Start during the pregnancy, not after
This is the most useful advice on the page, and the one most often given too late. In high-demand areas, nursery places are booked in the second trimester, and the most sought-after childminders are full six to twelve months ahead. An application made at the birth arrives, almost everywhere, after the places have gone.
The practical rule: register everywhere, early, including places you are not sure you want. Withdrawing is free; having no solution in September is not.
The four options, compared honestly
| Group setting | Nursery, day care, kindergarten. Qualified staff, fixed hours, early socialising, closure when your child is ill. The cheapest option for lower-income families where fees are income-related, and the hardest to obtain. |
|---|---|
| Registered home carer | A childminder or family day carer, registered and inspected, looking after a few children in her own home. Flexible hours, a family setting, but dependence on one person — her holidays and sick days are yours. |
| Nanny at home | Someone comes to you, alone or in a nanny share between two families. The most flexible and the most expensive; a nanny share halves the cost and remains the sector's best-kept secret. |
| Family | Grandparents and relatives. Free, warm, and the leading cause of family arguments about upbringing. Set it out explicitly: days, hours, rules, and what happens if it stops working. |
What it really costs
The advertised rate means nothing until you subtract support and add the extras. Four items are systematically forgotten:
- Consumables paid to a home carer: nappies, meals, equipment, on top of the fee.
- Extra hours: a 40-hour contract billed at 45 because you arrive at 6.20 three times a week.
- Holiday weeks: paid or unpaid depending on the contract, and the annual difference is substantial.
- Tax relief or credits, which change the ranking of the options relative to each other.
The useful comparison is therefore net annual cost per hour of care after support, not the advertised hourly rate.
Finding someone you trust
- Care.com, the largest international network, across North America and Europe.
- Childcare.co.uk and Koru Kids, widely used in the United Kingdom.
- Babysits and Sitly, active in around twenty European countries.
- Yoopies, strong across French-speaking Europe.
- Public registers: in most countries the local authority publishes the list of registered carers and their vacancies. Free, reliable and consistently under-used.
What to check, whatever the platform
Official registration, public liability insurance, paediatric first aid training, two references you actually telephone, and a written contract. A settling-in period of several days, with you present and then absent, is not a courtesy: it is how you see what the person does when the child cries.
Questions to ask at interview
- How many children do you look after, and what ages?
- What do you do when a child will not eat, will not sleep, or bites?
- What screens, when, and for how long?
- Do you go out every day, and where?
- What happens if you are ill, and do you have cover?
- How will you tell me about the day?
What the research says about group care
The major longitudinal studies agree: good-quality care from the second year has no adverse effect on development and has a positive effect on language and school readiness, particularly for children from lower-income homes. The decisive variable is not the type of care but its quality — the adult-to-child ratio, staff stability, and the quality of interactions. A poor nursery is not better than an attentive childminder, and the reverse is equally true.
The thing nobody plans for
The first year of childcare is a year of illness: colds, ear infections and stomach bugs, repeatedly. It is normal and it passes, but it means around ten days of unplanned absence to absorb. Couples who decide in advance who stays home, alternating, get through that year far better than those who improvise each time.
The law country by country
The legal framework, the procedure, the time limits and the costs differ from one country to another. Each country below has a detailed page: governing texts, key facts, the actual procedure, costs, where to go and the traps to avoid.
Select a country to open its detailed page.