what's best for your kids? returning to work

I have a friend who is going through the dilemma and worry of choosing care for her 3 month old before she starts back at work in a couple of weeks.
 
I remember the turmoil of feelings I experienced when faced with deciding whether or not to go back to work. The worry, guilt and utter wrench I felt when even thinking of leaving my 3 month old along with the feelings of responsibility to the commitments I had made to my workplace about returning.
 
It’s such a hard decision, even if the work is only part-time and the workplace is baby friendly (I was working as the Clinical Manager of a birth centre!)
 
Thankfully we now have many choices of care available to us.
 
Nannies or Au Pairs may be an option.
Au Pairs and sometimes nannies tend to live in and may be available to do light housework and meal preparation as well as care for your child. Your child will be cared for in your home and there may be greater flexibility, although they usually come at a price. Fees tend to be higher than daycare, however if you have 2 or more children they may actually be more cost effective. Here are some good questions to ask when interviewing:

• Why do you want to be an aupair/nanny? If they don’t mention children think twice about why they are coming. Have you had sole charge of children previously?
• Have you ever been away from home for a long period of time? The biggest reason aupairs go home early is because they are homesick.
• Give them some real life situations and ask what they would do in these circumstances.  For example, "If you were at home with the children and it was raining, what activities would you do to occupy the time?"  It is important to have somebody with initiative, rather than somebody who is going to put the children in front of the television all the time. 
• Always ask for references from people who they have worked for as anaupair before.
• If possible interview the aupair/nanny over the phone or personally asthis will help you understand their level of spoken English
• What First Aid experience do they have?

From the outset, put guidelines in place for what is acceptable in your home and set any ground rules for visiting boyfriends/girlfriends etc. Many families will type out a schedule so that an aupair can comprehensively understand what is expected of them during their working day.  If this is established up front, then many issues or potential misunderstandings can be avoided.


Daycare Centres
With daycare centres your child interacts with other children his or her own age and developmental stage. Educational programs should be in place with a certain number of qualified early childhood teachers on staff and the centers’ are monitored and evaluated regularly. Also by having a number of carers working in one place you get the reassurance that monitoring of staff and their interactions with the children is carried out.  

Here are some good questions to ask when choosing this option of care:

• What was your first impression when you walked into the centre?
• How were you greeted? Did you and your child feel welcome and at ease?
• How does the childcare centre / preschool smell? They should not have an offensive odour
• How are the teachers dressed? Do they look like professional teachers?
• Are the children happy and engaged?
• How do the teachers speak to the children and each other?
• How tidy is the childcare centre / preschool?
• Areas of learning – a good childcare centre / preschool has many areas of learning that enable the children to engage in “open-ended learning”
• Fees, holiday discounts, sibling discounts. Ask about all the costs and discounts associated with the service. Remember though, if you are comparing two preschools on price, make sure they are offering the same service so you get a true indication of the cost. For example, it would be expected that a centre that has 100% qualified teachers, provides food and is open 10 hours a day would charge more than a centre that has only 50% qualified teachers, doesn’t offer food and is only open 6 hours a day.
   
 

Home-based care gives you the benefit of your child being in a small group of children they know along with the same carer in a home based environment. The carer may or may not be qualified. Fees are generally set by the individual carers however; the average fee range is $4 to $6 an hour.  One provider of home-based care is Barnadoes - they provide carers through their 'KidStart' program. Care is provided in the homes of vetted caregivers. KidStart offers flexible hours, and a ratio of one caregiver
to a maximum of four children. Caregivers have regular contact with a qualified and registered teacher, and help to form the country’s largest home-based care service.
Fees are generally set by the individual carers however; the average fee range is $4.00 to $6.00 an hour.
 
A real bonus for many families is the or each week if your child is 3-4 years old.  Check out your eligibility to receive this with Work and Income.
 
So what actually happened to my friend battling with the decision and myself? In the end she opted for an aupair, as they had a flat attached to their home, both worked full-time, as well as having other children, this option worked best for her.
In my case after looking at my options, I really felt I wanted to spend more time with my child and so I opted to work from home.

The key to deciding is to gather as much information as you can, meet the people from the different agencies/childcare facilities then work through the different options to see what fits best for you and your family.

To discuss this further with myself or others mums experiencing this visit www.facebook.com/mahuskincare