Post by mrswillie on Mar 16, 2017 15:33:21 GMT -5
Im late, but I can speak for centers and at-home. I worked at a few centers in my younger days with infant through preschoolers.
When we had DS1, I looked at 2 centers. One was a big one that I know is up and down the East coast. It was fine. I didn't find anything wrong with it, other than the fact that I didn't want my baby in a germ pit. The other center, I could tell was a big, fat no from the first two minutes in there. It seemed old and dirty, the teacher in the room appeared lazy, a baby was being fed a jar of food in a bouncy seat, the setup didn't feel warm and welcoming, etc.
A friend works with someone who's wife has a home daycare. She's been doing it over 25 years. It's mostly families who have been in there and friends. We were beyond lucky to get the spot we did. The one drawback is she doesn't have a sub, so if she had to close, we had to take off. Fortunately, I think she had two emergency closures in over 4 years -- one day she was sick after everybody got there and the other a funeral. She gave us the calendar of vacation days in December for the following year. She was more than accommodating for us -- if we ran late because of traffic or DH out of town, she didn't charge; was ok with me changing days for DS2; gave us a discount for having two. She also does b-days parties for each kid and gives them a gift then and at a big Christmas party she does every year. Totally does not have to do either of those. As far as visits from the state, there are persons from licensing, food service, county fire dept, etc out there at various points throughout the year. She's also required to complete a few classes.
While there's nothing wrong with a center, the home daycare had a more personal feel with us. It depends on your and the providers schedule though whether it works for you. Also, I would want someone that a friend or family member knew or used. The other big thing for us was $$. Home daycare was cheaper for two than one week in a center.
When we had DS1, I looked at 2 centers. One was a big one that I know is up and down the East coast. It was fine. I didn't find anything wrong with it, other than the fact that I didn't want my baby in a germ pit. The other center, I could tell was a big, fat no from the first two minutes in there. It seemed old and dirty, the teacher in the room appeared lazy, a baby was being fed a jar of food in a bouncy seat, the setup didn't feel warm and welcoming, etc.
A friend works with someone who's wife has a home daycare. She's been doing it over 25 years. It's mostly families who have been in there and friends. We were beyond lucky to get the spot we did. The one drawback is she doesn't have a sub, so if she had to close, we had to take off. Fortunately, I think she had two emergency closures in over 4 years -- one day she was sick after everybody got there and the other a funeral. She gave us the calendar of vacation days in December for the following year. She was more than accommodating for us -- if we ran late because of traffic or DH out of town, she didn't charge; was ok with me changing days for DS2; gave us a discount for having two. She also does b-days parties for each kid and gives them a gift then and at a big Christmas party she does every year. Totally does not have to do either of those. As far as visits from the state, there are persons from licensing, food service, county fire dept, etc out there at various points throughout the year. She's also required to complete a few classes.
While there's nothing wrong with a center, the home daycare had a more personal feel with us. It depends on your and the providers schedule though whether it works for you. Also, I would want someone that a friend or family member knew or used. The other big thing for us was $$. Home daycare was cheaper for two than one week in a center.
