Child Care Tips How Much To Pay Your Sitter Babysitter And Your Pet Child Care How to Select a Child Care Center When Is Your Teen Ready to Babysit Choosing a Nursery School Things to do with your preschooler   Finding  the right child care option is a very time consuming procedure and it takes asking and answering a lot of questions.  You must spend time evaluating your life style and parent philosophies to determine your needs.  Once that is established you can then start the search for the best qualified provider for your child, The first thing to consider when looking for child care is what are your needs? What are your required hours?   Where do you want your child located? (Close to work, close to home)   What setting do you want?  (Day care center or individual home care).   What is the age/ages of children and do you want them in the same location?   What is your budget?   Does your child have any special needs that will need to be addressed?   Lastly, how important is it that your parenting philosophies be shared by the caregiver? Once you have honestly answered these question you will be able to start your search.  This can be done in a variety of ways: Contact a local referral agency to get a list of licensed care providers in your area.   Check local newspapers, bulletin boards and church pamphlets.   Talk to your friends, neighbors, relatives, and co-workers to see if anyone knows of a good babysitter.   Check with your human resources department where you work to see if in fact they have services available to help with this process.  Some large companies have babysitting services on site.   Check with local universities that have early childhood development programs. Just remember that this process will take some time and energy but take your time and be sure you are doing exactly what works best for you.