Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site cylixd.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!akgub!cylixd!charli From: charli@cylixd.UUCP (Charli Phillips) Newsgroups: net.kids Subject: Re: paid childcare Message-ID: <286@cylixd.UUCP> Date: Tue, 17-Sep-85 09:56:19 EDT Article-I.D.: cylixd.286 Posted: Tue Sep 17 09:56:19 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 18-Sep-85 04:51:04 EDT References: <1159@mhuxo.UUCP> Reply-To: charli@cylixd.UUCP (Charli Phillips) Organization: RCA Cylix Communications , Memphis, TN Lines: 44 Summary: In article <1159@mhuxo.UUCP> wfm1@mhuxo.UUCP (METCALF) writes: >I am a new subscriber to this newsgroup, and would like to call on some >of the wealth of experince out there. As a putative patent, I am >interested in polling opinions on paid child care. Questions are > 1) The merits of the various types of care (live-in, live-out, > childminders, daycare, etc) > 2) The relative economics of the above > 3) The effect on the child of the type of care According to our pediatrician, a full-time sitter in your home is probably the best option, if you can afford it. (I can't.) Day-care has the following advantages: 1) It is usually the cheapest form of child-care. 2) It is always there. We take our 1.75 year-old son to a sitter's home. We have done this since he was 6 weeks old. The advantages are: 1) He gets a more home-like environment (and more attention) than he would get at most day-care centers. 2) He isn't around as many children, and so is less likely to get sick as often. (For example, the recommended age for the new meningitis vaccine is 2 years old for kids taken care of at home or by a sitter, 1.5 for kids at day-care centers.) The primary disadvantage is a degree of unreliability. Sitters get sick occassionally, and they take vacations, and so on. If you use a sitter, I would urge you to have a "back-up" sitter lined up for occassional sitting when your primary sitter is not available. No matter what kind of day-care you choose, make sure you check it out thoroughly! Interview whoever will be responsible for caring for your child. Check references. Inspect the premises, looking for anything unsafe. (We *briefly* had a sitter that didn't believe in child-proofing. We discovered this when my husband went to pick up Jonathan and saw a can of antifreeze sitting on the floor near the door. Needless to say, we changed sitters immediately.) Discuss discipline, child-care philosophy, anything you think is important with them. Make sure they don't have too many kids for the number of adults. Then, after your child has been staying there, drop in unannounced from time to time. It is possible to get good paid child-care, but it takes some work on your part. charli Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com