Daycare and home provider questions

[LovesMeSomeCake]

I'm excited so many of you are already experts on daycare and homecare, I hope you can help me with some questions?
I'm looking into several near the house, or should I look closer to work? 
The infants usually have about a 1:4 teacher student ratio, is that normal?
Infant cost for 5 days is 406/week and 1622/month, this seems to be high end, right? please?
Buzzer door security
What are the other important things a FTM should look for or questions to ask a daycare?


Then  what about in home care? Where do you find someone? Are there rules? do they just watch the kid or help with (baby) laundry? I have two large (but well behaved) dogs, that would make it harder to find someone? do you use a service? pay cash? checks? what about taxes? 

please forgive my lack of coherent structure and respond at will, I appreciate any info you share.

[summergirl1211]

I'm looking into several near the house, or should I look closer to work? Depends. Do you ever work from home? If you're always going into the office on the days your LO will be in daycare then I'd probably look closer to work.
The infants usually have about a 1:4 teacher student ratio, is that normal? Each state has different requirements, so check the state you're in. That sounds the same as our daycare in MN.
Infant cost for 5 days is 406/week and 1622/month, this seems to be high end, right? please? It really depends on the location, but that's slightly more than I paid for my daughter. However, we are on the outskirts of the Twin Cities, so it would be higher closer to the downtowns.

What are the other important things a FTM should look for or questions to ask a daycare?
-What are their regular hours? What is their holiday schedule like (when are they closed)? What are their vacation policies (some places allow you to take a certain number of days off and not pay tuition)? Ask to look at their handbook to see what their "sick child" policies are. As your LO gets older, do they provide food/milk/etc or do you have to provide all meals? What is their vaccination policy?

I'm sure there are more but seeing the parent handbook is a good place to start. Also do a tour. It'll be good to see how the teachers interact with the kids, how clean the center is, etc.

[irish14]

May 10, 2016 12:18:22 GMT -5 LovesMeSomeCake said:

I'm excited so many of you are already experts on daycare and homecare, I hope you can help me with some questions?
I'm looking into several near the house, or should I look closer to work? 
The infants usually have about a 1:4 teacher student ratio, is that normal?
Infant cost for 5 days is 406/week and 1622/month, this seems to be high end, right? please?
Buzzer door security
What are the other important things a FTM should look for or questions to ask a daycare?


Then  what about in home care? Where do you find someone? Are there rules? do they just watch the kid or help with (baby) laundry? I have two large (but well behaved) dogs, that would make it harder to find someone? do you use a service? pay cash? checks? what about taxes? 

please forgive my lack of coherent structure and respond at will, I appreciate any info you share.

That daycare price is low end for my large metro. :/ we went with nanny so I can't speak to much else. Ask about what their criteria are for the kid being too sick to go to daycare. Many are sniffles ok, but for fever, diarrhea, other stuff they have to be symptom free for 24 hrs.

In home: you can look through an agency or sittercity, care . Com.
I have a dog, hasn't been an issue, just make sure they're aware.

Paying cash is extraordinarily common but technically illegal. We hire a nanny tax service to do the tax calculations and file all the forms, and pay by check. I can elaborate on taxes if you have other questions. If you don't withhold, the nanny has to pay all the taxes at the end of the year. Most nannies in my area only care about net (most are paid cash) so you have to give them an estimate about what they'll take home when you give a gross offer and plan to withhold. Nannies are expensive but I like the one on one time, the control, the home environment, less illness, and that I get to handpick the nanny.

Most are fine with baby related things - washing bottles, baby laundry if it's needed. But be up front about all this.

There are not rules per se. We always have a contract that lays out pay rate and frequency, vacation days, and the tasks we expect to be done.

Sometimes there are parent networks you can join in an area where you can get nanny or daycare referrals and recommendations.

I hate hate hate the interview process. We're hiring our second right now. It sucks.

[flcl]

I'm looking into several near the house, or should I look closer to work?
How far is your commute?
I think anything on the way to work is good. I prefer to be closer to home simply cause LO absolutely hated being in the car when he was so little

The infants usually have about a 1:4 teacher student ratio, is that normal?
Yes, at least for IL it is

Infant cost for 5 days is 406/week and 1622/month, this seems to be high end, right? please?
That's about the price for nicer daycares. Most are more expensive for infants and then as they get older, the less expensive they are

Buzzer door security
What are the other important things a FTM should look for or questions to ask a daycare?
If you plan on BF, ask how they handle breastmilk and just see if they have general knowledge on the subject.


We didn't consider home daycares so I have little knowledge about that. Some people do nanny shares and I've heard of friends using care.com