When we decided the time was right to have children and become parents, something that I didn’t think about was child care. When your a new parent, the thought of leaving your baby is the furthest thing from your mind. But over time as they become older and your life moves on, that changes.
I went back to work part time in between having my children, and at that time we were lucky that both sets of grandparents were willing to help with looking after Alice. Which we were both extremely grateful for and it meant I could go to work safe in the knowledge Alice was being well looked after.
When Holly came along, I didn’t return to my previous job and I set up on my own. I mainly work from home and manage my workload around the children. But sometimes my work means attending events and I have to often find child care during the school holidays. Whilst grandparents can occasionally help, they aren’t getting any younger and they also love to go away. After all that’s what retirement is all about!
It means we’re often looking for alternative childcare arrangements. I’ve been recently looking at Childcare.co.uk , which is the biggest UK’s online community of parents, child care providers, household helpers, schools and private tutors.
Childcare.co.uk has 2 million users since it launched in 2009, and it is the winner of countless prestigious awards. You can easily access it via iOS and Android mobile apps, as well as through Amazon Alexa. You’re put directly in touch with local childcare services, depending what your needs are. I found the process really well thought through and easy to follow.
I don’t find it easy leaving my children, and having only previously left them with grandparents, the thought of leaving them with someone I didn’t know was something that didn’t come easy for me. What made the process easier for me, was that with Childcare.co.uk you can search for people that have my required levels of documents, checks and references. This was a big comfort for me.
During my whole time as a parent, one thing that I love is another parents recommendation. Whether they are recommending clothes, food, places to visit etc it is always a comfort to know that they were impressed enough to recommend it. I know that I would only recommend something to another parent, if I felt strongly enough about it. Which is why I loved the reviews section of the site. Childcare.co.uk allow parents to leave reviews on childcare providers, which means you can instantly get a feel for that provider.
During the whole process I felt that my privacy and safety was the most important thing, members use a messaging system, which means you do not need to give out any personal contact information, including their email address, until you wish to. Childcare.co.uk has tips on how to stay safe on the platform, including ways to protect yourself when initially making contact.
What I like about Childcare.co.uk is that everything I need as a parent is in one place. Parents are busy and don’t have time to be browsing lots of different places. This was an instant plus for me. All my messages and checks were contained within the platform and I could do all this, whilst still remaining anonymous. I wouldn’t want to give my address out without trusting the person and this allows me to make initial contact and checks with our disclosing this information.
I now feel reassured that when a time comes in the future that we need childcare, I can now come to Childcare.co.uk and have options available.
Disclosure: I was asked to review this site and I was compensated for my time. All views and opinions are my own.
