Choosing Childcare: where to find the right one for my child

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This is a sponsored blog post, all opinions are my own.

There is always a time when every parent realizes he should let his little baby to the outer world. Choosing childcare is a hugely massive step and decision to take. It creates an absolutely new stage of life for the child: he gets more independent, and so more secure and confident; he begins to socialize with his peers and find the ways to communicate his wishes to new carers; he forms his little world where he needs to share and be patient.

On the other side, it creates a whole new level for both parents. Not only it is quite a challenge for a woman to find a job and leave behind the routine that was centered around her child for years, but for the entire family who now needs to think of another routine as working parents.

This is where exactly tons of questions arise:

• What type of childcare is best for my child?
• How much time does he need to stay there?
• Who is going to drop him off and pick him up?
• Where should it be located?

Also, things like childcare costs, facilities, hygiene, legal documentation, diet, early-stage development program rise a very important topic. Read more about it here. There are many pieces that can’t be thought through separately but form a complete puzzle in the end.

Considering the whole spectrum of our needs and requirements, where exactly this magical person or place shall be found? Who can we trust our baby? How do we know that this is the right person to bond with our child and become a new member of our family?
I have got an answer.

As an eternal expat, living in so many diverse countries with such a diverse background and carrying a quite few contradictory cultures, I must admit, I have never seen any system close to the one I found while living in London. Childcare in London is something that deserves to be talked about.

I came across it by the word of mouth. We were at the airport in Mexico City waiting for our flight when we started to question ourselves where exactly we should start from. There was no better idea for me rather than checking with the official website of our Borough Council. It turned out every Borough has information on childcare, however, when you start calling people you will realize it is quite an outdated list. Besides, every Borough presents it differently: while in Southwark you will be offered to download lists of childminders and nurseries, Barnet will share only five contacts at most. This search is also quite limited in case if you wish to find a personal nanny. The second option for me was to ask local children centers for advice. I was lucky enough to find a great temporary childminder that was perfect for a few hours there and here while I am away for job interviews. She was the one who provided me with tons of information on how to check childminders and where to find them.

Childcare.co.uk – is a hub for all types of childcare you can possibly imagine. The name of the site speaks for itself, doesn’t it?

While you can surf the Internet, check individual websites for babysitting services or ask your mates on Facebook groups, Childcare.co.uk has it all in one place.

Originally, I was sure my child needs a childminding service, however, in the end, I decided on a nursery for a few very important reasons. This site also helped me to carry out the research to better understand what type of childcare is better for me.

Here you can find the following:

Nursery

Pre-school establishments for kids starting from 3 months old. Nurseries usually have a lot of kids, nurses, and assistants in one place.

Childminder

People who look after children at their own homes for the payment. A childminder can have up to six children of a certain age ratio at a time. Some childminders have assistants to increase the number of kids.

Nannies and babysitters

People who look after your baby at your own home. Sometimes it can be a shared nanny if you have an arrangement with another family.

Au pair

This is usually a young person coming from the other country that takes care of your child and a house in exchange for a room, food, and some monthly allowance.

Every single category comes with a filter. You can select whichever you want and narrow down your result to the very few you need. For example, in category childminder you can choose the one with a full driving license, with own car, carrying childcare qualifications, offering school pick-ups or Tax-Free Childcare, etc. Babysitters will offer a range of different services too, such as weekend, daytime, hotel, emergency babysitters; or what I like the most is that they have special filters to search for babysitters with special needs experience, newborn experience or Montessori trained specialists. There is so much more. Every category is split into more than 20 different filters and sub-categories that make it so easy to search.

If you would like to see all your options, I would suggest adding one filter with an Ofsted registered childcare and avoid non-registered ones. Keep in mind that in England every childcare should be registered with Ofsted and DBS checked. Please see more information here.

The best thing about using this site is that every person or establishment has its own profile where you can see their general information, registrations, certificates, checks, working hours, fees and, most importantly, reviews from other parents. This brings the search to a whole new level in terms of credibility and trustworthiness.

But the services of Childcare.co.uk don’t end just here. You will be pretty surprised by how many childcare options there are offered. And they also cover major topics, such as:

Maternity and birth

You can find maternity nurses, private midwives, and doulas to help you with the birth of your precious child and fast recovery;

Household help

There is a vast range of housekeepers and cleaners offered, and again they can be filtered to whatever you need, such as gardeners, window cleaners, cooks; even dog walkers, pet sitters, groomers and trainers are there. This is actually how we found our carpet cleaner who provides a high-quality fast service for a very reasonable price.

School stage

The use of the site doesn’t stop after finding childcare for your little one, it continues up to the school-age, where you can find a special person who can provide you with after-school-pick-up service, private tutoring or after school clubs.

All I had to do to start my research was registering with the site free of charge. Then I added my postcode and a mile filter. I personally prefer childcare to be located as near to our house or workplace as possible, within one mile, so it is convenient for all of our family members. Occasionally, I add some filters to prioritize my choices. And done! Simple as that!

Childcare.co.uk is free to use, however, if you are serious about searching for the best childcare for your baby and you wish to have access to all legal information, webinars, and courses, we suggest getting a Gold membership for 24.99£ per month. The best thing about this membership is that you can cancel and then renew it at any time. I have used to close my account and reopen it quite a few times when it was necessary.

Please note, it is not only about you choosing the right childcare, but also about the carers searching for their right family. You can always update your profile page adding a family photo you like with a detailed description of what you are searching for. As soon as I have done it, I used to receive messages from the people who wanted to work with us. It felt good knowing that you have been picked.

Also, all account details are stored in one place called “My Account”. I usually access it to see my activity feed, my messages, accounts who liked me or who has looked at me, and of course, payment details.

As I previously mentioned I have never seen any better childcare hub anywhere in the world and here is why. It seems the owners of the site work pretty hard to update parents with the newest information on childcare. To be honest, I have just recently seen another cool feature that Childcare.co.uk has under the category “Gold Membership”. They provide quite a lot of discounted services for families, such as courses, webinars, legal advice, kids pass and more. My favorite is 30 minutes of free legal advice on employment and/or family law. I think it is quite important to know your rights dealing with childcare services.

In addition, I watched some of their webinars. There are tons of information to learn how to teach your little one some pretty amazing new skills. They talk about technology and science in the Early Years; how to write, read, learn phonics for pre-schoolers; early maths, health, and self-care, physical development; all about two-year-olds which is super actual topic. Literally, they cover very important topics. I am lucky to get it for free.

Every month they add new downloadable activity booklets and resources for both child and carer. At the moment, they have over 100 of them. Each activity booklet contains more than 20 pages. This is a lot of fun!

Lastly, free online courses – they have them too! For all future or current childcarers there is an opportunity to take courses free of charge in such categories as safeguarding and child protection, first aid, and health, SEND and equality, Early Years Foundation Stage courses and more.
Oh, and their support system works – they respond within 12 hours – personally tested!

Indeed, it was pretty hard for me to stop using it, as this platform has lots of things to do, to research and to learn. I like it has this entertaining aspect too. Thanks to the childminder who shared with me this site. At the end of the day, when it comes to our babies, we want just the best!

We wish you to spend magical days with your baby and family!
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