When choosing childcare for your child, you want to choose the best option for not only your children but also for your specific needs. Sometimes, traditional childcare, such as daycare, after-school care, or even babysitting, may not be the best choice. In this case, you may want to look at non-traditional childcare instead.
Here are a few ways the two compare, so you can decide if non-traditional may be the best option for your needs.
- Flexibility: Traditional childcare uses a set schedule, and you are usually under contract to bring your child a certain number of days a week. Even if your child doesn’t attend those days, quite often you will still need to pay. Non-traditional childcare allows for more flexibility, where you can pay by the hour and bring your child in only on the days and times you need without scheduling anything in advance.
- Structure: Traditional childcare usually involves a very structured approach to keep your child occupied throughout the day. Non-traditional childcare will usually emphasize child-led play with unstructured activities to give your child room to grow their creativity and imagination through playing games, toys, and with new friends. Your children are also more likely to interact with a new group of children each time with non-traditional childcare, so they can improve their social skills over time.
- Same level of safety: You may be more inclined to choose traditional childcare because that is the familiar option and known for strict safety requirements for the facility and staff. However, there are many non-traditional childcare options, including our own, that follow the same strict safety protocols with safety measures in place to keep your child safe and secure at all times and in the case of emergencies.