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Child care options for single parents

Upbringing children in this modern era is more of a daunting task. Being a single parent makes things worse. Apart from overcoming personal depressions caused by a broken marriage/demise of spouse, one needs to take a lot of effort in child care. Though there are a lot of child care options available, you ought to be careful in choosing the right one for your child. Your child’s behavior, the budget you could afford, the environment around the child and much more should be taken into consideration to give your child the best possible care when you are away.

Here are few options that you could consider when looking for a child care:

In-home nanny

Nannies who are trained enough to take care of your child reduce a lot of your early morning stress. You can either have one who spends the entire week with you or who comes daily to take care of your child. Only constraint in hiring a nanny is the cost. But still if you’re a parent whose work demands a lot of time, you can afford a nanny at any extra cost. But before you choose the right person, it is better you do a lot of research into the person’s background. Also make sure that you get to hear your child’s feedback about the nanny. Keep in touch with her constantly so that she knows that she is being monitored time and again.

Day care centers

Day care centres are ideal if you wish your child to grow up in an environment where he/she gets to interact with a lot of other children of the same age group. With the rise in numbers of working parents, day care centres have become a plenty. So, be careful while choosing the right one for your child. Check if the daycare center is licensed, have good staff faculty who could supervise your child in a friendly manner and has good hygienic facilities. You can also get reviews from parents who have enrolled their children already. By doing so, you could be sure that your child is in a safe place even away from home. Avoid centers that have a large number of children already as your child might feel neglected due to lack of individual attention.

Home day care

With the growing need for child care facilities, a lot of home day care centers have begun catering to the needs of single parents. The advantage of these day care centers over the regular ones are – a stable caregiver, homely atmosphere, flexible timings, individual attention etc. But still, ensure that your child is in the safe hands by checking for the required certificates and credibility of the care taker.

Swap child care

If you have some great neighbors and friends around, this option could avoid a lot of hassles. If your neighbor has work timings slightly different from yours, swap child care comes handy. You can work around a schedule to take care of her child in return when you come back home. This option is beneficial for toddlers who find it difficult adapting to conditions at day care centers. You can save a lot of money and also help give your child a consistent routine by swap child care.

Community/work based child care

The next level in day care facilities are the community/work based child care. Hospitals, schools/colleges and other institutes have an onsite day care center exclusively for their employers’ children. By doing so, the community frees its employers from getting stressed out in child care issues thereby optimizing their performance at work .

Relatives

None of the day care centers match the love and care the child gets by being with a family member. Grand mom’s have always been the child’s favorite for her entertaining bedtime stories and soulful lullabies. They could be of great help when it comes to taking care of your child when you are off to work. Also, being in the family helps the child to get accustomed to the care taker thereby helping a smooth relationship between the two. You can also give in some inputs about the child’s routine to the relative of yours to facilitate a better relationship.

These days, there are a lot of day care options for children of single parents. But finding the right place is the uphill task. Taking into consideration all that is said above, choose the best place for your child to grow and have fun.

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