Granny may not be an option. So what childcare is out there to take your child from baby stage to school age? Advice from The Daycare Trust

Every child develops at his or her own pace but when you’re choosing childcare your first consideration needs to be your child’s age and stage of development. When choosing childcare make sure that it meets your child’s:

• S – Social needs: relationships and friendships
• P – Physical needs: space to run, play and experiment
• I – Intellectual needs: range of books and toys
• C – Creative needs: activities to experience and learn from
• E – Emotional needs: your child needs to feel safe, secure and happy

Babies need to build close relationships with a group of adults that they know and trust so they can learn to communicate. They are also learning to explore their surroundings so care needs to be taken with their food, hygiene and sleeping arrangements.

If you choose a nursery, look for an effective key worker system that will mean your baby has one main carer for most of each day. Ask how many other children will share the carer’s attention. Make sure the atmosphere is calm so that the baby isn’t confused or overstimulated and check that there’s a safe, quiet place where your baby can sleep with hygienic nappy-changing arrangements. Look for a carer who has experience or training in looking after babies and make sure staff have time to cuddle a bottle-feeding baby. If you want to maintain breastfeeding you will need the carer’s support. Make sure the surroundings will allow your baby to explore safely as s/he learns to crawl and walk.

Toddlers

Toddlers are very busy developing new skills. They are learning to use their bodies – running and jumping as well as practising and developing fine motor skills. They need time to rest quietly and relax. They are learning to talk about their thoughts and feelings so they’re interested in people and what they do. They are testing the limits of their world and learning rules.

Children at this stage need a safe space to run around and safe equipment to climb and play with. They enjoy toys that let them develop their dexterity – for example, threading beads, holding and using crayons. Toddlers will be better able to co-operate and learn to share if they have plenty of space and enough toys so that they do not have to wait too long for their turn. Carers should help them to negotiate for what they want. A quiet space to rest will help toddlers recharge their batteries. For good language development, children need adults who listen to them and don’t just tell them what to do. It is vital that carers can communicate effectively with children, preferably in the child’s first language. Learning to be independent means toddlers need clear limits in a safe physical environment. Carers need to set firm, clear boundaries for behaviour and they need to be able to contain children’s feelings of distress, anger and frustration without becoming upset themselves.

Pre-school children

At this age children tend to concentrate on experimenting and trying out new skills. They are developing social skills like sharing and negotiating and they are learning about roles and values. They explore the world and they try to develop a sense of control over parts of their lives.

Look for childcare that will encourage children to play with new toys and materials so they can experiment. Carers who help children to feel special and successful are what you need. Childcarers should have a range of toys that will stimulate a child so she can extend her skills and succeed. Children of this age thrive on new experiences. They also need to experiment physically and should be able to play outdoors most days. They often enjoy going on trips to local places and playing with exciting materials, meeting other children and learning to play co-operatively.

Remember your child will be learning about what boys and girls can do from the carer and will pick up all sorts of values and ideas from them. So check that you agree on basic issues like gender roles and the values attached to race and cultural identity. You need to feel confident your child and the other children are all treated as individuals and respected for who they are.

School age children

After school, children need safe and stimulating places to play and relax. They often like to help decide their own activities. They need a varied and stimulating programme of activities to interest them and extend their skills and hobbies.

After-school clubs and activities should offer a chance to play in a safe and stimulating environment where children can choose what they would like to do within a firm boundary set by trained and experienced play workers. Children can help to set the rules. Clubs should offer a home from home environment for children, where they can make and develop friendships and participate in a range of activities including sports, arts and crafts, drama and music.

The benefits of childcare

In 1995 a report published in the USA called Cost, Quality and Childcare Outcomes found that children’s cognitive and social development is directly related to the quality of their childcare experience. The main factors that determined childcare quality were high staff to child ratios, good levels of staff training and experience and good levels of pay. The findings of this survey backed up an earlier study carried out in Sweden, which looked at 128 children in daycare centres. Their progress was monitored from the first year in daycare to the age of 13. The highest performances in school tests and the best emotional adjustments were found in the children who had experienced the most daycare, even before the age of one. Daycare was shown to enhance children’s development and give them a better start in life.