6 Things All In-home Family Child Care Providers Need To Know

When a child turns one, most parents return to work. One of the big problems that then starts to bother them is who to entrust their still small child to while they are at work. Ideally, one of the parents can afford to stay home with the child for a while longer, until he or she is mentally and physically fit for separation and major changes in his or her busy life.

A person raising a child while the parents are at work must adequately ensure its development and growth, taking into account individual needs and possibilities, but how do you know if it is a nanny or a kindergarten teacher?

Often parents wonder whether to give the child to kindergarten, hire a nanny or leave him with his grandmother or someone in the family. The answer is very simple: a child’s system in the early formative period needs to be in contact and the center of attention of an adult who is actively involved with it. Kindergarten puts him in the position of having to share that attention with many other children. Perhaps the real answer lies in in-home family child care. If you’ve watched the famous Eddie Murphy movie, Daddies daycare, then you know what it’s all about.

In-home family child care has many advantages over classic kindergartens. One of the biggest is working in small groups, which leaves children enough space for socialization, but also for you, as an educator, to devote enough time to each child individually.

Still, if you are considering being an in-home family child care provider, there are some things you need to know.

1. You need a specific qualification

To be a child care provider, you need to have at least a basic certificate CHC30113. In addition, you will need to undergo some training and get a license to work with children. Everything else, such as knowledge of first aid is useful, but not necessary.

Why is all this necessary? Working with children requires a lot of effort. Child care is not just babysitting, it is much more than that, it is a place where children will develop, both in an educational and recreational sense. This job requires detailed planning of activities for children.

2. Check how the law stands with this deal

Until the beginning of 2024, at least when it comes to California, the law on this business was not very favorable for providers. By this, we mean the transition from a small to a large permit that the landlord did not want to issue to you due to the law in town planning. But luck has smiled on you and now you can finally expand your business. Learn more about it at dcins.com. So now you can open a child daycare regardless of the type of house you live in – signal home, duplex, apartment, and so on. Of course, you will still need the landlord’s approval if you want to increase the number of children.

3. Home inspection

To make this job come alive, prepare for a home inspection. When inspecting the house, the inspection will check whether the environment is healthy for children, and if there is a need for repairs, you will receive certain suggestions and instructions. If you have a swimming pool, bathtub, or anything similar that is considered risky for the health or life of the child, you will have to give this part of protection, that is, to create a physical barrier and keep children away from it.

4. This job is not easy

Many people think that this is a combination of pleasant and useful – you stay at home, and along the way you do what you love and you are well paid for it. Yes, you can look at it that way, but on the other hand, you have to be ready for many sacrifices, to arm yourself with patience, constantly research, and expand your horizons, that is, constantly work on improving the service.

5. A job full of challenges

Be prepared to deal with different challenges such as different children’s behavior. Of course, sometimes you will encounter difficulties in communicating with some parents, but it is something that you will overcome over time. Also, prepare for a lot of paperwork.

6. Kindergarten or home child care?

This question has always bothered a large number of parents. Each of these choices has its advantages and disadvantages. For many, a nanny is quite expensive, others think that it is not the best choice for children to spend too much time with older people, and still others do not like kindergartens, because they think that they do not offer good enough conditions and that they are not clean.

Socialization is the most important thing for a child, and that is something he will get in both places. Still, realistically speaking, the service provided by daycare is much better than the ones that children receive in kindergarten. Of course, for that reason, it is also a bit more expensive.

Another great advantage of daycare is that they adapt to the obligations of the parents, while the kindergartens do not do that, they simply have their working hours.

Final thoughts

The role of parents, kindergarten, and nanny is to prepare the child for the “world” and life challenges. Living and working in a modern society requires new knowledge, skills, abilities, values and attitudes, ie. competencies of the individual. Competencies are more than knowledge and skills. To be competent means to be capable, flexible, to have authority, and, also, not only to possess certain skills and attitudes but to know how to use them. This means that you need to know how to act in certain situations and know how to influence the changes that happen. Competences are developed through learning, because through learning children gain experience and acquire knowledge. This job will definitely bring you a lot of excitement but also interesting moments. Is there the same better in the world than knowing that you have positively influenced the creation of several young minds?