Finding quality, affordable, reliable, and convenient childcare is crucial for working moms. Nonetheless, the ability to trust the person/center caring for your baby is equally important.
You can learn to build trust with your childcare giver through doing a thorough daycare tour first, interview your nanny, use assistive technology, and be intentional about trust.
Why You Need Other Care Givers for your Child
In most cases, other childcare providers such as nannies and daycare are beneficial both to you and your child in several ways such as;
- It gives you some time away from your child which is important for your emotional and mental health
- Your child benefits more by being under the care of people other than you for an all round development.
- Daycare offers your tons of language and social development that you would not be able to offer independently.
- Raising a child takes a village and your childcare providers, even if strangers at first, they quickly become part of this village.
Read: How to Ask your Family and Friends Help to with Child-care
How to Build Trust with Your Childcare Provider (Nanny/Daycare)
1. Do a Thorough Daycare Tour
If your chosen option for a child is a daycare, start by doing it right from the start by conducting a daycare tour. Create a list of things and requirements that are important to you in terms of childcare for your baby.
A successful daycare tour before enrolling your child will help trust in their services. Pick a few daycare centers that meet your criteria and go for a tour. Look around, observe and ask questions to establish if a center meets your minimum requirements.
Read :Top Questions to Ask During Daycare Tour
Most day cares will be willing to welcome you for a tour, even without an appointment. It is a good sign of excellent care when you can drop in unannounced at any time.
Also, check reviews online or from parents who have enrolled their children there to get a general overview of the daycare.
2. Vet and Conduct a Thorough Nanny Interview
If your option for child care is a nanny, you need to do your hiring right. Start from where you are sourcing your nanny, as it needs to be highly reputable and reliable. It may be through a highly rated and trusted agency or referral through friends, family, or colleagues.
Again have a list of requirements you need from your nanny such as age, experience, training, location, and skills among other qualifications. After you have several potential nannies that fit the profile, call them in for an interview.
During the interview get as much information as possible from the nanny that will help you make a decision. Interview as many nannies as possible. Don’t hire until you feel comfortable.
Also ensure that you verify the information you get from the nanny by calling their referees and families they have worked with before to hear their experience with the nanny. When a nanny has a good name with from people they have worked with, then it is easier for you to trust them.
Read: How to Conduct a Short but Effective Nanny Trial
3. Install Nanny Cameras
While some nannies may not like it, most working moms like the idea of virtually getting into their home and seeing what their nanny and baby are doing. While you won’t be checking the system all the time, the knowledge that you can check in anytime you want can be relieving.
You will soon be able to feel at ease and start trusting the nanny. A good honest nanny should never have a problem with a CCTV system watching them.
Also most daycares have CCTV cameras that parents can virtually view at any time of the day. They also give the parents regular updates throughout the day to help them adjust quickly and build trust.
The updates may be photos and videos, letting you know what the curriculum of the day was, the food that was provided, how much the baby ate, bottle feeds, and diaper changes among others.
Read: Pros and Cons of Nanny Cameras
4: Trust the Childcare Profession
While you are the mom and have the best interests at heart for your baby, there are other people out there in the profession capable of caring for your child, even better than you in most cases. For this reason you should be able to trust the person caring for your child such as the nanny or the daycare.
Most people in daycare, as well as nannies, have amassed a lot of experience and knowledge on childcare. Also, they are required to have educational qualifications in the same. Such requirements are important in licensing and the centers have to comply.
In some areas, the teachers are even required to have a minimum of an associate degree in early childhood education, so they know what they’re doing. Given so, you can trust the services that the nannies and daycare are offering you.
Their wealth of knowledge and experience is so beneficial to your child. It helps you, especially if you are a new mom to find comfort in the knowledge that your child is thriving and benefiting more when under the care of such people.
5: Let Go As A Parent
There is a great need to bring balance to your life for you to even thrive at work. Such a balance is unlikely to happen if you are always with your child. Remember good parenting is never caring for your child 24/7.
Both of you need a break which comes with lots of benefits mentioned above. It is very important for your emotional and mental health as well, which if compromised will negatively affect the child that you are bringing up.
The knowledge should make it easier for you to understand why you need others, even if they are strangers to take care of your child. Good parenting is all about knowing when to let go, which may be scary but which you can overcome.
Read: Overcoming Mom Guilt
6: Check License Validity & Compliance
There are good standards set in place to regulate childcare services providers for the health and safety of your child. Before a license for childcare is issued, the set requirements must be met. The centers must do their best in meeting these requirements as failing to comply can make them lose the license to operate.
It happens for daycare centers, nannies, or other formal child care options. All are under strict, and rigid licensing requirements that keep your child safe, which should help you feel at ease. Also, background checks, vetting, and regular monitoring are done.
The licensing should be a key requirement to look out for when conducting a discretionary or when choosing a daycare. Ensure that license of your intended childcare provider is in order. If so, trust and rest assured that the safety of the child is being looked after.
7. Be Intentional about Trusting Your Childcare Provider
Trusting is a process. Therefore trust the process. Everyone you now know or trust was once a stranger. Basically, this is always a process where you move from being strangers to being friends or people that you can trust.
Therefore be intentional about going through this process with your childcare provider. Put it in the work and do your part. You must be willing to give that daycare or that nanny a chance and benefit of the doubt. You must start the process and see the journey flourish.
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