A most popular and gut-wrenching topic for Richmond, VA moms. Here’s the down and dirty. No matter who you interview, you’ll need a GREAT list of questions. Voila:
Option #1: Licensed Day Care Centers
SWEET: Highly reliable, typically very strong education & activity focus, exposure to a variety of kids and experiences. They are on the line to ensure ratios are met, so there is always coverage. Some day cares even offer instructor-led swimming lessons, dance & music classes!
NOT: Pricey, often $200+ weekly & higher for infants, increased exposure to germs. You pay often even when you’re on vacation, there is an exposed risk to certain illnesses – but you’ll also have that in most situations. Tuckaway Child Care Centers and The Learning Experience both have excellent references and offer educational programs for children all over Richmond.
Cool Richmond site to check out with a bunch of listings: City Search Listing
Option #2: Nannies
GROOVY: Mary Poppins coming to your door? What could be finer? Personal attention and NO bags, bottles, diapers for you to pack. One-on-one attention for your little darlings.
Have you tried finding a nanny on your own? How about handling the legal requirements such as paying nanny taxes since you’re the employer? It’s pretty expensive for a family to handle payroll and worker’s comp on your own. What about liability insurance? Local nanny agency, College Nannies & Tutors can handle all of that for you after recruiting, screening and finding a nanny just right for your family. They are the legal employer and have you covered – very flexible part-time (of FT) options, backup care, weekend babysitting or occasional use for a few hours at a time. Let College Nannies & Tutors do the work for you. There are other free advertising options through www.craigslist.com & www.richmond.com . Search postings for sitters, nannies, and occasional help. OR post your own ad. No fees! You do all the recruiting work and interviewing. You can do much via email but it can be extremely time-consuming, so College Nannies & Tutors is a great option should you want someone else to do the work, screening, and matching for you.
Option #3: In-Their-Home Babysitters:
HIP: When you find the right one, it can be a magical thing. Usually very reliable, so you need back-up care. Interaction with other kids, exposure to some structure, loving care in someone else’s home.
NOT: Like nannies, these folks have lives too – and you may be at their mercy for their family issues, illness, etc. Ask about back-up care & how they may be able to help. If you use a service like College Nannies & Tutors, they can really help out because they provide the backup care and on-call for your unexpected ‘ohmygosh what do I do now’ days.
“Occasional” Sitters: Richmondmoms NEED adult time!
College Nannies & Tutors can help you in a pinch. They carefully screen nannies if you need someone for a few hours or every week, and take full responsibility for the search, background checks, and quality of each nanny.*
University of Richmond students may be a great source for babysitters! Contact Student Activities at 289-8505.
www.craigslist.com & www.richmond.com are good sources for all of these searches, but keep in mind that you will need to conduct a background check and reference check just as you would with any other daycare provider.
Ready to hire someone to help you with any of these services?
Learn more about regulations at VA Department of Social Services: Child Day Care
(Please note that each municipality may have additional requirements.)
Virginia Child Care Resource & Referral Network
Have a great child care resource for Richmondmoms? Email with your resource.
Note: Richmondmom.com bears no responsibility for the actions of any child care resources found using these services. Always do a thorough search, including a background check, driving record check, and credit check, with plenty of reference checks, before trusting anyone with your precious ones!
*College Nannies & Tutors, Tuckaway Child Care Centers and The Learning Experience are advertisers of Richmondmom.com.
VCU students may be a great source for babysitters, too. but I suppose you find u of richmond more trustworthy since they are all rich white kids? interesting….
not at all–we’d love to have any VCU student resources as well, we just aren’t aware of one location at which they may be contacted–do you have one? If so please send it our way! Thanks, Kate Hall