| Children and adolescents need to be exposed to | | | | the babysitter or nanny and the child or not. Definitely it |
| high-quality care in order to enhance their development. | | | | will be not enough to hire a caregiver just by a phone |
| It is a well-known social phenomenon that changing | | | | interview or a five-minute talk in your office. In order to |
| parental work patterns have transformed our all-family | | | | find out if the candidate fits well with your family it is |
| life over the past 30 years. One of the most dramatic | | | | essential to perform a personal interview at home, |
| changes is the increased rate of paid employment | | | | starting with the candidate and the parents and later |
| among mothers with children. According to published | | | | on also involving the children. There are many reasons |
| data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the | | | | to accept or not to a accept a nanny or babysitter, all |
| overall maternal labor force rose from 38 to almost 70 | | | | depends on what you are looking for. It might be |
| percent during the last 30 years and for mothers with | | | | important for you if the candidate is old or young, |
| youngest children below the age of 3, this rate rose | | | | mature or in between, with college grade or even with |
| from 24 to 57 percent. During this same period, the | | | | master degree, short or tall, thin or heavy, white, black |
| demand for non-parental child care increased | | | | or latin, with or without religious background, etc. There |
| dramatically, taking place in a variety of child care | | | | are many factors that define an individual but the most |
| arrangements, including babysitters or nannies, family | | | | important thing of all is that the nanny matches with |
| child care, care centers, au pair, family members, | | | | your family. And also consider the following: The |
| neighbors or friend child care arrangements, and other | | | | caregiver always should be seen as a person whose |
| organized activities. Alone in the United States, a large | | | | primary function is caring for the children. There are |
| percentage of the 35 million children and adolescents | | | | too many cases where babysitters or nannies are |
| below the age of 14 with working parents are in an | | | | basically used as general housekeeper, making the |
| arrangement with a babysitter/nanny or an other type | | | | beds of the parents, doing their laundry or cleaning |
| of childcare arrangement for an average of 22 to 40 | | | | toilets, etc. As a consequence, children often are |
| hours a week. Child care is no longer simply a | | | | parked in front of the TV for hours, instead of |
| protective or remedial service for children from | | | | stimulating them performing creative activities like |
| low-income or troubled families: it is an everyday | | | | attending after-school events, reading books or helping |
| arrangement for the majority of children in the United | | | | with homework, just to mention a few of the |
| States and all other industrialized countries in the world. | | | | possibilities. For a quality care of their children, it |
| There are quite a lot of social studies available | | | | needs to be clear that first priority of the babysitter |
| determining the effects of child care on | | | | nanny is taking care and stimulating the children and in |
| children’s cognitive and social functioning (see | | | | second place realizing other activities like the |
| references below, to mention only a few of them). As | | | | participation in general housekeeper activities. Both, the |
| a conclusion, if children and adolescents are exposed | | | | family and the caregiver clearly should define this in a |
| to high-quality care, their development can be | | | | contract that will help to ensure that all of the terms |
| significantly enhanced. However, it has also been | | | | and conditions are well understood. |
| shown that society has not taken full advantage of the | | | | References: |
| opportunities of childcare provides. Many children and | | | | 1) Working Families and Growing Kids: Caring for |
| adolescents spend long hours, often at early ages, | | | | Children and Adolescents Eugene Smolensky and |
| away from their parents in unstimulating, mediocre | | | | Jennifer Appleton Gootman, Editors, Committee on |
| care, resulting in development delays and social | | | | Family And Work Policies, National Research Council |
| disturbances. This conclusion of the social studies leads | | | | (2003). |
| to a real challenge for the families in need of a | | | | 2) Caring for America's Children, Anne Meadows, |
| childcare service, as well as for the caregiver | | | | Editor; Panel on Child Care Policy, National Research |
| themselves. Selecting the correct type of caregiver | | | | Council, National Academies Press (1991). |
| service for their actual situation is not an easy task for | | | | 3) Brooks-Gunn, J., Berlin, L.J., and Fuligni, A.S. (2000). |
| the family. There are a lot of services offered in local | | | | Early childhood intervention programs: |
| newspaper ads or the internet and the first question | | | | What about the family? In J.P. Shonkoff, and S.J. |
| will be if you prefer a full time in-home solution, drop-in | | | | Meisels (Eds.), Handbook ofearly childhood intervention, |
| or part-time or an off-home solution (care center, | | | | 2nd edition (pp. 549-588). New York: Cambridge. |
| all-day school programs, etc.). Whatever the decision | | | | 4) Vernon-Feagans, L., Emanuel, D.C., and Blood, I. |
| will be, the selection of the day care center or the | | | | (1997). The effect of Otitis Media andquality daycare |
| nanny/babysitter never should be performed without | | | | on children’s language development. Journal of |
| considering the children’s opinion. Especially small | | | | Applied Developmental |
| children have a very fine instinct and they will show | | | | Psychology, 18, 395-409. |
| you immediately if there is chemistry between | | | | |