A family childcare provider continues the parent's role of caregiver, nurturer,comforter, and first teacher.  The provider is not just a baby-sitter.  A sitter comes into your home for a few hours.  You tell her what you want for your child.  A family childcare provider welcomes you and your child into her home.  She decides about meals, schedules and safety.  She organizes the children's activities.  She may ask for your ideas.  She will appreciate your family values and child rearing practices.  She is a professional and you can rely on her judgement.  Working together as a team, you provide the best for your child.  The provider is not a substitute for you.  You are the most important person in your child's life and the provider respects that.

Here are just a few of the advantages of home childcare:

Your child receives individual attention.

There is structure with more flexibility than in a center.

There is less illness because there are fewer people in and out, which means fewer germs are spread to your child.

Your child is well cared for and taught by a trained childcare professional who is usually a mother as well.

Children have an opportunity to play with and learn with others in a much smaller group than in a center.

Your child has the same caregiver all day, every day.  And there is one person who knows exactly what your child has done, eaten, etc. throughout the day.

It is possible for your child to remain with the same provider from infancy up to or through school age.

You and your child are treated as part of the family in a childcare home rather than being just another number in a large center.