Babysitter or day care?

[green1706]

What do you think is better? Have a babysitter or your child go to a day care? I have a babysitter but I start to worry about the education that my children receive. Older child, about 7 years, already goes to school starting this month, but the smaller, 3 years and a half, sitting all day with the babysitter. I think that I take my child to day care even if it will be very hard for him. However, I do not know what to choose: babysitter or day care? Please help me!

[Idefix]

All childern are different. Some thrive playing with a bunch of other kids, others don't. Some become more outgoing (if being shy etc to start with) if exposed to more kids, others don't. Day care have more germs going around, but with a babysitter you can't bring the kid if the babysitter is sick, in addition to not being able to bring the kid if the kid him/herself is sick; which is another component to consider, depending on your own work situation. Childern need to play with other kids, and if your child is not doing this much otherwise with you, either have the babysitter make this happen, or consider day care. I dont know what you mean with "it will be very hard for him"...?

Maybe try to arrange so you can try day care for a while and see how it goes. My own experience with day care for my own son is very positive, while as a kid myself I would have preferred a private baby sitter, since I was shy and exposure to a lot of kids only made it worse. My son is very outgoing, and loves to interact with other kids.

[mvgrogan]

my daughter is almost 4 and has been at the finnish american playschool since she was 2 and a half - she loves it - she is very outgoing and friendly - she loves to meet new people and so it is ideal for her. also, being a bilingual school, her finnish is improving dramatically - it's much better than mine. Overall I think it's good preparation for starting school, even though at the moment she only does 5 half days rather than full days.

all children are different and only you can decide which is better for you & your child. even shy children have to go to school eventually so it may be a good opportunity to get used to having other children around in that environment.

good luck with your decision, I hope your children blossom whatever you decide.

[Gigi]

I agree with the previous comments, that it depends much on the child. But you have in Finland different possibilities concerning daycare, at least in our community:
- Kindergarten - "Päiväkoti": big place with 30-40 children and grouped by age and lots of nurses
- "Ryhmis": small place with 8 children, 3 nurses (in our community it is located in an apartment)
- "Perhepäivähoitaja": a woman/man who takes care of 3-4 children at his/her home.

Our 10 month old son is going to the local "ryhmis" for 2 months now and he is so happy there. It is funny how such a little boy can enjoy the company of the other children. The nurses are great and the kids are so nice to him. When we drop him off in the morning, he immediately crawls towards the other kids to start playing - he doesn't even notice when mom or dad are leaving. And beside the first week, he hasn't been crying at all. For our son it was the right choice!

[carolinemaher]

My daughter is 3.5 years old and has been going to daycare for the past month, I think at that age is does them the world of good to get play time in with other kids for all different reasons, she is thriving there even with only speaking English at home she has had no problems fitting in in the local Finnish päiväkoti. Also, its is a heck of a lot cheaper to send your child to päiväkoti than paying a full time babysitter.. Even if some kids take a few weeks to get used to it, they generally get over any upset as they are too busy having fun with the other kids. You can't always get your child into the päiväkoti straight away, I waited over a year to get my daughter into the place I wanted, so I would do some research now if you are thinking about daycare as it may take some time to get a place, good luck.