Post by mustloveerica on Nov 7, 2016 11:53:48 GMT -5
I feel like this is something I need to start thinking about.
Here's my problem: I do not plan to continue working full time. I have NOT approached my work about this yet. My ultimate goal would be to work part time 2-3 days per week preferably remote but I supposed going to the office wouldn't be the end of the world. My work could say no and then my choices would be to quit and SAH or continue working full time. I won't have a plan nailed down until after the first of the year when I approach my boss about it.
So, let's say I work part time. It seems that most centers don't allow part time or charge extra. Also I don't think we could afford a nanny. That leaves in home centers. I'm thinking in home centers would be the best option but I'm guessing they don't like part time either. But it's still probably cheaper to pay for a full week at an in home rather than part time at a big daycare center?
How does one go about finding places? I did a quick Google search but didn't come up with many options.
What do you look for in center vs in home?
Is my plan crazy?
For those BTDT, care to share what you pay per week or what your overall daycare experiences are?
Any other FTMs welcome to add your own questions. I really just don't even know how to start looking when my working plan is completely up in the air.
My plan for returning to work is very similar to yours. I did google a bunch of day care centers in the area and came up with very few that allowed/had rates for part time care. I also looked up nanny services to get an idea of rates and that would definitely not be affordable for us, but someone on my BMB suggested sharing a nanny with another family as an option. I have also heard that day cares have long waitlists in many areas and that we need to sign up ASAP. Ugh, so stressful.
Are you in any local groups on Facebook? I'm in a few and there are always postings from in-home caretakers. Also, check care.com and anything equivalent that may be popular in your area.
And I wouldn't count out a nanny just yet! You could do a nanny-share. A friend of mine did this. She was a nanny for three families, but never had all three at once. That's another thing you could check on care.com or a local FB group.
I am in a bunch of local FB groups. Maybe it's my area but I've never seen any legit childcare posts. I see one particular lady all the time looking to watch kids but her posts are full of typos and she only wants $50 a week per kid. Seems sketchy to me.
Post by mustloveerica on Nov 7, 2016 12:19:29 GMT -5
W you're a nanny aren't you? Do you charge weekly or hourly? The ones on care.com all have hourly rates listed which is what makes me think it's completely out of my budget. $20 an hour for 3 days a week seems crazy expensive to me. If I'm only working part time a nanny seems like it would cost as much as I'm making haha.
Also, I would check with your co-workers and see what they do for childcare. Maybe they would be interested in a nanny share.
My coworkers are all old men with grown children or young men with SAH wives. I do have one coworkers teenager daughter lined up as a date night sitter but she wouldn't be able to do daytime care.
Post by notagoddess on Nov 7, 2016 12:27:08 GMT -5
I don't have my childcare situation figured out and it's a major source of stress. However all 3 of the centers I'm on a wait list for have part-time options. It's full-time, MWF, or TTh. I wouldn't assume they don't have it (unless you already know they don't).
I'm following along for ideas about in-home daycares and nanny shares.
Post by ladytiffany24 on Nov 7, 2016 13:07:01 GMT -5
I'm not super familiar with part time care since I've always needed full-time, but I will say, I LOVE my in-home provider. We got really lucky when we found her. She had just moved to the area after doing in-home in New Jersey for 13 years.
She is the best parenting decision we've made so far. If you do go the in home route, go and visit them and ask lots of questions. It was very important for us for our child's care to have some sort of learning involved. DD is pretty far ahead of many in her age group thanks mostly to our in home provider.
Like willie said, try to find some local groups and put out some feelers that way. In my area, there are specific FB groups that are for child care so of course that helps.
It may sound sketchy, but I also found a couple of decent leads on Craig's list as well. Again, this is where going and visiting potential in homes and asking lots of questions will help.
During our search, there were a couple that we visited that we could rule out immediately just by walking into their houses.
No matter what, go with your gut!
TL;DR in- homes are amazing. Go that route if you can find one who will take kids part time!
Post by ladytiffany24 on Nov 7, 2016 13:41:23 GMT -5
mustloveerica, Below is a link to some questions I found when looking over 2 years ago. It's a start. And you can always cater them to your own situation.
I'm so glad you started this topic. Child care is a source of stress for us. We live in a HCOL area and I'm currently the breadwinner so I have to go back full-time. Do in-home daycares tend to be more or less expensive than daycare centers? My H has concerns about in-homes because we wouldn't know the person beforehand. He's concerned about things happening we would not know about where with the daycare centers near us there are live cameras and the expectation you can drop in and observe at any time.
Any first-hand stories about in-homes anyone would like to share? Good, bad, so-so, anything you've got.
ladytiffany24 - It's nice to hear you love your in-home! How did you find your provider? Were you able to talk with parents of the children they were currently/had previously taken care of?
Post by ladytiffany24 on Nov 7, 2016 13:53:49 GMT -5
marshian , I can understand your hesitation with in-homes. We had the same scary thoughts. But after meeting with a few of them (and of course, in particular, the one we went with), we felt more at ease.
You will find that most in-home centers are more affordable than actual daycare centers. Also, there are some in-homes out there that I know of that have cameras installed where you can check in on your children, just like many daycare centers do. This is few and far between but may be out there.
My in home provider provides a sheet each day with anything we may need to know. Diaper changes, meals, activities, naps. As a newborn, it also included information no how much of a bottle she would take for each feeding. So basically, there are in homes out there that give you a similar piece of mind that daycare centers do!
Also, think of it this way, sure, you won't know the person running the in-home before leaving your kids there, but you also dont' really know the daycare teachers that you'll be leaving your babies with either!
Oh, and I should add...ALWAYS get references from in-home providers. In particular, I always asked for past parents and current so you could get a good mix. I did in depth phone interviews with them. So make that a part of your process as well. It will also give you peace of mind!
ETA: I found my in-home provider through a local FB group.
ladytiffany24 - Thank you for all the info. My response to my H was that we don't really know the daycare providers either, so thank you for validating that thought. I'll have to find some local FB groups to check out.
So, we use a center but due to the situation, DS didn't start until he was 9.5 months. We asked around with people we knew in the area and called daycares- if they didn't have a spot in our time frame, did they have any to recommend or for us to avoid. Our center does not allow part time infants (up to 18m). Toddlers can be part time but they must be on specified days only, and there's no changing. Our infant rate was $265/week. Once he moved to the toddler room at 18m, it dropped to $250/week. The only things we supply continuously are diapers, wipes, and snacks for outside of meal times- they provide breakfast at 9a, lunch at 12p, and snack at 3p. DS likes to eat outside of those times so we send extra and send extra milk, too. For infants, you supply BM/formula and they'll start offering real food when you give the go ahead
Our questions were these (formula fed, cloth diapers): - will you put the unfinished bottles back in the fridge and offer them at the next feed? (DS took them directly from the fridge) - do you track feedings and how much? - do you accept cloth diapers? Do they need to be AIOs or can I supply other kinds? (Certain states only allow for diaper contract things and such) - what sanitary requirements do you have for cloth? - how often do you normally change? He needs to be changed whether they appear to be wet or not because cloth - when is nap time? - what type of schedule do they have, if at all? - can they eat outside of meal times? Do we need to provide snacks?
For centers, depending on where you are, they can fill fast. This one is already on the class list for late July and I believe the center is filled until after that now. The director actually forgot to account for her daughter and had to make alternate arrangements until a spot opened
Most people I know who are in this situation do the nanny share thing with someone they already know, or someone they have met through prenatal classes/prenatal yoga/whatever. Often the person with the nanny already is happy to have someone relieve a little of the financial burden. Good luck.
I am also not sure what we're going to do, exactly. We'll only need care in this area for ~3 months before we move, so we'll likely get a temporary nanny. But I don't know where we're going to end up next, so I can't really plan for that. Regardless, we should be near enough for my sister to help so I'm counting on that helping with some overlap.
Post by animaldoctor on Nov 7, 2016 16:06:14 GMT -5
Lurker here, but you shouldn't have much problem finding a part time daycare. They don't advertise it, but all that I toured had it. My kid currently goes to a goddard 2.5 days a week. Good luck!
OP, this won't be ideal for you if you go back PT, but I wanted to throw it out there in case you go FT and/or for the other moms following. We have an au pair. I wish someone had talked to me about it as an option earlier on, because I probably would have saved myself a ton of anxiety.
We went through an agency, but the program is actually regulated by the government - it's a special type of visa. The agency screens the candidates, handles their visa, travel arrangements, etc. We pay the agency $8k/year. The au pair gets a $200/week stipend + meals, room and board, and whatever else you want them to have. We provide a cell phone and car insurance (but she does not have her own car, she just uses ours when we can work it out). They can work up to 10 hours a day and up to 45 hours a week. They are supposed to be part of your family, so it's not right for everyone. The initial commitment is a year, and they can extend 6, 9, or 12 months (with you or with another family). After that, their visa can't be extended and they go home.
It's really worked out well for us. There are pros and cons, but having someone living with you means they have a really good idea of what's important to your family. It just feels better to me. We interviewed nannies as well, but didn't find anyone we loved, and it would have been a stretch for us financially. Our current au pair has been with us for over a year, and we will be so sad when she leaves, but we'll do it again. The good daycares in our area are expensive. We were on the wait list almost the whole time I was pregnant, and finally got a spot and would be paying $1700/month. And they have the same schedule as the school district, so fall/spring breaks and early releases would leave us without coverage. Once I had DD, I let my spot go...I just couldn't get comfortable with the idea, largely because I'd have to get her fed, dressed, packed up, etc. before work. So this is a great solution for our family.
Post by peaseblossom55 on Nov 7, 2016 16:19:56 GMT -5
H & I haven't even begun talking about childcare. I also don't know when she will be released from the NICU either which will affect the time line of everything. I really wish I could stay home with her the first year but I will need to go back to work. I'd prefer to have a nanny the first year before putting her in daycare though.
All of the centers we toured in our area offered part time care (anywhere from 2/3/4 days a week) and full time, so not sure it'd be as hard to find as you're thinking. Probably at least half of DDs daycare class isn't full time, so it's fairly common in our area.
In our HCOL area, there's not much of a difference between in-home cost and center cost. It may be different in your area.
We ultimately chose a center because we liked how organized and regimented it was. We thought that having the separate rooms for separate age groups really benefited the age-appropriate nap/feeding/learning schedules....whereas in the home daycares we toured, kids were more apt to be lumped together. At our place, they have an activity come every day (toddler yoga, tumblebus, etc) that we know DD wouldn't likely have the opportunity to be exposed to at a small in-home setting with fewer/younger kids.
For reference: we live in a HCOL area and are paying $1580 for full time toddler care (center is open 7:30-6, not that DD is there that long). When DS is born, he'll be about ~1850/month for full time infant care at the same center, but DD will get a 20% discount. When he "graduates" to the infant 2 and toddler 1 rooms, the rate drops about $100/month.
ETA: we found a bunch of centers and in-home daycares to tour on yelp and a few other local sites (next door.com) and through our pedi.
2nd ETA: we had a nanny while waiting for a full time slot in our desired center. It was EXPENSIVE. The math works out that having a nanny would only be cheaper than our full time center if we had 3 kids that needed care, or if we did a nanny share with another family.
We love our in home provider. She also works with families who want part-time and teachers who don't need care in the summer. Being licensed by the state agency plus having a similar early childhood philosophy as you is important (i.e. Do you share similar views on how children should be raised, taught, disciplined etc.) we are so lucky that she will have room for our twins. DD has been going there since she was 4 months old. She follows a Montessori based program with lots of outdoor playtime and lots of out of the house adventures.
We're doing a traditional daycare, and they do offer part time based on what their enrollment is at the time. It's going to cost us around $1,350 a month, but there were other centers that were a little less expensive. We didn't have to do a waitlist because it's a new center, but waitlists are fairly common in our area.
My mom was a daycare director, so I grew up going to her daycare and am comfortable with that environment, including the socialization, structure, etc. If you go the daycare route, do your research on state requirements. Ask about room ratios, emergency preparedness, how they sanitize, what the security system is like, how they administer prescriptions, how they handle feeding, diaper change process, etc. They should be able to tell you state regulations and how they compare. For example, in our state the infant ratio is 1/5, but our daycare's ratio is 1/4. Also, you can usually go online and see if their licensing information and any violations. Sometimes they're technical things (records missing secondary emergency contact) and sometimes they are more concerning (room with too many children/too few supervisors). You can often see if they self-reported incidents or were cited during an inspection. For me, I was glad to see self reporting, because it means the director is following state protocol when an incident happens vs. sweeping something under the rug, because things happen, even at the best places.
Anyway, I toured four places to find the right one. Fingers crossed it all works out as planned!
Post by requiressnacks on Nov 8, 2016 3:09:01 GMT -5
Interesting thread!
I'm just popping in to say that all the centers I toured offered a PT option. It just is rather expensive compared to the daily rate of a FT kid. Regardless, we have the twins signed up for 3 days/week and my MIL will be watching them the other 2. Good luck!
I'm so glad you started this topic. Child care is a source of stress for us. We live in a HCOL area and I'm currently the breadwinner so I have to go back full-time. Do in-home daycares tend to be more or less expensive than daycare centers? My H has concerns about in-homes because we wouldn't know the person beforehand. He's concerned about things happening we would not know about where with the daycare centers near us there are live cameras and the expectation you can drop in and observe at any time.
Any first-hand stories about in-homes anyone would like to share? Good, bad, so-so, anything you've got.
We are in pretty similar situations. We live in the Boston area and I'm currently the breadwinner, so working full time is the only option for me. In home daycares are much cheaper than daycare centers, at least was the case for me when I was researching.
I pay $375/week for full time care at a large center. Full time is M-F 6:30-6pm. There is a kitchen and chef on site and the only thing I need to provide is diapers. The curriculum is excellent and the socialization is great. Cameras, fingerprint scan for drop off/pick up, and open door policy were huge for me and gave me the peace of mind I needed. While I'd love to pay less, I'm way too untrusting for home care (whether that's fair to say or not). I was a nanny throughout college and took home about $500/week for 30 hours of work with 2 children (this was 15 years ago).
When LO 2 shows up in June, our cost will move to about $645/week for the both of them.
ETA: they have lots of part time options as well. Hourly, 2x/week, 3x/week, full time, or "drop in days" for PT. PT days are fixed at MWF or Tues/Thurs.
lulu783 - Yeah, we're looking at between $1700 and $2000 a month for the daycare centers in our neighborhood. And that's for a 9-hour day. Any more is extra. I'm not sure what all we even need to provide (diapers I'm sure, milk of course), but with our situation we will only be using it for about 9 months (until LO is one year) because at that point we'll be moving for my H to do a fellowship program. So I'm mostly okay with sucking it up, but it costs more than our mortgage!
lulu783 - Yeah, we're looking at between $1700 and $2000 a month for the daycare centers in our neighborhood. And that's for a 9-hour day. Any more is extra. I'm not sure what all we even need to provide (diapers I'm sure, milk of course), but with our situation we will only be using it for about 9 months (until LO is one year) because at that point we'll be moving for my H to do a fellowship program. So I'm mostly okay with sucking it up, but it costs more than our mortgage!
Yep, same here! I forgot to add that the meals being provided has been a huge plus factor for me. Not having to meal prep for DD the night before has been a big weight off my shoulders.
Post by mustloveerica on Nov 8, 2016 12:21:59 GMT -5
I put out a ton of feelers last night but I'm mostly finding unlicensed home daycares. I'm not sure how concerned that should make me. I feel like a license is important.
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