The thought of daycare usually conjures imagery of a commercial space in the public sphere, a space managed by accomplished educators and compassionate staff. Most quality child care centers will possess the latter, but not all of them occupy a traditional space. Family home daycares are residential homes where child care is provided by the home’s occupant.

The idea of leaving your child in a stranger’s home for the majority of the day may seem objectionable, but with over 200,000 family daycare centers spread across the county, this is increasingly becoming an attractive option for working parents.

Advantages of Family Home Daycare

Given that family home daycares are usually smaller, they boast lower caregiver-child ratios, meaning your child may receive more emotional care and attention than they would at a traditional center. You’ll likely obtain a more intimate relationship with your child’s caregivers since they have a small number of parents to divide their attention amongst.

Similarly, your child will be more likely to develop deep bonds with the other children for the same reason. Though they’ll be exposed to a less diverse range of personalities, the friendships they forge will likely run deeper than they would at a traditional daycare. Since your child interacts with fewer children, you’ll be happy to also know he or she will contract fewer illnesses than they likely would at conventional centers.

Disadvantages of Family Home Daycare

Unfortunately, educated caregivers are unlikely to be seeking jobs in residential homes. Therefore, you’ll generally find that caregivers in family home centers lack formal education on childhood development. While this does not diminish their abilities to love and nurture children, it may give parents pause if they wanted the science and philosophy of child development to factor into their child’s care. Similarly, children in family home daycares will more likely be instructed to watch television than exercise their cognitive skills during their downtime.

About topdaycare

Top Daycare Centers was started with a simple mission - To help parents like us find the safest, most reliable and trusted daycare and child care centers and services near your area.