Here - Health Promotion Agency

Learning and playing
MAKING CHILDCARE WORK
•
First consider your child’s
needs and what is available.
There are few nursery places for
babies and you may prefer leaving
a small baby in the care of a single
person who you can get to know.
A toddler or pre-school child may
be happier in a group atmosphere,
making friends and learning new
skills, although a very shy child
might prefer, for example, a
childminder, but would like to go
to a playgroup or one o’clock
club to meet other children.
•
Your needs are important too.
Will the childcare cover your
working hours or will you be
looking for someone else to cover
the extra time? If the arrangements
are too complicated, your child
may feel anxious and you’ll feel
very stressed.
•
Before you decide on
childcare, visit the childminder
or nursery, talk and ask all the
questions on your mind (see the
box on page 50 for ideas). Talk
about hours, fees, what the fees
cover, and what happens during
holidays, when there’s illness, or
an emergency. Write questions
down as it’s easy to forget things.
•
Consider transport
arrangements. How easily can
you get there from work and
from home?
•
It helps if children can settle in
gradually. If you can, start by
leaving your child for a short time
and build up. This might mean
starting to leave your child before
you actually go back to work.
•
Tell your childminder or
nursery all about your child,
his or her routine, likes and
dislikes, feeding information
(particularly if you’re still
breastfeeding), and so on. When
you leave or collect your child,
try to make time to talk and find
out how things are going.
•
There may be special worries
you want to talk about. If your
child has asthma, for example,
you’ll need to be sure that your
childminder doesn’t keep pets.
You’ll also want to know whether
the childminder, or any other
people in the house, smoke. Or
you may need to explain to a
white childminder how to do a
black child’s hair. Perhaps you
worry about your child being
given certain things to eat. If this
is important to you, it’s right to
talk about it.
•
Make sure that you and your
childminder or nursery
workers can agree about such
issues as discipline, potty training,
and so on.
•
Support and reassure your
child in every way you can.
The early weeks are likely to be
difficult for both of you. A regular
routine and a handover that’s as
smooth as possible both help.
Expect crying when you leave,
maybe for longer than just the
early weeks, but remember the
crying usually stops once you’ve
gone. You can ask how long it has
gone on. It’s best neither to linger
long nor to leave and then go
back. Try to keep promises about
‘The first day was really
terrible. I remember hoping
that Andrew’s salary would
have doubled overnight and
that I wouldn’t have to go back.
But I have to say, now I’ve got
to know the childminder, I
enjoy it. And even on the bad
days when he’s really crying I
call the childminder and she
says he’s settled 10 minutes
after I’ve left.’
49