Providing Childcare While Parents Are Home

It can be challenging to provide childcare with parents home. How do you interact with the parents? Should you hang around them or create a level of separation? What if the kids are having separation anxiety and just want mom who is within plain sight? There are SO many nuances to consider. Here are a few ways to approach it from caregivers and specialists in this area!

Review our education session dedicated to this subject. This is hosted by Kristina Vossler, but contains the perspective and voices of various Caregivers within backup care.
Review “How to provide child care while parents are home and make it work” by Latasha Doyle. Latasha Doyle is a content and copy specialist living outside of Denver, CO. A retired nanny with over 10 years of experience, Latasha worked with families who needed care for newborns, school-aged kids, and even aging parents. After she retired from #nannylife, she began writing for publications and clients that allowed her to channel her passion for caregiving.

Additionally, we’ve compiled a few takeaways for you here:

Communicate well with the parents – It’s important to have a clear understanding of everyone’s roles to avoid any confusion and tension that can arise when you, parents, and children are all together in the same space. Communicating clearly with the parent is the most important way to set expectations early on. Be sure to ask questions in your intro call that’ll give you a better understanding of how the day will go. To start, it’s helpful to ask they parent if they (or another adult) be home working during the day while you are providing care.
Stick to designated spaces – If parents will be working from home, it’s beneficial to ask what they prefer when it comes to boundaries within the home, especially if they have meetings or need uninterrupted time to focus. They may want the children to play in a separate area of the house, away from their office or workspace.
Set ground rules + establish authority – We recommend talking with the parents to make sure you’re both on the same page. Some parents might be ok with their kids seeking them out during their workday, others will want you to maintain authority and set boundaries so they can limit their own interactions to focus on work. If possible, ask the parents to speak directly to their kids about what they’ve decided so there’s no room for confusion.
Be prepared for parent pop-ins – Whether they’re just going to the bathroom, want to say “hi” to the kids or they need to walk through the house to get to their office or bedroom, these parent sightings can lead to a disruption in your activities and even to a meltdown. To avoid this it’s important to create clear lines of communication. Texting is a simple way for you and the parent(s) to communicate without the child(ren) being upset by their parent’s presence. Have the parent text you when they need to leave the house or grab a snack so you can make sure the child is occupied.
Find ways to have fun – Ultimately, the parents have called you in to help them out— so even though it can feel strange to take charge of kids with a parent around, they’re relying on you so they can focus on something else. Focus on having fun and to distract the child(ren) from their parents’ presence.