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When you leave work for your maternity leave the prospect of returning to work and finding childcare seems like an issue that you wont have to address for a long while but before you realise it the time is fast approaching where you are having to make decisions about the care of your child for your return to work.

There are several options to chose from now all of which have their various pros and cons. The options include: nurseries, childminders and nannies.

The positives of nurseries include the fact that there are several members of staff looking after your child. This then means if one is sick you don't have to worry, the nursery (usually) has enough staff to cover sickness and so you don't have to then take time off work- something which you would have to take as annual leave in most businesses. Also, the extra members of staff mean that your child has a variety of adults in their day to day life which can all have positive effects upon them with their varying skills rubbing off. Also in nurseries, staff are trained well- usually courses which last up to two years or more. This then provides you with a good level of reassurance that staff are knowledgeable and well educated within the field of childcare. Other pros of chosing a nursery include the environment is rather like school, your child will get used to being in this environment surrounded by lots of other children and so the step from nursery to school will be less daunting. Nurseries also have to Offsted reports which you are able to see so you can see how well the nursery has faired for cleanliness, education and healthy eating.

Negatives of nurseries tend to be the fact that you may not be happy with the fact that there are so many other children around whilst your child is of nursery age and not school age you may prefer your child to have smaller groups whilst being looked after. Also, nurseries have so many different achievements they have to work towards that maybe their focus may not be what you would expect- they may be so careful to follow the government guidelines that some common sense parenting issues may be overlooked.

The positives of having a childminder may outweigh that of a nursery in some senses but then they do bring up their own negatives too. Positives of a childminder include the fact that usually they are flexible, the childminder has less children to care for and so can mould their days around your working day- usually. They will get to know your child well as they have

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