As a parent, it’s your job to always know what’s best for your child. Do you actually always know what’s best for your child? Well, considering that you’re human, odds are the answer to that question is no. The important thing is that you’re doing your best.
If you’re reading this article today, odds are that you are, in fact, doing your best. Knowing if it’s better to send your child to daycare Northville MI or to hire a babysitter is important because can make a huge difference in your child’s future.
There are a lot of benefits of using a daycare center for your child that could be missed out on if you don’t use a daycare, but are they really such great benefits that one could straight up say that it’s absolutely 100% better than hiring a sitter for your child?
We’re here today to find out the answer to these questions. With any luck, by the time you’re done reading this article, you’ll know exactly why you should find a good daycare service over a babysitter every single time, or whenever it’s possible at the very least.
Table of Contents
What You Get with a Babysitter
Not every parent really understands the implications of using a babysitter. Of course, they’re aware that they’re hiring someone to watch over their kid, but beyond that, most parents don’t really fully understand what they’re getting themselves into. Understandably so, especially if this is your first time being a parent.
When you hire a babysitter, you’re paying someone to physically keep an eye on your child. In most cases, they’ll also perform tasks that you request for them to do around the house, but most of the time you should only really expect them to do things directly related to taking care of your child. For example:
- Cooking for your child and then feeding them.
- Choosing age-appropriate activities for the child, including:
- Games.
- Movies.
- Arts and crafts.
- Cleaning up after your child.
- Cleaning your child.
- Make sure that your child gets to sleep at the time you specify.
Getting a babysitter isn’t getting someone to help you raise your kid, it’s just someone to be physically present while you’re busy. A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that a babysitter is the same thing as a nanny. These are two entirely different jobs.
People typically hire babysitters if they want to be sure that their child will be safe while they’re gone. As a parent, you’re probably well aware of the dangers of leaving your child unattended. That’s actually why it’s illegal to leave your child home alone until they get to a certain age.
What to Expect from a Daycare
Now, let’s take a look at exactly what you’re paying for when you send your child to a daycare. If you don’t already know much about what daycares do, a lot of this next section might come as a bit of a surprise for you, but let’s take a look.
Child behavioral experts all over the world sing songs of praise about daycare programs and like to talk a lot about how much it helps children, but what exactly are daycares doing, and what makes them so good? Here are just a few examples:
-
Give your child a headstart on learning.
Most daycare centers have what is called educational enrichment. This kind of enrichment is made up of activities that help your child be more ready for what they’re going to learn in school. This includes things like:
-
-
- Educational toys.
- Group activities.
- Arts and crafts.
- Light lessons.
-
-
Help your child develop their social skills.
Social skills are something that you use every single day of your life, whether you realize it or not. Mastering social skills earlier on can mean great things for your child later on in life and can even lead to a better job as an adult.
-
Develop your child’s problem-solving skills.
As adults, we face problems that need solutions every single day. Whether it’s in our personal or professional life, having the creativity to solve problems effectively can help you go further in life. It can even lead to healthier relationships in life.
-
Strengthen your child’s immune system.
Everyone gets sick. It’s just a matter of life, our immune system detects foreign bodies and does what it can to stop the invaders from doing too much damage. Getting your children into a daycare program will give their bodies the chance to get used to these germs so they can be healthier as adults.
On top of all of that, when you leave your child with a daycare you can be sure that the people watching your children know what they’re doing and have experience doing so. You don’t have to interview everyone that works at a daycare because the company already took care of that for you.
There’s a certain peace of mind that can be achieved knowing that your child is in capable hands that understand how the minds of children work. That means that you can use more of your brainpower to accomplish whatever it is you need to get done.
That’s something that’s definitely worth looking into at the very least, and something that babysitters rarely achieve. Nannies can, but nannies are also something that is incredibly expensive that most people won’t be able to afford.
When to Hire a Sitter vs When to Use a Daycare Program
While daycare programs are usually a lot better than babysitters, there are times when you should hire a sitter over a daycare, it really depends on what you’re doing and why you need someone to watch your kid.
There are a lot of times when you would want to send your kid to a daycare program, for example:
- When you and your co-parent will be at work at the same time.
- If you have a school that you regularly have to go to.
- Whenever you’d need to have someone watch your kids during the daytime hours for any reason.
So, if those are the best times to use a daycare, what are the best times to use a babysitter? There are a lot of times, and let’s take a look at just a few of them:
- Whenever you want to go out for the evening with your friends or co-parent.
- Late-night movie sessions.
- When you’re going out of town for any amount of time that you can’t bring your child with you.
- Your child can still go to the daycare during this period.
- Any time you’re going to be gone for the evening or for full days at a time.
Both daycares and babysitters have their strengths and weaknesses, so knowing when the best time to use either can help you make sure that you’re taking the best possible care of your child. It can be easy to tell which is needed if you just think about what you’re doing.
How to Find a Good Daycare
There’s one basic thing that most parents struggle with, and that’s feeling confident about their choice of daycare. We hear a lot of people talking about how hard this task is, so we’ve decided to try and help you find the best daycare centers possible.
There are a few places you could try looking as well as a whole lot of resources. The first place that you could try is your local school district. They have a lot of resources for parents that are looking to be sure that their children succeed.
The best option is probably going through childcare.gov. They have lists of good daycares and preschools that you can sort through in order to find the ones that are the best for your child. Their system is pretty easy to use and you can filter down to your city.
They also have a list of programs available for parents that might not usually be able to afford a daycare or preschool program, which can be a real lifesaver for parents on a budget, especially with how expensive these programs can be.
Whether you’re rich or not so rich, you deserve to be able to find the very best programs available for your child. Fortunately, there are resources out there that can help you accomplish this very task without having to put too much effort into it.
Getting the Right Kind of Care For Your Kid
Your child is most likely one of the things that you’re the proudest of in the world. Being sure that you’re getting them the attention that they need at such a critical age is important if you want to make sure that they’re going to thrive well into adulthood.
Knowing the differences between different kinds of childcare and when you should use different kinds of childcare is important if you want to give your child the best possible chance to become someone that is living up to their full potential in the long run.