Choosing between child care options can be stressful, confusing and emotional for any parent. You want to support the developmental journey of your child, while also finding caregivers you can trust. You may be weighing full or part-time child care options, while also trying to figure out if you prefer a nanny or daycare. There’s truly no shortage of decisions new parents have to make around child care. 

When evaluating child care, there are usually two paths to choose from: hiring a nanny or enrolling your child in a group child care setting, such as an early childhood education center or daycare. 

Each path offers multiple benefits to parents and children depending on their specific needs. To decide which is right for your family, let’s examine both options in more detail.

Hiring a Nanny: What to Expect

Hiring a nanny can be a great option for many first-time and experienced parents. If you are a parent who doesn’t have family members living close by to support you, but are interested in keeping your child at home, a nanny can be the next best choice. 

Benefits of Choosing a Nanny

A nanny provides a variety of benefits to both parent and child. The top advantages of hiring a nanny include: 

• Individual Attention: Having a nanny means that your child or children will receive one-on-one attention. A nanny will put their sole focus into ensuring that your child is looked after and reaches those all-important child development milestones. 
• Logistics: Having a nanny come to your home to look after your young children (and potentially basic household chores as well) makes management of child care logistics easier. It also eliminates the additional tasks of prepping for daycare, commuting with kids and worrying about on-time drop-off and pick-up.

• Hours of Coverage: Most nannies can work on a flexible schedule meaning that parents have more control over when you need them. For instance, if a parent has a job that requires particularly early or late hours,  a nanny can set their schedule to accommodate yours. 

Considerations to Keep in Mind 

• Hiring and Management: A nanny is essentially an employee, so you’ll need to interview several potential options, ensure you run a background check, call references, and write up a nanny contract. While some companies can streamline the nanny search and hiring process, you must be willing to actively manage them as employee. 

• Price and Varied Quality: Depending on the hours, flexibility, and experience your family would like, nannies are typically the most expensive child care option available, and families often pay additional fees for classes and activities for their children on top of hourly wages or salary. The quality of a nanny is often subjective, and sourcing the right fit for your family can be a challenge.

• Limited Socialization: Having a nanny limits your young child’s ability to socialize with other children, especially if they happen to be an only child. 

• No Backup: If you don’t have a backup plan in the case that your nanny is sick or on vacation, you could be scrambling last minute to get someone to look after your child or cover for you at work. 

If you’re worried about finding and managing a nanny, but want to receive personalized care in your home, some child care centers, like Vivvi, also offer an in-home service where an experienced early childhood teacher can provide learning support for your child in the comfort of your home. These professionals will offer your child a one-on-one learning experience through early learning activities. Whether you are a full-time working parent in an office, hybrid or remote workplace, or a full time stay-at-home parent who needs additional support, a nanny can be a welcome option for you.  

Group Child Care in an Early Childhood Education Center: What to Expect

Another popular child care option for parents is enrolling children in an early childhood education center, also referred to as a child care center. These child care programs are more than daycare – they offer early education programs run by trained early childhood educators (ECEs) designed by experts to stimulate learning and development.

A child care center is staffed by a team of ECEs and child care professionals. This child care option provides comprehensive care to children aged 6-weeks to 5 years old in a safe and stimulating environment. 

Benefits of Choosing a Child Care Center

If you’re a parent looking to enroll your child in an early childhood education center, there are a number of benefits you and your child can expect to receive including access to expert care and an engaging learning environment tailored to your child: 

• Improved Socialization Opportunities: By choosing a child care center, your child will have the opportunity to socialize with other children of their age group. This means that your child will be able to learn and improve vital social skills that will benefit them in later life. 
• Access to Expert Early Childhood Education: Having access to early childhood educators means that your child will receive consistent and comprehensive support and care. These professionals are trained in ensuring that your child is engaging in age-appropriate and fun activities that support childhood development skills on a daily basis. 
• Structured Routines: Many early childhood education centers will offer parents and children a structured daily routine. While each day may look slightly different, as a parent you will know that your child is engaging in early learning activities that focus on their motor skills, reading skills, and problem-solving abilities among others. 
• Flexible Opening Hours: As a working parent, having flexibility on when you can drop off and collect your child is an added bonus. At Vivvi, we’re here for you. Our hours are flexible meaning that we can be on hand to help during hours that actually fit your work schedule (7am-7pm). 
• Dependable: Child care centers employ multiple teachers so parents can always be guaranteed that there will be someone on hand to give their child undivided attention and care. This will also provide you with peace of mind so you can work in confidence knowing your child will always be in the hands of a professional. 

Considerations to Keep in Mind 

As child care providers, we encourage all parents that are considering enrolling their child in a child care center to take a tour of the campuses before applying. This will give you the opportunity to ask the potential child care provider questions along with getting a feel for the learning environment. 

It’s often easier to know you’re making the right child care decision once you connect with the people who will be taking care of their child on a daily basis. 

Deciding on an Option for Child Care

We can all agree that our children are precious and deserve the best care that we can provide for them. But, choosing a child care option is also a very personal decision that will differ from one family to the next. 

If you’re still on the fence about which option is right for you and your child, hearing the experience of other parents can help guide you in the right direction. Gretchen Richer, Vivvi’s head of Family Experience, recently hosted an online discussion with real Vivvi parents that have been in the exact same situation you’re in right now. Listen to their journey of choosing a child care option that was right for their child. 

While this is undoubtedly a stressful decision for any parent to make, we guarantee that once you choose the option that is best for your family and your child’s future, you’ll reap the benefits straight away. 

Vivvi: Providing Your Child With In-Home and On-Campus Early Learning Opportunities

At Vivvi, we provide care and learning where you are. Our NYC Vivvi campuses align the exceptional quality families deserve with the flexibility they need, and our Vivvi In-Home program brings experienced caregivers into the comfort of your home in select cities across the U.S.

For more information or to schedule a virtual tour, contact our team today.