Your kids are the most important part of your life and their development is one of the top most priorities for every parent in this world. The various phrases of the growth of our child are one of the most enjoyable experiences in every parent’s life. But in today’s busy times, some parents are not able to take time out from their hectic schedules and spend some quality time with their children. As a result parents have to hand over this responsibility to their relatives or family members.

But having their relatives to care for their children can prove to be a very critical decision for both the parents as well as the children. It has a variety of advantages as well as disadvantages. Given below are some of the pros and cons of making a relative to care for their kids.

Some of the advantages are:

• Trustworthy: One of the most important reasons which tend to make parents hand over the responsibility of their children to the family members is the factor of trust. There are a variety of childcare options that are available but none of them can provide so many guarantees regarding the care of a child as a family member can. The parents can be very sure that the relative being a part of the family, would genuinely be concerned about the health, well being as well as the happiness of the baby.
   
• Child grows with same values and principles: One of the other factors being considered by the parents is that the people working in the childcare under whose guidance their children would grow up may teach the kids certain values and principles that do not correspond to their family values.
   
• Home like Environment: If a child is under the care of a relative he can be allowed to stay at his own place or the relative’s home where a familiar environment is made available to him.
   
• Health benefits: Another advantage of staying with a relative is that the probability of the child catching various infections such as ear infection or cold becomes very low.
   
• No worries if you are late sometimes: A certain amount of flexibility is also offered as a result of relative-care. The parents need not worry so much if they are returning late from work.
   
• Responsibility shared: If the child is still in a playschool then the relative can also take up the responsibility of dropping and picking up the kid.

• No professionalism: It may be difficult to establish a relationship that is strictly professional with the caregiver of your child. This lack of professionalism may prohibit you to talk about something that you don’t like in your child’s upbringing.
   
• Differences in beliefs: Some of the relatives from the generation of our parents may have the feeling that they possess more experience of handling a child than the parents themselves. There may be a large difference in the beliefs of the relatives and the ideas of the parents themselves.
  
  If the set up is that of a joint family then your relatives may not be very clear about the childcare responsibility. It is essential that the relatives as well as the parents should agree up on the expectations that are related to childcare.
   
• When things go out of plan: An alternate plan should always be ready in case the relative is not well. Caregiver options that are temporary should always be kept as a substitute.
   
• Appreciation issues: Tension over appreciating as well as acknowledging the efforts of the relatives may also arise. For instance the parents might offer monetary compensation to the relatives and the relative may also be interested in taking it, but may not be able to accept it openly and in the end it may lead to subtle jibes by them to the parents.
   
• Age differences: Living with a grown up person may get quite boring for a child and the kid may not be able to spend time with other kids who belong to his own age.
   
• Lack of Energy: Another disadvantage can be the fact that there is a lack of energy in the relative to stimulate as well as entertain the kid. The relative may also be unable to safeguard the child against some accidents that may take place.

Thus, it should be very carefully decided by the parents whether they want their children to grow up in the care of a relative or in a crèche. This is a decision which could affect the entire life of their children.