Small, large or just the right number

Rebecca Poole wanted Bodie to have carers with enough time to concentrate on him. Photo / Doug Sherring

When Rebecca Poole returned to work part-time as an engineering geologist, she thoroughly researched childcare options for her baby son Bodie.

The smaller care providers she checked out seemed too quiet and small, she says, and the ones with 18 babies or more felt like "chaos".

She ended up choosing a centre neither too big, nor too small - but just right. Kindercare Learning Centre in Auckland's Grey Lynn has about 12 children, with a ratio of one adult for every three children.

She pays $70 a day, three days a week and feels the cost is worth it for quality care. Bodie has a key carer in charge of him and other carers to help as well. The key carer writes a daily report about what he does, everything from him enjoying water play to a particular toy capturing his imagination.

Bodie cried when he was first left in care, aged nine months. But he quickly developed an attachment to the carers, and now "beams" when he's dropped off in the morning.

Poole says the thought of leaving Bodie in a centre with 149 other kids is ridiculous. "I don't think that's smart," she says. "Kids need a lot of attention. I don't know how you would have enough eyes to watch them all."