Are you a working-class mum? Then grab your seat belt and relax because these free online childcare training courses with certificates are best for you to learn how to leave your kids in the hands of a caregiver.
Growing up as a kid, I remember my mum leaving me and my siblings in the care of house helps and nannies due to their busy schedules. We literally spend the whole day with them and only get to meet our parents when they are back from work in the evening.
Honestly speaking, life was a living hell then because we didn’t get the love and care our parents usually gave us from our nannies and the sad thing is that we cannot tell our parents about it because we were often threatened by them.
Just like my mum, a lot of business engaged and working-class mothers have left their children in the hands of nannies that know little or nothing about childcare, and these nannies have inflicted more harm than good on the children which have led to poor health, development and well being of the child.
Assuming these mothers have a knowledge of child psychology with the aid of online courses, they would have known better.
What is Child Care
Childcare also known as daycare is the care and supervision given to a child or multiple children at a time, whose age ranges from two weeks to eighteen weeks.
Childcare is also the care of children, especially by a crèche, nursery, or childminder while parents are working.
Professional caregivers work within the context of center-based care (including crèches, daycare, preschools, and schools) or home-based care (nannies or family daycare).
The majority of child care institutions available require child care providers to have extensive training in first aid and be CPR certified. In addition, background checks, drug testing at all centers, and reference verification are normally a requirement.
we have written an article on professional online care courses that caregivers can enroll in and get certified
Child care can consist of advanced learning environments that include early childhood education or elementary education. The objective of the program of daily activities should be to foster incremental developmental progress in a healthy and safe environment and should be flexible to capture the interests of the children and their individual abilities.
It also consists of a fun environment where kids can not only learn but also play educational games that will help in the development of their brain cells.
Types of Childcare
Mother’s Helper
A mother’s helper is a child care provider who watches and entertains a child while a parent is still home. These helpers are often younger than the parent (perhaps around junior high age) and may lack the experience of an established babysitter.
Babysitter
A babysitter is an individual hired by the hour to care for children. They may work during the day or night, and they may watch the child at your home or theirs. Babysitting is usually a part-time job that a person holds in addition to many other things, such as attending school or working other jobs.
Nanny
A nanny is a person that provides childcare. The care is given within the children’s family setting. A nanny may live in or out of the house, depending on their circumstances and those of their employers.
Depending on the circumstances, a nanny can be one of the following
- A Live-in Nanny: Typically, a live-in nanny is responsible for the entire care of the children of their employers. This includes anything from washing the children’s clothes, tidying the children’s rooms, supervising homework, preparing children’s meals, taking children to and from school, and taking children to after-school sports and/or activities.
- Night Nanny: The night nanny usually works with a family anywhere from one night to seven nights per week. A night nanny generally works with children from newborn to five years of age. A night nanny can provide a teaching role, helping parents to establish good sleeping patterns or troubleshooting the sleeping patterns of a child.
- Nanny Share: Some families use what is known as a ‘nanny share’, where two or more families pay for the same nanny to care for the children in each family on a part-time basis.
Au Pair
An au pair is a person from a different country who provides live-in child care for a family. In French, the phrase au pair means “at par,” or “equal to” as the au pair is supposed to be considered a member of the family.
Au pair duties can include anything related to caring for the children, but usually do not include house cleaning.
Day Care Centre
A daycare center provides child care in a nonresidential, drop-off facility. Some daycare centers allow for hour-by-hour care but must provide either half-or full-day services that include activities, meals, naps, and possibly outings.
Centers can provide more structured learning opportunities and good opportunities for social development with other children.
Family Daycare
A family daycare center, or home daycare center, is child care provided in someone else’s home. Family daycares can be cheaper than a traditional daycare center and may be conveniently located in your neighborhood. They often have fewer children, which may make some kids and parents feel more comfortable.
Relative Care
Relative care is when a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or other family member helps with the children. This type of care is beneficial, as someone you already know is caring for your child, but it can also add potential stress to a family relationship if you find it difficult to communicate your expectations to a relative.
Some family members (especially ones who are retired) may be willing to provide child care for free, but you should be prepared to discuss some form of payment or compensation for their time and effort.
Child Care Swap
A child care swap involves two or more parents alternating days to watch each other’s children in addition to their own. These arrangements are free and can be very convenient, but they require clear communication between the parents involved about expectations, availability, and reciprocity.
Importance of Childcare
High-quality child care keeps children safe and healthy. In addition, it helps children develop skills they will need for success in school and their lives outside of school:
- Social, emotional, and communication skills
- Pre-literacy and basic mathematical skills and concepts
- An awareness of their environment and the roles of the people in it.
Benefits of Childcare
Here are a few ways that your child can benefit from child care and development both now and in the future
- The child will develop good habits
- It gives the child the opportunity to develop social skills
- It will help them form healthy relationships with other children
- It will help them learn how to get along with other children, share and take turns, listen to others, communicate their ideas and become independent.
- Children learn literacy skills by listening to stories, talking about pictures, and drawing shapes on paper. They learn numeracy skills by singing and playing music or pouring sand into containers of different sizes.
- Little ones who attend childcare often eat many of their meals with other children and they tend to like to mimic their peers so you’ll sometimes find that they are more open to trying new foods and healthier choices as childminders and nurseries are expected to offer a healthy range of food. These social aspects of eating together can play a big part in broadening their palette.
Free Online Childcare Training Courses with Certificates
Below is the compiled list of free online childcare training courses with certificates that you can enroll in and learn.
1. Understanding Children and Young People’s Mental Health
This course is designed for mums who want to learn more about the mental health of children and adolescents.
This qualification facilitates progression to higher-level mental health qualifications and employment in the health and social care or education sectors.
The course will give you a better understanding of the mental health conditions that affect children and young people.
The duration of learning this course is 4 weeks and it is one of the free online childcare training courses with certificates.
2. Challenging Behavior in Children
This course will give you a thorough understanding of challenging behavior in children, how such behavior can be assessed, and the avoidance techniques that can help minimize the effects of challenging behavior.
This course will help examine different coexisting conditions, such as mental health conditions, sensory issues, learning disabilities, and autism
The duration of learning this course is 4 weeks and it is one of the free online childcare training courses with certificates.
3. Introduction to Child Psychology
This free online Childcare training course is appropriate for anyone, whether you are a beginner that is getting to the intermediate or advanced level or you are an expert, looking to brush up on your skills. The course is a visual, audible, and written program.
It is intended to teach you everything you need to know about child psychology and the psychology of caregiving. You will be able to know how a child’s mental health affects its development.
The duration of the course is 8 hours and it is one of the free online childcare training courses with certificates.
4. Attachment in the Early Years
This free online childcare training course with certificates explains how you should care for your child. The ultimate goal is to ensure their physical, mental, and spiritual well-being through adequate social exposure.
Teachers or caregivers, parents, and children must work together to achieve this goal.
The duration of this course is 8 hours and it is one of the free online childcare training courses with certificates.
5. Early Years of Teamwork and Leadership
This intermediate-level course explains how teamwork benefits your child’s development. It also includes advice on how to develop good leaders for future challenges.
Do not pass up the opportunity to learn how to care for your children until they reach adulthood and achieve their goals.
The duration of this course is 8 hours and it is one of the free online childcare training courses with certificates.
6. Lessons on Abusive Head Trauma (Shaken Baby Syndrome)
The goal of this course is to educate caregivers and parents to reduce the number of children who die as a result of abuse. As a result, this is a must-learn course for anyone who enjoys seeing children’s happy smiles.
The duration of this course is 2 hours and it is one of the free online childcare training courses with certificates.
7. Parental Separation – Implications for the School
This free online childcare training course will teach about the effects of parental Separation on a child’s school staff, and identify the roles and responsibilities of the child after parental separation.
This course will cover topics such as parental separation, parental rights, custody disputes, and the courts, children in care, school communication, and school collection requirements based on parental status, among others.
It starts with a definition of guardianship and then moves on to the responsibilities of a guardian, which include properly caring for the child’s education, health, religious upbringing, and general welfare.
The duration of this course is 3 to 5 hours and it is one of the free online childcare training courses with certificates.
8. Activity-Based Support in Inclusive Preschool and School-Age Childcare
Through this free online childcare training course, you will learn how to use a child’s various abilities for effective guidance.
This is appropriate for parents caregivers and teachers. Being an expert in this field helps to instill confidence in children and an understanding of the importance of supporting one another
The duration of this course is 2 hours and it is one of the free online childcare training courses with certificates.
9. Anti-Bullying Training
This is one of the free online childcare training courses with certificates. This course will provide parents and teachers with useful information and basic tools to address bullying.
You’ll see why this is such a pressing issue, and you’ll realize that all children involved, both those who are bullied and those who bully, require assistance.
You’ll also learn about cyberbullying and the laws that protect you from it. In this course, you will learn how to protect children from self-doubt and suffering in bullying incidents.
Bullying children exhibit certain behavioral characteristics that will be discussed to help you understand how to recognize the problem and more importantly how to solve it.
The duration of this course is 1 to 5 hours and it is one of the free online childcare training courses with certificates.
10. Diploma in Special Needs
This free online childcare training course with a certificate will teach you and give you more information on how to approach children with developmental disorders such as Autism, ADHD, and anxiety disorders.
You will learn about the problems and characteristics of children facing such developmental disorders
The duration of this course is 6 to 10 hours and it is one of the free online childcare training courses with certificates.
11. The Power of Positive Parenting
This free online childcare training course with a certificate is based on Dr. Glenn Latham’s book of the same name.
The 27 lessons of this course are available in video, audio, and text and delve into topics such as proactive responses to behaviors, dealing with anger, alternatives to spanking, eliminating tantrums, toilet training, and sibling rivalry.
It is one of the free online childcare training courses with certificates.