Ah, the old debate — nanny, or daycare?

It’s a huge decision that parents stew over often even before birth.

While many times it boils down to a simple matter of preference, it’s important as business owners to consider why a family may opt for a nanny (the competition) over a daycare, and what you can do to help clarify any misconceptions that may lead them to that decision.

A family should never feel pressured either way, but it is extremely important they be adequately informed. Here’s how you can help.

1:1 Interaction

This is the one, undeniable ratio that no daycare can compete with. Unfortunately, there is no way for a facility to provide consistent and uninterrupted 1:1 interaction between child and caregiver — but it’s important to stress that this isn’t a bad thing. Far from it!

What daycares do offer are 1:1 relationships between a child and multiple loving, capable caregivers instead of just one.

They also offer friendly, social interaction, and carefully crafted activities and routines every minute of every day, allowing a child to become comfortable with groups, alleviating separation anxiety and providing accountability for care, too.

Daycares need to do a better job of explaining why the 1:1 interaction a nanny provides isn’t something to get hung up on and instead focus on what you can provide by not having that.

Illness

One of the biggest fears parents have before (and during) sending their little ones to daycare is of germs and illness. An unfortunate fact of the matter is that most little ones will be exposed to new germs and bacteria whenever they are in a large space with other children and adults — whether this is a daycare, mall, or school when they are off to Kindergarten. So, many parents opt to keep their children home for as long as they can but what they don’t realize is, they’re prolonging the inevitable.

In fact, research shows that children who attend “large” daycare centers (more than five children) had more colds during their first three years of life, but then less frequent colds throughout the school years up until age 13.

One of the ways to assuage this fear and open the minds of those parents who are set on nannies is to use research but also showcase, via Fyv, all the manners in which you sanitize and sterilize, how and when communicate any communicable illnesses that may have been diagnosed, how you enforce a firm illness policy and any other ways you keep your facility as healthy as possible every single day.

Flexibility

When families opt to hire a private nanny they are working with an individual as opposed to a business. So naturally, they’ll have a bit more flexibility. If a parent is working late, planning a vacation, or needs unconventional hours or days for care — they can likely work it out with their caregiver.

Unfortunately, daycares sometimes have a reputation for being rigid in this regard. Sometimes it’s necessary and sometimes it’s not — but wherever possible, try to be flexible!

Only offering full-week or M/W/F programming can be limiting, as can opening hours that start after 8 AM or don’t go past 6 PM — as research shows the average American no longer abides by a traditional 8 hour, 9-5.

Offering early drop-off, late pickup, flexibility in programming (maybe even the occasional evening hours on a Saturday night!) can go a long way. As will reasonable tuition and hourly rates for backup care, because the only thing worse than parents feeling option-less in an hour (or day) of need is parents feeling option-less and taken advantage of.

Affordability is so important. By signing up with Fyv Tuition Assistance, you can provide parents and families the option to pay less every month while you still receive the full tuition.

Communication

A parent and a nanny can, in theory, have unlimited communication and connection (nanny cams, text messaging, ability to call and check in whenever they want or need, etc.) Many believe that if they opted for daycare for childcare, this wouldn’t be possible. It’s not necessarily the case — so, it's your job to show just how you handle parental communication.

Do you have live stream cameras? Utilize real-time apps? What is the average response time to emails? Can a parent be directly connected to their child’s provider when they call during business hours? These are all things to be transparent and upfront about and if you sign up with Fyv, you will be able to showcase these offerings and protocols within your custom profile! So go on, showcase your facility on Fyv!

The Fyv app is available to download on both the Apple Store and Google Play Store.