The Ultimate Showdown: Nanny Versus Daycare

After spending his first year one on one with a nanny in our home, Baby Bee switched to full-time daycare at 12 months.  (The center calls itself an “early childhood education program,” but it’s really just high quality daycare.)  Since our current program is closing in August, we’re now looking at other preschool and childcare options.  It’s daunting both from financial and a quality standpoints.

This has got me thinking about our original decision to choose daycare early on, which I’ve occasionally regretted, but has overall been a satisfying choice for for us and Baby Bee.  Here are some of my lessons learned in the decision-making process:

1. Consider how a childcare switch will change your routine.  Everyone talks about how daycare will impact their child — will s/he have separation anxiety?  Get along with the other children?  Get sick frequently?  What we don’t think enough about is how it will change parent lives.  Some important questions to ask are:

• How early will you need to start getting the baby ready for daycare to get to your office on time?  Will this make your life considerably more stressful?  (Initially this was a big change for us, though we worked through it.) 
• Can you get to daycare in time to pick your child up?  (Also a rough one for me.)
• What kind of separation process does your facility have and will you need to take off work? 
• What days does the center close, and are they the same holidays as your workplace?

2. Consider a hybrid option.  A lot of parents like the idea of socializing their kids and getting them used to being in group settings, but not the daycare schedule that requires getting your child to and from the facility at specific times.  Consider whether a half-day program and afternoon sitter might work.  Financially this comes out a little more expensive than one or the other, but it saves the stress of gettign to daycare in time for pick-up.  It also means that you can come straight home in the evening and spend more quality time with your child. 

3. Ask yourself what happens if your nanny can’t come to work.  This is one of the great bonuses of daycare — if you have just one provider you are at the mercy of her schedule.  With a team of childcare professionals and administrators you know that care is available when you need it.  On the other hand…

4. Ask yourself what happens if your child gets sick.  Most daycare facilities rightfully insist that parents not bring sick children.  If you or your husband can’t stay home with a sick child, you may need a back-up sitter when this happens, especially in the first year when your child is likely to get sick more often than usual.

5. Is there daycare close to work or home?  Getting your child ready for the day, traveling to daycare and then getting to work on time is challenging in the best of circumstances.  If the facility is not either directly on your way to work or very close by work or home, things will be even more difficult.  If a high quality daycare center isn’t conveniently located, a sitter might be a better option.

6. What are the educational/developmental limitations of each kind of childcare?  This is the elephant in the room — that childcare is partly about convenience for you and largely about what is best for your child.  On the one hand, a very professional and stimulating sitter can offer one on one attention that has tremendous value.  On the other hand, having multiple trained childcare professionals and an environment with other children has terrific benefits too.  This really comes down to evaluating the options in your community one by one.  No study or research will be able to tell you whether your local daycare is better or worse than the sitters in your area — you have to visit and talk to other parents to get the best information.

Other great resources on making childcare decisions:

• A good article from WalletPop about the costs of hiring a nanny versus daycare
• A surprisingly balanced set of tips on making the choice from the owner of a nanny agency at Work it, Mom!
• Pros and cons about childcare from The Wall Street Journal’s The Juggle
• Mommy Track’d offers a rundown of childcare, including nannies, daycare and a host of other options