Deciding Between a Nanny and Daycare

A reader recently asked me what was the best childcare choice for her soon-to-be infant; at home nanny, or a daycare center.

I’m certainly no authority on the topic, but it is one that has been debated a thousand times on social media, and probably since daycare centers became an option. 

Of course, the answer is, there is no answer. There is no one size fits all, but I thought I’d share our experiences with both.

We started off with a wonderful nanny who took care of our baby while I was working from my home office. The benefits included the convenience of not needing to go anywhere to drop-off or pick-up, my being able to continue nursing, the nanny performing household tasks, such as cleaning, folding laundry, etc. when the baby was napping, and having the perfect babysitter for date nights.

One of the downsides was that we were completely dependent on her, so when she called in sick, I had to either juggle childcare with my work, or take the day off. However, the thing I most regret, about having a nanny, to this day, is very specific to my situation of working from home while trying to continue nursing. While being "around", and nursing was the number one reason we chose a nanny, I think it was harmful to my daughter’s emotional well-being. Every pass off was painful. We’d go through the whole cycle of her crying, and then being soothed, only to go through it again a couple of hours later. Even if I hadn’t been nursing, she knew I was home, and anytime she heard me, it triggered the same cycle. It was apparent that the nanny resented it as well, as it made her job harder then it should've been.

After a year or so, we decided to transition to a daycare facility. We toured many places and even enrolled our daughter at a local, most affordable, place for about three dissatisfying weeks, before we decided to increase our budget a bit and move to KC’s Academy, in Lakeview. KC’s Academy was only a couple of blocks away from us at the time. On the tour, we immediately felt like it was the right fit. The benefits of daycare in general included, socialization with other kids, and the learning of skills from each other, never having a gap in childcare, and an ample pool of babysitters. However, KC’s Academy offered us so much more.

In addition to having a pool of available babysitters, KC's also provided monthly Parent Date Nights, where the kids would stay after-hours for three or four hours, so parents could go out. KC's frequently held Parent Breakfasts and even Parent Wine & Cheese nights so that parents could get to know each other. How many daycare facilities have a PTA I wonder?

KC's quickly transitions from a daycare facility to a preschool environment. My daughter could barely walk when we arrived at KC's, but within a week, she was sitting at a table, eating with the other kids, and cleaning up after herself.  The next thing I knew she was learning Spanish, Chinese, and Science, and was fully potty-trained without much of my involvement. Guest speakers are brought in to entertain even the toddlers, i.e. characters and reptile shows. Field trips are a regular event, with trips to museums, pumpkin patches, theaters, and even the beach. The kids put on neighborhood parades and seasonal performances, followed by family parties.

I couldn't have asked for a better daycare experience. When my daughter was old enough for half-day summer camps and public preschool, KC's was flexible enough to allow her to be brought in in the afternoon. In fact, since her public, half-day, pre-k was across the street from KC's, a teacher from KC's would pick her up from school and walk her over to KC's for the afternoon, so that I could work a full-day uninterrupted.

When my son was born, we put him in their nursery. Since, we were close enough, and I worked from home, I would walk over regularly to nurse, but passing him back to the staff was never difficult. There we experienced the added conveniences of them supplying all the diapers and formula, and ultimately the same healthy meals my daughter had.

Conveniences aside, the level of "academic" instruction that started at the youngest of ages was nothing short of amazing. There was a point in time when we thought my son might be color-blind because he could never name the colors of things. Via some testing with M&Ms, suggested by his pediatrician, we came to learn he saw the colors, but he could only name them in Spanish. When touring kindergartens, I remember my daughter picking up a book. The kindergarten teacher said, "That book is too hard for you, but you can look at the pictures". My daughter proceeded to read the book aloud. 

Those are just a couple of anecdotes to demonstrate how much they were learning through exposure. My son, who tested into an accelerated elementary school program, as did his sister, asked me just last week, (when discussing an upcoming placement exam), "How did I do well on the test for kindergarten?", and while I was tempted to take some credit, I simply answered, "KC's".

Daycare was the right answer for me. Again, that may not be the right answer for everyone, but if you do choose to go the daycare route, I highly recommend taking a look at KC's Academy.