Child Care options, choices and costs

It seems the subject of child care in Australia pops up in the news quite regularly. It can place a huge cost on families, even with government rebates and benefits (for any non-Australian readers, Australian families can get a discount on childcare fees up to a certain amount per year, and if both parents are working or studying a certain amount of hours a fortnight, they can also receive half their out of pocket costs back - again, up to a certain amount, which can help take the pressure off the cost of parents working).

When I first became a parent I thought I would never need childcare. Then reality set in, and by my eldest daughter's first birthday, we had enrolled her for one day a week at a local long day care centre. She loved it there, and it gave her so many positive experiences. By this time I had returned to work 2 days per week, so it also gave me a few hours to myself - priceless!

When first choosing childcare for our daughter, Anthony and I only really explored long day care (as it is called here), where the children are dropped off at a purpose-built centre and spend the day with their carers and other kids in their own age bracket. It worked well for our first daughter, and we paid about $40 a session for her to be there, after our rebates and other government assistance.

By the time our eldest was 3, a friend of ours begun working as a Family Day Carer. This child care option is where up to 4 non-school-aged children are cared for in a small group in the carer's own home, which is set up to meet a lot of safety requirements. The only major difference is nappies and food are not included with most Family Day Carers.

When our daughter was 3.5 years old, and I was quite pregnant with Baby #2, we swapped from long day care to my friend's Family Day Care, and with the amount of money we saved each week I kind of wish we had explored this option sooner,

As I was now no longer in paid work (and at home full-time), our Long Day Care fees were about $30 a session, where Family Day Care cost us about $7 a day out of pocket. Big, BIG difference.

Fast forward to the here and now, and our eldest is now in primary school, but Miss 2 is currently attending another Family Day Care twice a week. We enrolled her with our current carer about 12 months ago. Once Miss 2 turned 1 year old I began to research local Long Day Care centres, and again the price difference between LDC and FDC was about 50%.

Given all it takes is me packing an extra lunch, nappies and snacks on Miss 2's FDC days, for us it is worth the little extra time to save over $20 a day, or $40 a week. Although day care is an expense we are choosing for our family (it's not like I'm working outside the home and it is a necessary expense) and I consider it a big luxury for myself (even though Miss 2 benefits from it as well), I am still so glad we did some investigating and found the cheapest, best option for us.

Having experienced both Long and Family Day Care as a parent, I can see pros and cons for each aside from the financial savings using FDC.

I like that Family Day care is a smaller group of children. Our carer has no children of her own (though has 10+ years in the childcare industry, including time spent working as a private Nanny), so I know there will only be up to 3 other kids with her, and she won't get "lost" in the group. I like that with FDC the children get to go on outings to local parks, the library and organised playgroups (at the Carer's discretion and with parental permission). I like the consistency of getting to know the carer better than in a Centre, for my children's' sake and my own.

Of course I would suggest to any parent looking for child care options to go and explore each kind of care before ruling out one over the other, and go with your gut feeling. I think care for your child should not be primarily a financially based choice, BUT we have been amazed at the quality of private care that is out there for a fraction of the cost of a big-name centre.