will be at your own discretion.

If you’re naturally a worrier and always like to leave a plan in the event of a crisis then you shouldn’t have to worry, however if you’d prefer to leave the safety drills and evacuation meet up points to the carer then in-home family day care might not be the right option for you.

Accidents can happen, which is why if you are opting for a home carer, it’s imperative they’re qualified to know what to do in an emergency and it’s even better if they know First Aid.

All Kin Sitters’s Silver Level Carers and above are all certified with up-to-date First Aid training. Lean more about our Kin Carers’ qualifications.

Less regulation:

Typically, when families choose an in-home family day car specialist, many operate independently as freelancers.

With such an unstructured industry, the result is far less regulation and many carers who are operating without adequate qualifications.

It’s critical you check any potential carer’s appropriately qualified before booking them for your family day care.

Ensure they can provide a recent National Police Check and also a Working With Children Certificate.

At Kin Sitters, every single one of our carers are required to have both their Police Clearance and Working With Children accreditation.

Lean more about what is required to operate as a Kin Carer.

Let us do the hard work of finding a suitable and qualified candidate to care for your children in an in-home family day care environment.

Check out our pricing options.