Tabby is turning 8 months old next week (where did that time go?! I’m fairly certain I only just gave birth to her…) and as she is a crawling, non-napping fiend who is permanently on the go, finding opportunities to work from home during the day are proving more than a little bit tricky. So I’ve started looking into a range of different childcare options for her.
We adored the Nursery that H-Bear attended before Preschool, but I’m not quite ready to send her at the moment (although I’m more than certain that she would have the best time!). And also, with the other two at school full-time from September, the final post-school pick up hours of a Nursery day would be a waste as I wouldn’t be able to work due to the school run etc.
I’d not heard of Childcare.co.uk before, but I’m so glad I’ve been introduced to the website. Childcare.co.uk is an award-winning online social networking platform for parents, childcare providers and private tutors. The platform has over 2 million members and there are a plethora of childcare options. From babysitters, to nannies, to private tutors. They even have doulas registered on the website.
It’s free to register and create an account, and the website’s interface is incredibly easy to use. You just have to enter basic data: your postcode/location plus what sort of childcare you’d like to search for, to bring up numerous results.
I decided to search for a nanny, as I thought this would be the most suitable childcare option for life at the moment – and as nannies work from your own house, I’d be able to pop into the lounge or kitchen at lunchtime to see Tabby.
I was so impressed with how many results came up for my search! There seem to be lots of nannies locally in Hull and the surrounding villages, and I had a good peruse through a few profiles. What I really like about the Childcare.co.uk website is that it has a number of safety checks in place, so if the childcare provider hasn’t uploaded proof of certain documents (the DBS check, for example), then the website warns you of this in the summary in their profile.
Another thing I really like about the website is that childcare providers state their hourly fee upfront, which means you can take that into account before you contact them. You can contact the childcare providers through the messaging service on the platform, and it also says when they were last active, which is a very useful tool.
From my searching, I’ve created a shortlist of profiles to look through with Nick and contact if we decide to proceed.
I’ve been very impressed with the Childcare.co.uk website. It’s incredibly easy to use and is a brilliant platform to assist in your search perfect childcare provider.
I found the loveliest of Childminders’s via childcare.co.uk ! Good site !