In-home care is when a trained caregiver, coming to your home and looking after several children at the same time. Also your children can be care in the caregiver own home. This is different set-up from a day care center, but, in principle, you can still ask the same sorts of questions. With in-home care, also known as family day care, your child is usually placed with one caregiver, who looks after your little one (and other babies/children) in the caregiver’s own home.

Because you’re dealing with just the one caregiver, you can often get to know the person. This has some advantages over a day care center. You can now be so close with the teachers at a day care center and can sometimes be a little more flexible in drop-off and pick-up hours.

To avoid both you and junior feeling anxious about the daily routine and other issues, you’re best to take the time and energy to build rapport with the caregiver. Go with a reputable company when choosing in-home care; they will have vetted your caregiver’s house for safety, given them training, and done police checks. Get references, talk to other parents, and spend time there at different times of the day.