Child Care For Multiple Children: Is Daycare Still Worth It?
Posted on: 7 April 2017
Child care for one young child can be expensive enough to finance, but what about when you have multiple children who haven't entered school yet? While hiring a babysitter instead of sending them to a child care facility seems attractive financially, there are many benefits to daycare centers as well. Here is the case for both options.
Hiring a Sitter
The main benefit of hiring a sitter for multiple children is that the costs of care don't go up as much when you add additional children. Your kids can stay in their own home and have their own unique routines and eating habits. If you can add the small children of other families, you can split up the costs of child care even further. And it's also a good transition if you will need child care after school once your children hit kindergarten; you will already have a caretaker that you can trust and that your children are comfortable with. Finally, a babysitter can be a good idea if your children have specific needs. This could include language barriers or medical needs that the staff at preschools may or may not have.
Using Child Care
However, daycare still has many benefits. A big one is the amount of learning that they can offer to children. With the right preschool, your children will get to play with educational toys and participate in enriching activities each day. They will have expertly prepareed and nutritional meals to eat. And you might even find a center that has a pre-K curriculum to prepare children for their education. While you might find this high qualtiy care with a babysitter, it's much rarer and harder to verify; certain daycare centers may already have a strong reputation among the community.
Speaking of community, this is another thing that preschools provide that a sitter can't. There is a lot to be said for meeting other parents with children who are a similar age. You'll get more emotional support, and you may hear about community events and programs that pertain to your children. These benefits can make it easier to find the resources that make parenting easier for you while enriching your kids' young experiences.
And to top it off, you might be able to get discounted care if you have multiple children who need care within the child care facility; so, the costs of financing daycare may not be as much as you think.
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