Things to look for in a daymother

When I set out initially, I thought it could not be that difficult to find a daymother I mean there are lots around.

Here are a couple of tell tale things that should be addressed before you send you bundle of joy to this person.

Why have they chosen this career path?
We all just assume they do this because they love it, but I am afraid that most does this for the money. After a couple of weeks my now ex-daymother as a method to qualm any fears that my daughter would be left daymother destitute kept telling me that she has just bought a new car and would need to keep working to pay this off... Needless to say the sirens went crazy, I should have turned around with my child and left (run) immediately.

Don't get me wrong I do not suppose that money is not one of the reasons they are doing this, but it should not be the guiding factor.

How many children does she look after?
There should not be more than eight (8) children between the ages of birth and three (3). Preferable your daymother should not be doing after-care.

When I started counting - my (previous) daymother had about seventeen (17) kids; including the after care ones which she looked after by herself with a half day maid ever so often. Officially she had ten (10). Already too much for one person to cope with. In my opinion a person can handle four to six (4-6) children by herself, if that daymother wishes to have more then she should get a helper.

Also remember that daymothers with more than six (6) children should also be registered with the local government as a daymother and should be able to provide you with a copy of that registration. I did not know this at that stage, maybe if more of us start looking for "legal" daymothers then less weird and wonderful weirdos will be labelling themselves as that.

Below an outline of the legal allowed:
Size of the property:
Indoor space: Indoor play are after cupboards and other furniture has been taken into account. 2m² per baby 1,5m² per toddler
Outdoor space: 1m² per child at least for the first 30 children. 

Please note: If no outdoor space is available then add 1m² per child to the indoor space required.

Staffing per age group:
House (mixed age groups): 1:6
House with additional structures - residential property, daycare or hall:
0-18 months 1:6
19 months – 3 years 1:15
3 years, 1 month – 6 years 1:25
After school centre 1:35

Routine, does she have one and is she Hitler?
When looking for my second daymother one of the ones I interviewed told me she runs a tight ship, and that all children is dealt with the same way they all eat and sleep at the same time. I was concerned about how a six month old was going to do the sit-down lunches if she was still mainly on bottles. I understand discipline and structure but at the same time should these not be age specific?

Dogs and other pets?
I am not against having pets around children as long as there are protocol about these. My daughter got ringworm at her daymother as all the children was kissing her every morning and afternoon on the forehead. This while there were two dogs around with which they had uninterrupted interaction throughout the day.

Protocol surrounding interaction
What are the daymother's rules regarding the interaction between age groups, as outlined above with all that kissing and hugging going on, my daughter ending up in hospital with a lung virus. I would rather have a daymother that minimizes the amount of interaction between the age group especially if you are taking your baby to daycare in the winter where there are lots of bugs and germs flying around.

What is the rule regarding ill children?
One of the children at the previous daycare was always ill, he walked around with something looking like a crust around his mouth. I ignored it for 2 months and it was to my detriment.

Stimulation?
One of the glorious possible daymothers I interviewed, looked shocked at me asking what stimulation she offered the babies she looks after. Shocked at the idea that after changing her nappy and feeding I expected her to do more...

My previous daymother's idea of stimulation was to tie a plastic bag to my child's car chair for her to play with. Tinylove eat your heart out - who need plastic sounding toys if you could have the real thing? At that stage even no interaction was better... I kept looking.

First Aid training:
This is compulsory for all daymothers, ask yours when she did her course and ask for the certificate just to make sure.

Staffing:
Who else works with the daymother with the children; and have all been medically screened for TB and/or other infectious deceases.

The laws allow that staff with illnesses can retain their jobs but not work with either the children or the food preparation.

I agree that a caring and loving environment is important but I also think that the basics should be covered when looking for the perfect person to look after your child.

If in your struggles to find this person; or wish to lodge a complaint with the relevant local government departments go to:
City of Cape Town

There is also a selection of documentation available on this web site to outline the minimum requirements; below the documents I could find.

Download documents: