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10 Reasons Why We Love Family Day Care

Finding the right care for your child is one of the most important and emotionally exhaustive experiences that a parent or guardian can endure. When preparing to leave your child with a carer (educator), it is paramount that this person bonds well with your child, listens to your needs as a parent, gives you peace of mind when leaving your child, and ultimately, provides your child with the very best care that can be offered.

There are numerous options for families to consider when deciding on the best option for childcare, with the most popular choices including; long day care (centre-based care) or family care by relatives, and the perfect balance of both; family day care.

Family day care is approved education and care by the Queensland Regulatory Authority that focuses on each individual child’s development, while providing high quality early learning in an educator’s own home.

Benefits of family day care

carer and child gardening flower plant

The benefits of family day care are many! Here are just 10 reasons why family day care is the preferred choice of childcare for over 100,000 Australian families:

  1. Family day care is an extension of your family; children are cared for in a family like environment, in small groups, by the same educator, helping them to form lasting and meaningful bonds and relationships.
  2. Care is provided in a nurturing, natural and flexible home learning environment.
  3. Family day care services can provide flexible care, including all-day care, part-time, evening, overnight, casual, before and after school care, and care during school holidays.
  4. Children and their families receive more personal attention in family day care and educators are better equipped to accommodate you and your child’s individual needs.
  5. Family day care can be more inclusive, keeping siblings together for the duration of the day and not separating by age groups.
  6. With smaller numbers of children in care, family day cares experience less exposure to illnesses, resulting in fewer sick days.
  7. Family day care educators are qualified (or studying) to educate your child through play and working within the National Quality Standard and Early Years Learning Framework.
  8. Family day care can often be a more affordable option for families. While centre-based care has a set cost for the whole day, the cost of family day care is calculated on a per-hour basis and can include before and after-school care as well as casual care.
  9. The Australian Government’s Child Care Subsidy (CCS), payments assisting families with the cost of childcare, is available to families who utilise family day care.
  10. While centre-based care is typically provided only to children from a few weeks to five years old, family day care provides care for children up to 12 years old.

babies playing in child care

Family day care allows children to enjoy a natural approach to play and discovery in small groups whilst forming genuine lasting bonds with their qualified and passionate early childhood educator. Family day care gives families peace of mind knowing your child is happy in a nurturing, natural and flexible home learning environment.

With the onset of COVID-19, Family Day Care has seamlessly adapted to additional health and hygiene regulations and restrictions, in partnership with their standard operations, ensuring the safety of children, families and educators continue to remain Family Day Care’s top priority. Despite isolation and stringent restrictions taking over the world, Family Day Care services remained open throughout isolation and have grown in occupancy. Family day care is at the forefront of early years education and care.

For more information on why family day care could be your best choice for childcare, please visit www.fdcqld.org or call 3399 3737

This editorial appeared in our print issue 44, February/March 2021, and was contributed by Emma Beach, Communications & Marketing Manager, Family Day Care Association  QLD

Photo of author

Regina Gleeson

Regina is a fan of finding 'things to do with kids' in South East Queensland (specifically Brisbane and surrounds). As the Listings Editor of the popular Families Magazine (2013 - 2020), she was instrumental in hunting down and finding all the best things to do for families and sharing that information with her audience. She is extremely community-minded and makes it her personal mission to contribute content that is low cost (or free!) and suitable for families. This thirst for knowledge and desire to experience the things she writes about makes her an irreplaceable member of the team. Now working for blogs as a free-lancer, she contributes around raising two smaller humans and working with many, many more.

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