Building a good relationship with your childcarer - advice for parents

It is important for your child’s health, safety and wellbeing that you work in close partnership with yourchildcarer, whether they are employed by you or self employed.

Working in partnership is a 2-way process - you should be equally involved in making decisions and sharing information about you child’s learning, development and care needs with your childcarer.

It is very important that your childcarer asks you about your child’s home experiences because you know your child best: so during the initial days of a child’s time with their childcarer, you will be asked lots of questions about your child’s learning and care at home... this will then develop into daily and weekly information sharing, regular meetings to discuss the progress your child is making and chats via telephone, email, text etc depending on preference.

You should value the work your childcarer does with your child and be ready to answer questions and offer feedback and information about them to ensure your child’s needs are always met. 

Here are some more ways to enhance your relationship with your childcarer:

• Pay on time! This might sound obvious but it will make a very big difference to your relationship.
• Be clear about your expectations - do not let problems fester - if you have a problem you should let your childcarer know as quickly as possible so it can be discussed.
• Be caring - it can be difficult if your childcarer takes time off unexpectedly because of a family problem or illness, but do remember to send a message asking how things are going.
• Remember birthdays and special occasions - and give your childcarer a card and maybe small gift. It makes a big difference if your childcarer feels appreciated.
• Back up your childcarer in front of the children - discuss it together later if necessary but try to present a united front when the children are present.
• Read any documents your childcarer gives you and, if requested, reply promptly - we are all busy people but we need to work together and your childcarer will not be asking you to complete paperwork without good reason.
• Dress your child in play clothes so it doesn’t matter if they get messy.
• Appreciate that your childcarer might not just look after your children. Sometimes they have to consider the views of lots of different families before making plans or changing their daily routines to accommodate one child’s needs. Compromise is very important if your relationship is to succeed.
• Raise your child’s self esteem by offering praise eg if your childcarer tells you about something wonderful they have done or shows you their special work display it at home.
• Don’t mask illness with infant paracetamol or leave your child when you know they are ill. An ill child needs to be at home with their parents.

Most of all - be honest and approachable. Your childcarer is dedicated to promoting your child’s health and wellbeing just like you!