Sunday, April 3, 2011

Poll Results: Childcare Options

I did not get as many responses as I was hoping for, but oh well. I wish I could have had a better quality poll with a ranking system, but I didn't see any free poll options online that let me do that.


Anyway, the results were as follows:

1. If all costs were equal, what would be your first choice for childcare?
50% of you said that one parent staying home would be your first choice.
33% of you said that an in-home nanny would be your first choice.
16% of you said that a daycare facility would be your first choice.
0% said "other"
n=18

2. What would be your second choice?
0% of you said one parent staying home would be your 2nd choice.
58% of you said an in-home nanny
42% of you said a daycare facility.
0% of you said "other"
n=12

3. What would be your third choice?
0% of you said one parent staying home
33% of you said an in-home nanny
33% of you said a daycare facility
33% of you said "other
n=12

No real suprises here in these results, especially considering my main audience still consists of PhDs, grad students, and stay-at-home moms. However, there are still some things I am curious about.

First, those of you who said that a daycare facility would be your first choice even if all costs were equal - I am very curious to know your reasons for choosing that option. The main reason I wanted to take this poll was to get some outside opinion and hopefully help settle a disagreement between my husband and I about our childcare options. He would prefer to put our son in daycare and I would prefer a nanny. So those of you out there who prefer daycare, can you tell me more about your thoughts?

And second, those of you who chose "other" as your third option - what types of arrangements fall into that category for you? I couldn't find a poll with a write-in response option.

Problems with my poll: Inconsistent sample size - I have a different n for the last 2 polls, with the most people responding to the first question only. Also, I could not create a poll that would collect the information I was looking for in the most comprehensive, easy, and straightforward manner possible. So all in all, the information I collected is very faulty for these reasons - there are too many confounding variables.

Guess I won't be publishing this one anytime soon......


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6 comments:

Melissa said...

I didn't fill out your poll, but considering childcare options I'd prefer having my child in a quality daycare center over having an in-home nanny. Daycare centers are licensed and regulated, and there are multiple staff in the room at any one time. The staff must have a certain level of training, and at the best centers, the staff undergo continual professional development. With an in-home nanny, you can get recommendations, but you don't have an extra set of eyes in your home to see what is actually going on during the day. Additionally, with a nanny, your nanny can quit at any time, which can leave you in a lurch unexpectedly. The key, however, is that you must research daycare centers, and look for a high quality daycare center with low staff turnover, low child to caregiver ratios, and a philosophy you are comfortable with.

Anonymous said...

We had college kids come in and take care of DS for the first 8 months while we were there in a mother's helper situation. I went into campus MW and DH went in T/Th. It worked out pretty well. Then we switched to daycare. If we have a #2 I think we'll try to do that again.

Alyssa said...

We chose to go with a daycare over a nanny for many of the same reasons Melissa stated. In addition, we really like the social aspect of daycares, as well as their educational programming and field trip opportunities.

Anonymous said...

Disclaimer: I have no children, nor have any plans for having children.
For me, having a relative (grandparent, aunt, uncle or the like) would be the first choice. But my situation is probably unusual for most of your readers, I work in the same location I have a lot of family members. The next choice would be daycare, for some of the same reasons Melissa mentioned, but also because of the fact that they would probably do a better job of child-rearing then I would. Before someone jumps me, I think that the job of the parent is to raise a responsible, caring adult, not be the 'best' mother or father. (I also don't believe that being a stay at home parent is the best choice for a lot of people, however culturally it's believed to be the best option, and a lot of people don't think about what is best for them, which is way stay at home parent usually ends up being the top choice for a lot of these kinds of polls.)

Anonymous said...

I also prefer daycare, for the same reasons mentioned already. Especially as they get older, and the term "nursery school" becomes much more applicable than "daycare". I worked in an infant room in college, and I have a lot of respect for the training and regulations that a good center follows. For the same reasons, I've steered away from in-home daycare options. Although I'm sure there are some out there that are wonderful.

That said, if we had a more irregular schedule, nighttime or late night shifts, or needed part time care, a nanny would definitely be a nice option.

Mugundhan said...

Just linked this article on my facebook account. it’s a very interesting article for all.


Kids Day Care

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