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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!akgub!cylixd!charli
From: charli@cylixd.UUCP (Charli Phillips)
Newsgroups: net.kids
Subject: Re: paid childcare
Message-ID: <286@cylixd.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 17-Sep-85 09:56:19 EDT
Article-I.D.: cylixd.286
Posted: Tue Sep 17 09:56:19 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 18-Sep-85 04:51:04 EDT
References: <1159@mhuxo.UUCP>
Reply-To: charli@cylixd.UUCP (Charli Phillips)
Organization: RCA Cylix Communications , Memphis, TN
Lines: 44
Summary: 

In article <1159@mhuxo.UUCP> wfm1@mhuxo.UUCP (METCALF) writes:
>I am a new subscriber to this newsgroup, and would like to call on some
>of the wealth of experince out there.  As a putative patent, I am
>interested in polling opinions on paid child care.  Questions are
>	1) The merits of the various types of care (live-in, live-out,
>	childminders, daycare, etc)
>	2) The relative economics of the above 
>	3) The effect on the child of the type of care

According to our pediatrician, a full-time sitter in your home is 
probably the best option, if you can afford it.  (I can't.)  

Day-care has the following advantages:
	1)  It is usually the cheapest form of child-care.
	2)  It is always there.  

We take our 1.75 year-old son to a sitter's home.  We have done this
since he was 6 weeks old.  The advantages are:
	1)  He gets a more home-like environment (and more attention)
	    than he would get at most day-care centers.
	2)  He isn't around as many children, and so is less likely
	    to get sick as often.  (For example, the recommended age
	    for the new meningitis vaccine is 2 years old for kids
	    taken care of at home or by a sitter, 1.5 for kids at 
	    day-care centers.)
The primary disadvantage is a degree of unreliability.  Sitters get
sick occassionally, and they take vacations, and so on.  If you use
a sitter, I would urge you to have a "back-up" sitter lined up for
occassional sitting when your primary sitter is not available.

No matter what kind of day-care you choose, make sure you check it out
thoroughly!  Interview whoever will be responsible for caring for your
child.  Check references.  Inspect the premises, looking for anything
unsafe.  (We *briefly* had a sitter that didn't believe in child-proofing.
We discovered this when my husband went to pick up Jonathan and saw a
can of antifreeze sitting on the floor near the door.  Needless to say,
we changed sitters immediately.)  Discuss discipline, child-care 
philosophy, anything you think is important with them.  Make sure they
don't have too many kids for the number of adults.  Then, after your
child has been staying there, drop in unannounced from time to time. 

It is possible to get good paid child-care, but it takes some work on 
your part.
		charli