By Elaine Wilson, AFPS
April 30, 2010
elaine.wilson@dma.mil
Finding good, quality child care is never an easy task to tackle. I’ve shuttled my children from child development centers to in-home day care centers to a series of before- and after-school programs, all in a quest to find the best solution for our lifestyle and my work demands.
My latest solution is an au pair, a live-in provider from overseas. I loved the idea of a live-in caregiver who also can teach my children about a different culture.
After a week of training in New York, I picked up my Colombian au pair, Lady, at a nearby bus stop recently. She seemed a bit dazed at first and understandably so. This was her first time away from home, and Northern Virginia can seem a bit overwhelming to any newcomer.
My kids were a bit overwhelmed at first, too. “What if I can’t understand her?” my daughter asked me right before we picked the au pair up.
Lady’s settling in now and adapting, as are my children, with an ease that seems to come so naturally to youth. And my daughter can understand her just fine. I love that she’s teaching my children Spanish and all about her culture, and she seems eager to learn about ours as well. I’m excited about the upcoming year and what it will offer all of us.
But the path to this point wasn’t easy. Finding quality child care takes an inordinate amount of time, effort and, in some cases, money.
Fortunately, our military families have some great resources to help them along the way.
Military families not only have on-base child development centers, family child care homes and youth centers to provide quality care, they also have free access to Sittercity, a Web site that provides one of the nation’s largest online sources for finding local babysitters, nannies, elder care providers, dog walkers, housekeepers and tutors. The site contains more than a million caregiver profiles.
The site is operated by the Sittercity Corporate Program, and membership for military members and their families, including active duty, Guard and Reserve, is funded by the Department of Defense. To activate the free membership, go to http://www.sittercity.com/dod.
The membership gives military families access to a custom-built Defense Department Web site portal where they can match up caregivers to their situation; gain instant access to caregiver profiles that include background checks, references and reviews; and find military-certified care providers as well as caregivers who are military-subsidized and authorized access to a military installation.
Since the program launched at the end of January, more than 10,000 military families have signed up for Sittercity memberships, a Sittercity spokeswoman told me.
The site also can help military spouses seeking employment. They can sign up as care providers, with no charge for the listing, at http://www.sittercity.com/militarysitters and apply for military or nonmilitary jobs. The site averages a new job posting every four minutes, the spokeswoman said.
I think this is a great resource for military families, particularly when moving to a new area where the child care situation is an unknown.
Families also can find information on a variety of child care options through their child development and installation youth services programs and on online at Military OneSource .