Daycare situations

[rory5280]

I'm just curious what the daycare situations are where everyone lives?

4 years ago with my son waiting list were 3-6 months at the top day cares. My son still goes to the same place he started and they always get siblings in so I haven't had to stress about it but I'll need to move both kids in August of 2017 to a school closer to us that will bus to my sons public school and I just registered them both today for that. This school has a waiting list for infants until july of 2017. This is crazy to me.

I am in Colorado and we have had a huge boost in occupancy over the last several years (yay legal weed), but am curious if this is pretty common?

What's it like where you're at?

[jubilantsquirrel]

So we're really lucky and my MIL and FIL switch off coming to our house to watch DS. This has been going on for almost 2 years now. I don't know what is going to happen when this 2nd one comes, we'll definitely have to have a discussion about it.

I also think it's time to start DS in DC, at least part time. There's a center at the end of our street that I'm pretty sure doesn't have a waiting list, but I think I'd rather check out the Montessori school in town. I'm sure they have a waiting list though.

We also live in a small(ish) town. I'm sure if I looked at daycare centers closer to my work I'd find long wait lists and also a huge jump in costs.

[jubilantsquirrel]

Oh, and I'm in the greater Seattle area. Another yay for legalized weed.

[goldenlove3]

I've never actually looked into daycare around here but I don't think my friends had a horrible time with waitlists. I live in SE Michigan and there seems to be a lot of options here. But my mom doesn't work and my MIL is retired so we're going to be good on that front for a while. We do want to do part time daycare after a couple years just for the learning and socialization aspect but that's down the road.

[tallblonde]

Daycare Centers have long wait lists around me. We were on several last time ($100 just to get on each waitlist) and we were offered spots in most eventually, but only one at the time we needed. Thankfully it was the least expensive and we have been pleased. Outside of centers most people do nanny shares..well I live in a HCOL area, so a lot do nannies if they can afford that.

We are keeping our 2 year old at this center so #2 can go to the same place and only have one dropoff for as long as possible. Siblings get preference so I assume we will be fine. I am toying with staying home longer. J had a huge growth spurt when he started and I think being at daycare contributed to having a flat head and needing a helmet. Ideally I'd stay home until the baby can sit up assisted. DNW to do a helmet again.

[kleigh]

I'm not yet sure about wait lists but I have heard to prepare for it (~6 months out). I'm in Fairfield County CT where things are really split. There are a lot of big money execs that live here and their spouses stay home full time with live in nannies. Then there's the other half of us who are working fathers/mothers, many of whom commute to NYC for work. So I think the better day cares fill up very fast.

I just got over the hurdle of figuring out maternity leave so H and I can both stay home for 3+ months. Next up is figuring out if I'll go back at all or wait until 1+ or 2+ years. If we can swing it, our pref is for me to stay home or work 2 days a week so kids have at least the social interaction in daycare.

[LizInFL]

I don't think DCP have the crazy wait lists here that you see in other areas. There are several of the national chains (Goddard, Primrose, etc) within half a mile of our neighborhood, and several more a bit further...lots of options. I don't know of any of my working mom friends who have had issues finding care. We live in a suburban area with a fairly high # of SAHMs, though, so it might vary in other parts of town.

I *have* run into preschools with wait lists...I think the number of part-time preschool programs have decreased over the years as more moms have gone back to work and need full-day care, so the remaining programs are popular and always full. We registered DS last January for this school year (fall 2015) and within a day or two of registration opening they were full with a waiting list. That's pretty common here.

[sophiegrace]

We have no idea what we want to do yet. H wants me to stay home, but I would like to continue to have some adult interactive during the week. I don't know. I guess maybe to start I should at least call around to check the status of wait lists while we're still figuring things out.

[cheshie6]

As of right now, the plan is to stay home. But with the oil field being highly unstable with the drop in fuel costs, I don't know if that'll be an option for us. We luck out that we live in an older community and so the daycare near us isn't full and doesn't have a wait list. So it'll be a lot of wait and see for a while.

[buckyb]

I'm already stressing about daycare. DS goes to a center and we cannot afford two kids there. I've reached out to a few home daycares aligned with our school district. I've had one no and no response from the rest. I need to call next week and follow up.

[shedreamsincolor]

We've had a nanny since DS was 7 months old. Prior to that DH and I did opposite shifts to avoid ever needing childcare. Bad idea- which is why we only lasted about 3 months doing that! Because of my weird schedule we actually usually end up hiring two since the same person can't usually cover very early mornings and also late evenings. One of our nannies has been with us going on two years and just informed me she is starting grad school and won't be back next fall. The other one had already told us she was done at the end of the school year. DH is a teacher and will stay home all summer. So we need a whole new plan from September- November until LO gets here. Will probably just hire a temporary nanny to cover those few months and then help out a few days a week after LO is born.

[hangry]

So we got on 4 wait lists for DS when I was 5 months pregnant. We only heard back from 1 of them when DS was 10.5 months old for a start date of 1 years old. (Canada mat leave). And the only reason we probably got a spot is because it was a new licensed center that was a small home daycare when we first got in their waiting list. It is crazy in my city and my neighborhood. Thank god they give preference to siblings so that I don't have to stress over that again. We will keep DS in daycare for my whole year off just so we can save those spots.

[cookswithwine9]

I really haven't looked into child care options where I live. I know I need to since I am going back to work but it's intimidating to me. I've been asking other mom friends what they do. My H hours are not M-F so I would only need something part time (the week days that we are both working). My mom offered 2-3 days a week which I am very grateful for. I think I might look into a nanny for the other days. Where do you even start looking for a nanny?

[shedreamsincolor]

danib - Yeah we have crazy schedules. I work two jobs (day everyday and evening about once a week). Plus my husband is a head coach so for 4 months out of the year he's gone 6am to 7 or 8 pm six days a week. It is way too much for one nanny and unfortunately day cares don't cover our weird hours so nanny is really the only option. It is great but you are right very $$$ - a large % of our income goes to childcare.

[shedreamsincolor]

cookswithwine9 - You can see if there are any "nanny services" available in your area that pre screen nannies, do background checks, and take care of all the payments. These are common in MN but not sure about other areas of the country. Otherwise tons of websites like care.com or just start asking for word of mouth recommendations. Finding the right person can be tricky so start early!

[cookswithwine9]

Thank you for the advice shedreamsincolor!