Living
Babysitting & Childcare
There are different ways to acquire a babysitter in New York City – a place which, its low crime rate notwithstanding, can still be a scary place to rear a child. The first, most preferable method is word of mouth. Starting with your obstetrician and continuing with anyone you meet – other mothers, nurses and caretakers, mothers’ groups (take a visit to www.babybites.nyc, www.clubmom.com and www.cafemom.com, for example), friendly neighbours, and family and personal friends – always ask for personal, direct references and then take the time to interview the person, asking carefully developed questions. Ideally, babysitters should be able to offer references that you can check out by phone. Babysitting is by far the most popular method for young people to make a little extra non-allowance income if they aren’t yet old enough to get a part-time job. Usually, these are junior high school-age girls.
Or you may feel like you want to take your newborn or toddler wherever you go. Fortunately, certain amenities like baby-changing stations are very popular and not hard to find. Not every retail store or restaurant will have one – always ask – but their presence is increasing all the time. Other kinds of heavily-trafficked public establishments, like gyms, may offer short-term oversee services, so always ask about those as well.
Meanwhile, here are some additional ways to procure a babysitter. For one, examine the listings on craigslist.org, but just know that you’ll be reading each advertisement and then determining who to call from there. A terrific website, sittercity.com, is one of the more well-constructed databases out there: a sample search using the zip code 10036 (representing Midtown) yields more than 100 immediate possibilities, and there are mini-bios to help you separate the wheat from the chaff. There’s also a perennial favourite, the Baby Sitters Guild (www.babysittersguild.com), founded in 1940.
Daycare centres aren’t hard to find in New York, although one should note that very few companies offer them on-site as opposed to many suburban offices, where they are frequently more de rigueur. The local government of New York City, under the auspices of the Department of Health, offers a list of daycare facilities at www.nyc.gov. This is broken down by borough – the table for the borough of Queens, for example, has more than 400 alone – and is often updated. If you click on the ‘more info’ tab next to each listing, you can also learn about any recent violations of the city health code and whether (and when and how) they were corrected. The age of the children that each daycare centre accepts can vary, always make inquiries and pay appropriate visits before making a choice.
According to the city’s classification protocol, there are four kinds of licensed daycare facilities: group childcare facilities (‘seven or more children located in an institutional setting’), group family daycare (‘homes of six to 12 children in the home of an unrelated family’), family daycare (‘child care homes of no more than three to six children in the home of an unrelated family’) and school-age programme (‘care provided on a regular basis to seven or more school-age children under 13 years of age’). Different governmental structures oversee each of these types.
For daycare centres that charge fees (most do), expect to pay a healthy sum – between $800 and $1200 a month, or more in some cases, depending on location, services, amenities, community stature, reputation and other factors. By comparison, nannies, which are rarely chosen by typical New Yorkers – that is, except by the comparatively wealthy – can run $9-12 an hour or up to $20 an hour, varying according to what’s expected of them and the number of hours they must put in. Up to 40 hours is standard, but in some families, 60 hours or more each week is the norm. Obviously, this can add up.
Or you may feel like you want to take your newborn or toddler wherever you go. Fortunately, certain amenities like baby-changing stations are very popular and not hard to find. Not every retail store or restaurant will have one – always ask – but their presence is increasing all the time. Other kinds of heavily-trafficked public establishments, like gyms, may offer short-term oversee services, so always ask about those as well.
Meanwhile, here are some additional ways to procure a babysitter. For one, examine the listings on craigslist.org, but just know that you’ll be reading each advertisement and then determining who to call from there. A terrific website, sittercity.com, is one of the more well-constructed databases out there: a sample search using the zip code 10036 (representing Midtown) yields more than 100 immediate possibilities, and there are mini-bios to help you separate the wheat from the chaff. There’s also a perennial favourite, the Baby Sitters Guild (www.babysittersguild.com), founded in 1940.
Daycare centres aren’t hard to find in New York, although one should note that very few companies offer them on-site as opposed to many suburban offices, where they are frequently more de rigueur. The local government of New York City, under the auspices of the Department of Health, offers a list of daycare facilities at www.nyc.gov. This is broken down by borough – the table for the borough of Queens, for example, has more than 400 alone – and is often updated. If you click on the ‘more info’ tab next to each listing, you can also learn about any recent violations of the city health code and whether (and when and how) they were corrected. The age of the children that each daycare centre accepts can vary, always make inquiries and pay appropriate visits before making a choice.
According to the city’s classification protocol, there are four kinds of licensed daycare facilities: group childcare facilities (‘seven or more children located in an institutional setting’), group family daycare (‘homes of six to 12 children in the home of an unrelated family’), family daycare (‘child care homes of no more than three to six children in the home of an unrelated family’) and school-age programme (‘care provided on a regular basis to seven or more school-age children under 13 years of age’). Different governmental structures oversee each of these types.
For daycare centres that charge fees (most do), expect to pay a healthy sum – between $800 and $1200 a month, or more in some cases, depending on location, services, amenities, community stature, reputation and other factors. By comparison, nannies, which are rarely chosen by typical New Yorkers – that is, except by the comparatively wealthy – can run $9-12 an hour or up to $20 an hour, varying according to what’s expected of them and the number of hours they must put in. Up to 40 hours is standard, but in some families, 60 hours or more each week is the norm. Obviously, this can add up.
