Phoenix Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Daycare Help
Never thought the day would come that we would need to put Lulu in daycare...but the time has come and it's completely unexpected. I have no idea how to choose a daycare.
Starting in 2012 I will be working 4 days a week, and my Mom and MIL can each watch Lucy one day a week, so we don't necessarily need a full-time daycare. We like the developmental benefits of public daycare; but think the cost would be lower and quality of care higher, if we hire a nanny. Any info/advice you have would be appreciated: cost, quality of care, public vs. in-home vs. nanny, franchise vs. private providers, etc. Thanks ladies!
Re: Daycare Help
From everything I have read from you ladies on this board, I know I am going to be in the minority here when I say that I am in favor of public daycare facilities. I like the structure and schedules they provide, and I feel it makes an easier transition when it comes time to start school. I don't refer to it as daycare to DS, but rather "school".
With that being said, I do understand that a lot of them are pretty pricey. I remember nearly falling off my chair and freaking out when I was on maternity leave with Blake, and starting calling around asking for pricing. But then again, that was at full time rates. You may have a much better situation here looking for part time rates. We were able to find a lower cost daycare facility that we actually are really happy with. The teachers are very caring and adore our kids. Another bonus with ours is that food/formula is included in the costs, and we get a small discount when we pay for 2 weeks at a time. Although I do not look forward to starting this search over again, we will probably be moving the kids to a different daycare this coming year since DH has taken a job closer to home in Chandler.
The state of AZ offers this website for help in finding locations that are licensed through the state...and they are not just for public facilities, so I would suggest you take a look at it: http://www.arizonachildcare.org/
It's a tough decision. Just keep an open mind and make sure you check references, talk to other parents, and take some tours of either in home or public, whichever you decide on. Good Luck Taylor!
I will tell you what is important to me (in a daycare provider) and give you my opinion. Before my son was born I really thought I wanted him in an in home daycare situation but then I started to get nervous having just one set of eyes on him rather than a daycare setting where there would be lots of teachers and daycare providers on site. Part of the reason for my nervousness was that, at the time, we were living in a part of the country where we didn't know anyone and I didn't really trust anyone enough to take their recommendation.
We ended up sending him to a highly recommended daycare at the Jewish Community Center near where we lived. Some of the teachers had been working there for 20 years. They ADORED my son like he was their son/grandson/nephew. When we moved back to AZ they cried and so did we!! It was a bit more expensive than some of the other daycares in the area but the extra money was so worth it!
When we moved here I wanted to choose a similiar type of place. I also knew that when he was three we'd want to enter him in preschool so I wanted to choose a place where that would be an option. I found a Lutheran school (Preschool-8) right near our house and toured the Daycare there. It was so nice. I love that it is on the campus of an elementary school. He started going there right after he turned two. The class size is small, they do TONS of educational activities and he now goes two days a week to the preschool as well.
We pay about $1000/month but it is worth it to me. I trust that he is being watched carefully and love that he is learning everyday, even when he is not in preschool. Even when I think about having another and possibly hiring a nanny, what holds me back is having just one set of eyes on my kid(s) everyday. Also - the socialization of daycare is so great! My son has tons of friends and the school hosts activities where we've been able to meet some of the other parents.
Good luck making this decision, it really is not easy.
I will be watching your post as well.....I work part time shifts at the hospital, but my schedule leads me that I outstretched what my family can provide.
We have used care.com to find babysitters out where we live. Cost wise I think it is cheaper since we only need occasional childcare since they come to our home so there is no driving/dropping off and since my H works from home he is around if anything happens until we trust this person completely. That being said....my babysitter has called out sick 3 times this month leaving us to scramble for childcare which wouldn't be an issue if we used a drop in place. There is definitely less structure, but I think lot of that depends on the sitter. The next one we hire (we reactivated our account to get some more sitters) we will ask for her to spend time working on developmental stuff, not just free play the whole time.
I don't have experience with childcare centers.... since we havent used one yet. Some required contracts, others you pay a set amount regardless if your child is there. I don't know how open they are to using cloth diapers or if it is a battle at each one. from the stories a few of my friends have told me.... one was getting progress reports on her child's activities including how well he did with meals. it included he was eating "all of breakfast", breakfast happened about an hour before she dropped him off. Her kiddo has also been bit (leaving teethmarks for a day or so)...maybe a casualty of too many kids, not enough supervision he's 2 I think. My other friend uses as center as well for her 2 kids(3 and infant) and I haven"t heard anything negative, she says her 3 year old loves her teacher and missed her and all her friends when my friend had her out of school for a few weeks during her maternity leave. So there are definitely positives too and probably more feasible for fulltime working parents.
Good luck!! It is so hard picking childcare! Oh and if anybody lives in Gilbert and has recommendations for a sitter....please let me know!
I think the most important thing to keep in mind is that everyone's solution looks different.
For me, while I wanted to hire a nanny, I didn't like that there were no "checks and balances" (unless I hired a security guard to watch cameras in my house all day). I was mortified that we'd find someone, who even with great references, may not be what they appeared and no one would know, except LO.
I looked at several day cares and honestly cried when I left them. For me, I wasn't a fan of in-home day cares (though I know MANY people have had WONDERFUL experiences with them) because again- I was afraid of the check/balance.
We picked E's daycare based on references (thanks Meg) and the feel we had of the center. They are nationally accredited (which was HUGE to us) had lower ratio's then most places we found, and we really liked the program they have with their "gran-friends". Ultimately though, I really liked the teachers and the director.
E's is not a chain (I don't think), but even with chain centers, each one is different- and the set up of the center depends on the director and the teachers. I know people who LOVE their Tutor Time, but the Tutor Time by our house, I wouldn't put E there if my life depended on it.
It took a while to get comfortable with her center, but now, we love them, and I know they love my daughter and care for her <gulp> the same way I would.
Good luck in your search! I know how hard it is, but honestly, E LOVES daycare, and the socialization she gets there is amazing. She has progressed SO fast from being there.
Oh, as a side note, a lot of centers don't give discounts for Part-Time care. That would be more of the in home or PT nanny situation. E's tuition is the same whether she's there the full 12 hours they are open a day 5 days a week, or only there for 4 hours one day.
I forgot to mention that if we were to go with a nanny, we would continue to bring Lulu to my parents' house so that my Dad can "supervise". He recently became wheelchair bound, and is unable to watch her alone - he was her primary caregiver while Casey and I work.
We do not have an extra $1k to spend each month on childcare...though, I really like the idea of enrolling her in a church or public school program. I never would've thought of those options. Thank you all very much for the input!!
Can't wait to meet my baby boy!
Let me add a couple of things after seeing the responses.
Our daycare does allow us to pay for only the days we are there. I know that MOST don't but we can. Unfortunately, Christian is there full time. Some places will let you do part time.
While I think our DCP's do an amazing job taking care of him, there are times I am frustrated or annoyed. It's NEVER anything serious but little things I know I'd do differently. I had to tell myself from the beginning that NO one would ever take care of him like I would and to let some stuff go. If anything "serious" ever happened I would report it but I haven't had anything serious happen.
We send Connor to an in home daycare and love it. We looked at centers but I honestly walked out of there with a strange uncomfortable feeling about all of them - I did not like that there was one teacher to 4-5 infants (under 1). The babies were pretty much all laying on the floor or playing by themselves. Not to mention the price and that was for 2 days a week!
That being said, we did not randomly find our in home provider. She is one of DH's employee's mom, and DH has known this employee for years so we felt comfortable that this was not just a random person. She just happened to have a spot open up right around then because one of her kids she was watching moved out of state. She only has 4 children at a time and C is the youngest baby. Her daughter also helps out a lot so sometimes he gets one on one attention. They don't try to schedule him (because we don't follow a schedule at home either) but follow his cues and really have gotten a good little routine down there. I love that they text me photos, updates, and videos. DH says he is almost always being held when he picks him up, and he has never once been crying.
She is also really decently priced $40 a day and we don't pay if we don't take him. I looked at nannies and they were $15-20 an HOUR which at that rate DH might as well not work!
Good luck, I hope you're able to find something that you're comfortable with.
We take Z to an in home day care that is right next door to us. Honestly we didn't even bother looking at any of the day care facilities in our area for two reasons. One being all the horror stories I have heard about them (even the accredited ones) and two the cost just blew my mind from talking with other friends.
Having our neighbor watch him is great because it is someone we know and trust, aside from the first week of figuring out his feeding sechdules things have been going so smootly, Z loves it there and all the other little kids love him too, they all like to take turns helping take care of him. When I pick him up he is always smiling and hardly cries there during the day from the report I get from the day care lady.
I think when it come to daycare, like a lot of things with parenting, you need to go with your gut instinct on the person/place you choose to take care of your little one while you are away at work. I hope you find something that works for you and your family.
Like the PPs, we are going with an in-home daycare. We made this choice based on two things:
1). Cost- We only need daycare for 4 to 4 1/2 hours a day and did not want to pay full time if we are not using it. Also as a teacher, I really did not want to have to pay during the summer or my other breaks. Our in-home daycare only makes us pay for the weeks that we use, and it is only $25 for full time (so only $125 every other week for us).
2). That being said, we most likely would have gone with an accredited center if we did not have personal recommendations for our in-home daycare provider. Also, we had the connection in that she is the wife of one of the principals in my district. I feel very comfortable leaving C with her because we "know" her. I would not feel comfortable leaving C at just any in-home daycare.
I would ask around your workplace or other mom friends in your area about in-home daycare providers and/or tour some of the accredited centers in your area. HTH and GL!
m/c 12/25/09 (5w5d) mm/c D&C 4/9/10 (11w1d) Take home baby 2/22/11
My boobies belong to cour10e
We also use an in-home daycare but only for 1 day. We found her through a friend and we love her plus she's Mormon (which I love as P's daycare provider). She only has 4 kids on the day P is there with P being the youngest. P LOVES it there and is always smiling when we pick him up. Like Deanna said (I think), I love getting texts and pictures from her throughout the day. I don't think I'd get that from the "big" daycare places.
I, like many, was not comfortable with the big daycares for many reasons but cost being one of the main reasons. I won't go on about all the others. lol
Good luck. It's stressful and not easy. I agree with a PP, ask around and see if anyone you know knows someone. Word of mouth is the best way to do it.
I tried care.com also but didn't want to pay for it so I said F it AND they were charging ridiculous amounts per hour. RIDICULOUS!