Are you looking for a family environment for your child's care? Then a daycare provider or daycare family could be the right choice for you.
A daycare family looks after one or more children at their home – in contrast to a nanny, who provides childcare at the child's home. (You can find a more detailed description of the differences between the various types of childcare in the article The right type of childcare)
We have summarised the five good reasons for choosing daycare family childcare in this compact article:
Care in a family environment
When choosing a childcare option, all parents want to be able to offer their child a sheltered environment where they feel comfortable and can develop optimally. There is no question that daycare in a family is the closest you can get to a family structure. The child is cared for in a family social structure with permanent caregivers and a spatial structure that is very similar to their own home in most cases. This creates a familiar atmosphere for the child, especially if they are also integrated into the daycare family's daily routines. In many cases, the daycare family becomes a second home for the child, as they are part of the family there and experience everyday life with them.
Continuity of caregivers
While in daycare centres an entire team of caregivers is responsible for a group and there is often a constant change of caregivers due to internships and training or termination, the day mum/day dad is a ‘stable haven’ for your child. This provides security and structure - exactly what toddlers need most. Because of the rapid pace at which babies and toddlers develop and gain new experiences, it is important for them to have something they can rely on 100% and that gives them a sense of security and comfort.
Individual support
Small groups are needed so that each child can be seen and recognised in terms of their individual abilities and strengths, their personality and their own unique developmental progress. Care provided by a daycare family is very much in line with this, because a maximum of five children are usually cared for there at the same time – and the ratio is even lower when caring for babies up to 18 months of age. Since the caregiver is also the same, they can naturally follow developmental steps much more continuously than is the case when care is divided between different people (as in a daycare centre).
Flexible childcare hours
Not every job adheres to regular working hours. And so it is particularly advantageous for parents whose jobs involve shift work, changing working hours or often unforeseen overtime if their childcare can be flexibly adapted to these circumstances. This does not mean that daycare families provide care at any time of the day or night. Here too, there are days and times when care is provided, weekly or monthly care hours and other rules that are set out in a binding agreement (usually in a so-called care contract). Nonetheless, daycare families are usually more flexible, especially if the times and conditions have been clarified in advance.
Child-friendly structure
Care in a family environment, continuity of caregivers, integration into daily routines and small group settings... all this meets the natural need of babies and toddlers for stability, bonding and familiar surroundings. Some paediatricians, such as Dr Michael Seefried from the Paracelsus Centre Sonnenberg/Zurich, therefore advocate offering children in their first years of life a family structure in their external care, as children ‘are not physically or mentally able to cope with the many influences (and pathogens) that they are exposed to in large group care.’ The social overload to which children are exposed in large group settings should not be underestimated in the case of more sensitive children. The small, often mixed-age groups of daycare families, on the other hand, are more in line with the child's natural social development.
Daycare families can thus offer a very personal, flexible and child-oriented type of care in which the child experiences a great deal of security.
Check out the daycare family
Despite all the advantages, there are of course challenges associated with daycare provided by a family: in particular, the absence of the daycare parent due to illness or holiday leave presents some families with a problem, because they then often have to find another solution at short notice (or stay at home from work). In this regard, it helps to discuss possible cover arrangements in advance with the childminder or daycare family association so as not to be left without childcare options if the worst comes to the worst.
In addition, a certain amount of trust in the competence and quality of the daycare family's care is of course required. Here, it is recommended that you familiarise yourself thoroughly with the daycare family before signing a care contract – what they do with the children during the day, what is important to them in terms of the relationship, what values shape it... so that you can really find the daycare family to whom you can entrust your child with a clear conscience.
It is also important to mention that childminders/daycare families do not necessarily have to have any specific training. However, they usually have a basic qualification in the form of a course or are members of an association/daycare family organisation that demands certain quality standards. Furthermore, childminders/daycare families often have their own children and therefore have practical everyday experience in dealing with children.
Childminders who regularly care for children under the age of 12 in their household in return for payment are required to register with the local authorities (see article: obligation to register for childminders). Alternatively, daycare families can join an association that takes on the tasks of placement, registration, etc.