Nanny VS Nursery: Navigating the right childcare choices

Choosing the right childcare option can be a difficult decision for parents. At the end of the day, putting your child’s welfare into the hands of another person for long periods of time isn’t a decision any parent will take lightly. Naturally, the best solution depends on the needs of the individual child as well as their families.

To establish which childcare avenue is best, let’s look at a breakdown of the benefits of nanny vs nursery.

The Pros and Cons of Hiring A Nanny

Having a suitably qualified childcare professional look after your child in your own home has a number of benefits :

• Childcare at home: Hiring a nanny to care for your child in their own home removes the logistical inconvenience of having to take them to a nursery.
• Flexibility: Parents have the flexibility of hiring someone that meets their specific childcare needs. For example, they can look for a nanny that can speak multiple languages, someone to reside with them in their home or someone who just comes in for a few hours each day to take the pressure off. 
• One-to-one care: some parents may find comfort in knowing their child won’t need to vie with other children for attention. A nanny has the capacity to offer the child more individual attention.

There are, however, some downsides to going down the nanny route such as :

• The recruitment process: wading through applications to find the perfect nanny is a time-consuming task. Not only would parents need to do the groundwork to establish whether candidates are suitably qualified and follow up on references, but they would also need to choose someone who is a good fit for the family themselves. 
• The cost: hiring an experienced nanny with all the necessary certifications doesn’t come cheap. However, for those with more than one child, the nanny option could actually make financial sense,

One way to circumvent these issues is to enlist the services of a reputable nanny agency. A nanny service will have a database of trained childcare professionals on hand and will provide additional training in areas such as paedetric first aid, to ensure children in their care are always in safe hands.

The Pros and Cons of Sending Your Child To Nursery

Hiring a nanny and having an outsider taking care of your child at home is not necessarily the best option for everyone. There are many parents who prefer sending their child to a nursery and here are some of the reasons why:

• A social environment: one of the obvious advantages of sending a child to a nursery is that this gives them the opportunity to engage with a group of their peers under the guidance of trained childcare professionals. 
• Preparation for school: being placed in a classroom environment with a structured routine will help children acclimate more easily when they start school
• Backup resources: if one teacher falls sick or takes a day-off, the nursery will find a replacement. In the case of a nanny, parents will usually be left to deal with the void themselves.

Naturally, there are also some short-falls of opting for nursery childcare including: 

• Higher student to teacher ratios: Your child will be one of many in a nursery class and because the teacher’s attention will be divided, each student will get less individual attention.
• Rigid schedules: Most nurseries operate to a specified schedule. Parents who work long hours may find it difficult to work around these timings.

Nanny vs Nursery, The Best of Both Worlds?

Let’s face it, there are advantages to both childcare options and parents are truly presented with a tough decision. When analysing nanny vs nursery, neither option is unequivocally better than the other. It really does depend on the child’s learning requirements as well as the family’s situation.

Can’t decide? Want the best of both worlds? Well, help is at hand! Hatching Dragons can create a bespoke package for parents that allows them to capitalise on the strengths of each childcare model. By combining the unique cognitive benefits offered at our bilingual Nurseries in London with our new nanny service we are striving to tailor childcare solutions to suit the needs of each individual family.

Overall, we hope that this helped you to better understand if nanny vs nursery is best for you. To learn more about our Hatching Dragons nurseries, make an enquiry now!