As the new school year is quickly approaching, parents are often scrambling to get their child ready for the start of a new school year. If your child is starting school in a few weeks, now is the time to start looking for your child before and after school care. There are plenty of options when it comes to finding the right type of care for your child; however, it is important that you don’t want until the last minute to secure childcare for your child. Most daycare providers often have limited space and space fills up quickly, especially, right before school starts. If you already have your child enrolled in daycare or childcare program, it is best to confirm your child’s space with the director.
Disclosure: The opinions reflected in this post are 100% my own. I didn’t receive compensation for this post and I do earn a small commission from any affiliate links clicked on in this post.
Daycare Centers
A daycare center is a great way to find your child affordable care before and after school. Most daycare centers can take and pick up your child from school on a daily basis, check with your daycare center to see if this is an option for you and your child. Once your child is enrolled, make sure that you let your child’s school and teacher know that your child will be going home on the daycare bus or van. Most daycare center will even pick up your child on early dismissal days. When your child is out of school for a teacher workday or extended breaks from school, most daycare centers will have activities planned to keep your child busy. A daycare is often your most reliable choice because they will always find an available teacher to fill in for a sick teacher or they will combine classrooms as necessary. Some daycare centers also have monitored cameras so that you know that your child is safe each day and some allow you to have a log in so that you can randomly check in on your child. When choosing a daycare center, make sure that you ask the daycare what all the rules are for vacation, sick days, and their discipline policy.
In-Home Daycare Centers
An in-home daycare center is a great choice if you want your child to have some one on one attention and a primary caregiver. Daycare centers often have a high turn over rate and your child’s teacher might change frequently. With an in-home daycare center, your child will always have the same primary caregiver. Before choosing a home daycare center, ensure that they are licensed by the state. A state run home daycare center receives annual inspections similar to a daycare center and is constantly monitored by the state. Some in-home providers are more flexible with their pricing and often times they are cheaper than a traditional daycare center. However, if your daycare provider is sick they may not have a back up plan for your child and you might have to stay home with your child or leave work early depending on the situation. Before deciding on an in-home provider get all of the details before making a commitment. You will want to find out what their policy is on sick children, discipline, if they are able to pick up your child from daycare, is their a bus route that drops off near the providers home, vacation policy, early dismissal, and school holiday care.
Aftercare Options
Check with your child’s school and see if they offer an after care program. These programs are great if you have school age children who only need care before and after school. Depending on the program, some schools offer additional care on school holidays and on days when there is an early dismissal. Before enrolling your child in the program, make sure that you get the program rules and determine how they handle care on school holidays, during the summer months, long breaks from school, and early dismissal. These programs are convenient because your child stays at the school. The program usually provides your child with snacks, homework assistance, and time to play.
Alternative Care Ideas
If the following types of daycare options aren’t for you and your family, I would highly recommend checking out SitterCity. Sittercity is a great way for parents to find child care, full-time nannies, pet care, homework helpers, snack makers, and they even offer care for the elderly. Sittercity allows parents to connect with local baby sitters or nannies in their area and pick the right person to care for your children either in your home or the sitter’s home. Sittercity takes the guess work out of finding the right person to care for your child, you can browse the caregiver’s profile, read other reviews that are posted about the caregiver, and run a full background check on a potential caregiver. Once you narrow down your results, you can set up phone and in-person interview. This is a great way to find a babysitter or nanny if you need flexible child care hours including overnight care.
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Have you ever used Sittercity to find a babysitter or nanny for your children? If not, what type of care do you and your family use?
