Educational psychologist Jenny Da Silva encourages you to consider these factors to ensure that your little one gets the best care while you’re away.
Day care pros
- Children who attend day care early on usually adjust to strangers more easily and become more independent as they learn how to do things for themselves relatively early.
- Your child will be exposed to children of different backgrounds, so she will learn how to socialise with others and adapt to different people and situations.
- A good day care will provide activities aimed at increasing your child’s interpersonal, intrapersonal, perceptual, coordination and cognitive skills.
- The staff at day care usually have some sort of first-aid and early childhood development training.
- The staff is reliable and consistent.
- Your little one will be exposed to the routine of a “school environment” fairly early and will usually have no problem adjusting to nursery or primary school later on.
Day care cons
- When starting day care, children are usually exposed to all sorts of germs, so your child could get sick quite easily in the beginning.
- You won’t have as much control over your child’s environment.
- Your child will usually be tired when she gets home.
- Schedules are usually quite strict in terms of a pick-up and drop-off times and the school may be closed during the holidays.
- Your child may not get one-on-one attention.
ALSO SEE: 7 common day care dilemmas and how to handle them
Nanny pros
- Your little one is in her own environment.
- One-on-one attention is guaranteed.
- You’ll have more control over your child’s environment, how much TV she can watch, what she eats, etc.
Nanny cons
- Your child may not learn the social skills their peers may achieve at an early age.
- Your child may not mature as fast as her peers.
- She may suffer from separation anxiety when she goes to nursery or primary school later
- A nanny may call in sick last minute leaving you with limited childcare options.
- Children, especially only children, may have difficulty sharing and adapting to having other children sharing their space and socialising when they are older.
ALSO SEE: 5 tips to find the perfect nanny
Thobeka Phanyeko is mom to Oratile, 4. She is a journalist with a BA in Media studies from the University of Cape Town and has extensive experience as a journalist and content producer which she gained from Reuters, eNCA and Caxton Magazines. She is also a life coach and NLP Practitioner and is passionate about motherhood and women empowerment.
