Colorado Nesties
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4 losses: Blighted ovum 1/11, CP 12/11, CP 3/12, and our perfectly healthy baby girl Charlotte Grace, missed M/C 5/31/12 at 8w5d
Surprise unmedicated BFP 9/21/12!! Beta #1 9/22 (10 DPO): 46 Beta #2 9/24 (12 DPO): 226! Heartbeat 136 bpm at 7w! It's a BOY! Theodore Joshua 5/23/13 7:36am 7lb 13 oz, 19.25 in
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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.
In-Home Daycare Question
So I'm thinking about possibly having an in-home daycare in our house after we eventually have a baby so that I can stay home and still work. Not really a definite plan, just something that's been on my mind for a while.
I'm wondering, for those of you who use an in-home, what were things you liked or didn't like to see when you were checking places out?
4 losses: Blighted ovum 1/11, CP 12/11, CP 3/12, and our perfectly healthy baby girl Charlotte Grace, missed M/C 5/31/12 at 8w5d
Surprise unmedicated BFP 9/21/12!! Beta #1 9/22 (10 DPO): 46 Beta #2 9/24 (12 DPO): 226! Heartbeat 136 bpm at 7w! It's a BOY! Theodore Joshua 5/23/13 7:36am 7lb 13 oz, 19.25 in
Re: In-Home Daycare Question
I'll tell you why I won't be using in-home daycare (for the time being. I might switch if I can find one that will work).
1.) I needed a place that took infants, most places I saw were only accepting ages 2+
2.) A lot of places that took infants were not open M-F 8:30-5:30. They had screwy hours, like Tuesday & Thursday afternoons from 1-5. Who does that help?!
3.) I wanted a licensed place. Many advertisements that took infants, had a spot, and did not have screwy hours did not say they were licensed. Since the other ads did say they were licensed, I assumed the ones that did not say were not licensed.
4.) In-home places that had openings, took infants, and had good hours had openings TODAY and I didn't need daycare until March. They couldn't hold the spot until March without charging a huge amount of money. I wanted to set daycare up before March because I didn't want to be freaking out in February when I needed to go back to work and couldn't find a good place with a spot.
5.) I also had an extreme fear that I'd be scrambling to find backup daycare if the in-home provider was sick or on vacation. This is probably irrational and unavoidable, but the thought of it freaked me out.
One thing I really like about our current in home is that everything (sleeping, bathroom, play room) is all together on a lower level. There are windows and lots of light and big open spaces, but some privacy for sleeping too. Besides going up to the kitchen for meals or outside, they are somewhat contained. My DD is a climber and gets into everything, so I liked having designated space for her and child care as opposed to just the corner of someone's family room.
One provider we interviewed said she left the kids in the playroom on a lower level to go make lunch which we didn't like either. Our current provider takes them to the kitchen with her while she cooks and they often help out. Another provider would have put DD to sleep in a PnP in her granddaughters room that was a mess, and some other kids room so it didn't feel like a space for childcare. And yet another wanted to put DD in a PnP in her adult son's old room with lots of musical instruments and stuff lying around (guitars on stands, old drum sets). It just didn't feel safe and cozy.
I think the biggest thing for us was just that it felt like a similar home to ours. Clean, but not OCD/can't mess anything up clean. They have a dog, grown kids with lots of family pictures, age appropriate toys and lots of safety latches and gates. She runs a professional business, but she's also flexible and understanding of parents' needs. She's extremely positive and always greets us with "DD had an awesome day" which feels good and then makes it a nice environment to discuss any issues or problems. She also has a small group of kids, cooks healthy meals, and tells us how much she loves DD often.
ETA: She had reasonable holiday and time off for herself and didn't ask us to pay for her vacation days. One woman took 5 weeks of paid holiday/vacation where we'd have to find another person to watch DD and pay them too which wasn't an option.
All of the bold stuff - also true for me. The thing about a center is if Coop's main caregiver is ill, someone else fills that void. A daycare has to be reliable, every day care - sure a snow day may come along now and again, but I wouldn't send my child to a school where the day was canceled if the teacher couldn't come in, and I feel the same way about day care - so it is not an irrational fear or an unavoidable issue to me. Having a back up person would be nice in any situation.
In addtion, I think I would want to see a space, like pp mentioned, that was devoted exclusively to the day care.
Something that probably is irrational, but I know I would feel it anyway, would be the fear/feeling that if the caregiver's own infant was there from the time he or she was really small, that kiddo would get most of the attention. It may not be true, but it is still a concern I would have.
Spirit of Power
Eat, Drink, and be Keri
We didn't really look at in-home options because the ratios were so much better in a center (like 3:1 instead of 8:1). I know you didn't ask why people didn't look at an in-home!
If I were in your shoes I guess I would just consider the pros and cons of becoming a licensed in-home daycare and that hassle versus being a nanny (which I know you have done before) for maybe 2 kids in addition to your own.
We used three in-home places (two were more like a SAHM situation - where the mom and her kid and our kid were together and one was an in-home daycare) and friends for a couple months here and there also.
As far as why we picked our places, here are some of the advantages to the home-environment daycares we picked that might help you find a family/families that would fit for you.
- Individual care and lots of attention for our first born. e was with a SAHM who had a son about the same age, was really loving (attachment parent-type) and who also took the boys on play dates with other SAHMs and to outings. We loved that she was committed and caring and our son really grew to like her. Unluckily she was also rather expensive, her house was out of our way from our commute, and when I realized I could have a nanny for her cost, it became too much. Keep in mind that from what I have found, most SAHMs who already had their own kid at home charged close to $40-$50/day and most in-home daycares are around $35-$40 per day so that?s only about $800-$900 dollars per month. In-home and SAHMs with kids don?t make much per kid compared to most nannies and are often quite a bit cheaper than centers. Since you've been a nanny, just watching on other child might be a good way to ease back into working after you have a kid and before you go through the license process. I believe the regs say you don't have to be licensed if you watch 2-3 kids or less all from the same family in your home.
- The ?it takes a village? mentality. We relied on our caregivers to love and care for our kids and they really did grow to be an extension of us and often friends. You probably know more about that after being a nanny, but a personality that fit was key to finding a place where our kiddos could go.
- Schedule and vacation/sickness were never a major problem. It was a little inconvenient the few times (in 4 years) that they closed due to sickness, but honestly my own kid keeping me home from work b/c they couldn't return was way worse than any sickness/vacation. Also small daycare/SAHM settings are more likely to deal with illness with a little more flexibility ? fudge the 24 hour fever rule a little, give us sick-day credit (I think she had a policy of 5 days per year that you don't have to pay if your kid is sick). As far as vacations, we always had 2 to 3-months notice for vacations, except in one funeral instance, but our daycare person had a back-up person, whom we also trusted, and they could help out, so they never closed for personal vacation really.
-Flexibility ? I started working 4 days per week instead of 5 and our in-home had no problem letting me pay for only 4 days and didn?t have requirements about alternative schedules.
- Organic/natural foods ? most centers had crappy food choices and our in-home had a menu and plan and fed the kids really natural/healthy/organic foods. Our caregivers also applauded and encouraged cloth diapers and breast feeding ? I used to feed on our caregivers couch when I picked-up DS#1 as she told me about his day.
- Outings ? I found that in-home places were more likely to have outings with the kids to the Children?s museum, zoo, parks, etc. I liked that. The SAHM did more of that than the in-home place b/c our in-home place grew to have 6 kids at all times and so they didn?t get out much when all the kids were there since you can?t really fit 6 kids (5 who were 4 and under and 1 who was 8) in a mini-van very easily.
- We liked it when the in-home daycare we used was like a mini-preschool and had kid tables/preschool circle, appropriate toys, games, structure (curriculum per se), and art projects way more. The kids treated it like school at age 1 b/c it was like a school, but with lots of free play, music, and fun activities.
-Oh and having a dedicated, clean area for the kids to play outside (as they were older) and in their house is key. Our in-home we used had the basement just for the kids and worked great, but I think it could work well being part of the main area of family?s home also.
- Ours was licensed, but I have mixed feelings about that process. It?s a good thing to go through and maintain, but from a friend?s experience, it also not a catch-all for issues since there isn't much oversight and getting something on someone's lic. file is often hard. It?s better to have great recommendations and find someone who can be an extension of your family for a short time, so I guess I put personal recommendations from former clients and personality above this.
And I?m not against centers (we?re in a center now), but in CO I didn?t find one that had openings when I needed it in our area and they were way more expensive than in-home/SAHMs. That might be the Highlands/Evergreen areas that are more like that though.
Are you united with the CCOKCs?