DCP Questions
I'm a total newbie at this -- my mother was a SAHM, and my sister in the midwest is a SAHM, and I don't have any close friends in the area that have kids at this point, so I kind of feel like I am flying blind on the DCP search. And I am probably way behind schedule in starting my search.
1. Is it better to put LO with a DCP that is closer to home or closer to work? I live in Wheaton and work near Navy Yard (DH works near Union Station).
2. How many DCP did you interview/visit? How long does a visit last? What key things should I look for and ask/verify? How many waiting lists were you on?
3. For an infant, is it important to find a DCP that is NAEYC certified, or that uses a structured curriculum?
4. In your experience, once you were on a waiting list, was your LO accepted/enrolled when you were ready to go back to work, or did you have to wait longer?
5. What is a good caregiver to child ratio? A lot of the DCPs listed on the MD Childcare search say that the home care centers accept 8 children at a time, and I assume it is one caregiver for 8 children.
6. If you have a DCP located in your office, would you put your LO there even if it costs more than you had budgeted?
7. Any other words of wisdom on selecting a DCP for a new mom-to-be?
Thanks so much.
Re: DCP Questions
I'm relatively new at this, but I'll give you my perspective from my search so far:
1. We're going with near work. Given how much the traffic to and from the city can vary every day I'm concerned about being late for pick-up, plus we don't normally leave the city in time to make the 6 pm pick up most local to our house places have.
2.) So far I've been to 4. I've got one more scheduled and will probably put my name on a couple more lists since out of 4 I only liked 2 and of those, only one is in my price range for care, so I've only found one to put my name on.
3.) I am looking for that only because I hope to not switch her around if I can find one close to my office to accept her.
4.) N/A...I'm on a pretty long waiting list.
5.) Here in DC I think it's 1:4 for infants. I wouldn't be comfortable with anything higher than that for a very little baby.
6.) I would. I wish the one in my office was nice, but I wouldn't send my pet rat to it.
Good luck! This process is daunting to me too!
BFP #2 4/13/10. Bridget born 12/28/10
BFP #3 Finn born 8/11/15
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1. Is it better to put LO with a DCP that is closer to home or closer to work? DH words in Fairfax, I work in Woodbridge, we live in Centreville...DS is at daycare by my work. It's fine and I would never switch now because we love our DCP, but I would rather have one near home so it is convenient for both of us to do a pick up/drop off . If I am sick it is a big issue.
2. How many DCP did you interview/visit? How long does a visit last? What key things should I look for and ask/verify? How many waiting lists were you on? I went to 4, 3 centers and one home (which we went with). Visits at centers were mostly tours for us. The home was based on the recommendation of several teachers at my school. We weren't on any waiting lists. Because our provider knew so many of the women I work with she was willing to hold a space for us while I was still pregnant, but this isn't common with in home daycare.
3. For an infant, is it important to find a DCP that is NAEYC certified, or that uses a structured curriculum? For right now she follows a schedule we gave her for the most part. She does have a more structured curriculum when they hit age 2.
4. In your experience, once you were on a waiting list, was your LO accepted/enrolled when you were ready to go back to work, or did you have to wait longer? No waiting lists for us.
5. What is a good caregiver to child ratio? A lot of the DCPs listed on the MD Childcare search say that the home care centers accept 8 children at a time, and I assume it is one caregiver for 8 children.
In my opinion it was more about how many infants they had. My DCP only takes 2 infants at a time. She has 2 assistants (their hours overlap during the day, more staggered in early am/late pm) and has 10 kids total.
6. If you have a DCP located in your office, would you put your LO there even if it costs more than you had budgeted?...Oh, I would have LOVED If this were an option!
7. Any other words of wisdom on selecting a DCP for a new mom-to-be?
Just find someone you trust. That's all that matters. For me, especially while he's young, I wanted someone that was very nurturing and who had a lot of experience. At first I was really against an in home and now I love it. Keep your options open and go with your gut!
We just went through the process, DS doesn't start til November though so we're nowhere near experts!
1. Is it better to put LO with a DCP that is closer to home or closer to work? We opted for one near home, but I'm a teacher, so getting there on time isn't a problem.
2. How many DCP did you interview/visit? How long does a visit last? What key things should I look for and ask/verify? How many waiting lists were you on? We knew we wanted a center. We loved the first one we went to, but visited 2 others and contacted another one just to make sure. We weren't at any for longer than 30 minutes. It was usually a tour and then the director going over prices, answering questions, etc. I was interested in finding out about sick kid policies, summers off, training of staff (current and ongoing), whether or not babies were assigned a specific provider. We lucked out and were able to get into our favorite, but found that it was about a year waiting list average.
3. For an infant, is it important to find a DCP that is NAEYC certified, or that uses a structured curriculum? For now, I was happy with the structured curriculum and the care my baby would have. When he's older and in the preschool years, we'll look for an NAEYC school.
4. In your experience, once you were on a waiting list, was your LO accepted/enrolled when you were ready to go back to work, or did you have to wait longer? We lucked out and got a guaranteed spot, so I'm not sure.
5. What is a good caregiver to child ratio? A lot of the DCPs listed on the MD Childcare search say that the home care centers accept 8 children at a time, and I assume it is one caregiver for 8 children. I don't know about Maryland, but in Virginia, infants are still a 1:4 ratio. I believe that all in-home providers in VA have to have an assistant.
6. If you have a DCP located in your office, would you put your LO there even if it costs more than you had budgeted? We had thought about putting DS in DH's building, but if DH were sick or out of town, there's no way I could get there and back to work without leaving in the middle of the night!
7. Any other words of wisdom on selecting a DCP for a new mom-to-be?
It is a very daunting process, but go with your gut. I had the "wedding dress" feeling with our daycare - where you know it's the one. One that we visited was the feeling where I wouldn't even enroll my cat. Don't be afraid to ask questions, and a lot of times the questions come afterwards so definitely call or email to follow up!
I haven't read all the responses, sorry if any of this is repeat.
1. IMO better to have DC close to home (we wake up/go to work super early, so getting to our kids by 6 pm is not an issue, though I think that's a really good reason to have DC near work - if you're worried about late pick up):
2. I only looked at in-homes, so no experience with centers. I only looked at three before finding our current (wonderful) lady. I visited by myself first, then brought baby, then brought DH for a third visit for his OK. As for what to ask at the interviews/visits, Google the topic and you'll find all sorts of lists. Don't be afraid to ask a million questions, they should be used to that, especially from new parents.
3. NAEYC certified or set curriculum- not IMO, not when the kids are babies (Lord knows if I was a SAHM I wouldn't be doing anything "curricular" with an infant). When DD #1 turned 2 1/2 we moved her to a full day Montessori preschool.
4. N/A
5. Each state/municipality has their own rules about ratio. Look it up on the internet for where you live. I doubt anybody has a legal ratio of 8:1. Also take note that the ratio for infants is different from toddlers, etc.
6. Nope (see 1. above)
7. Hang in there, be persistant, because once you find a great place, it's worth all the research/heartache finding that place. Then just remember, if you love a place, but then start out there and don't like, take your business elsewhere. You're not signing a blood contract with anyone, so remember that even once your LO has started, you can continue to shop around.
1. I chose a location close to home for some of the same reasons mentioned above. DH and I both work near each other but I go in early and he's home late. It's nice that DS is close to home so we can trade on the dropoff/pick up. We also like having him close as if we're late, we can have a friend pick him up so we don't have to pay late fees. We use an in-home provider who is super flexible too. Because she's in our neighborhood, we know her which is really nice and make me feel more comfortable.
2. Visited two places. Our current provider was my second visit and i knew then that she was the person we'd leave DS with. Just had that feeling. Didn't interview any others.
3. don't really have an opinion on this.
4. didn't do a wait list, she had a spot open in April and I was going back in June. we just gave her a down payment to hold the spot for us.
5. In MD, I think they can only have one infant (besides their own) per employee. My DCP is on her own so she has only one under 2 (my DS). She's going to be having a baby in Nov and will be bringing in an employee to help her since my DS is under two. This has worked perfect as the other two kids are older and "help" her with my DS. They play with him, show him books, etc.
6. probably wouldn't pay more to have him near my office.
7. go with your gut. You'll know when you've found a good place.
good luck!
1. Is it better to put LO with a DCP that is closer to home or closer to work? I live in Wheaton and work near Navy Yard (DH works near Union Station).
This depends on a few factors, including: are you more interested in a center or in-home? how flexible is your work schedule? are you planning on driving any portion of the trip? if you're planning on driving, do you have one car or two?
We chose an in-home DCP close to home (well, Glenmont area... so, closer to home than work) - I was able to negotiate a new schedule, leaving at 5PM. I cut it veeeery close for our 6PM pick-up (actually, I'm usually 10 minutes late...) and I'm coming from Farragut N. If you can't leave by 5PM or so, unless you have someone willing to work until 6:30 you're screwed. If your DH could do pick-up, and he could leave by 5PM, you could make it by 6PM no problems.
In our case, DH drops me off at the Metro, drives DD to daycare, parks in the Glenmont garage (We have a "reserved before 10AM" tag). In the evening, I ride metro to Glenmont, pick up the car (I bring a set of keys, too), pick up DD, then pick up DH at Wheaton metro.
2. How many DCP did you interview/visit? 6 How long does a visit last? Depended on the place - but, probably around 30-45 minutes.
What key things should I look for and ask/verify? Cleanliness/safety of the place. (We visited one in-home, and the lady had a broken crib). General chaos level. (At a couple places, the kids just seemed out of control.) How the place is laid out (Some of the places just seemed cramped, some seemed like little crib farms.)
How many waiting lists were you on? 0
3. For an infant, is it important to find a DCP that is NAEYC certified, or that uses a structured curriculum? A structured curriculum wasn't important for us. We were most interested in sending DD to a place where there were one or two older kids that she'd interact with. Currently, she's around 20 months - and there are two 4 year olds (plus a couple of younger babies) at her in-home. I think it's been great for her. She's played with the older kids enough to learn how to hold a crayon to draw, she can count to 10 (well, it's still a little hard to understand, and sometimes she gets confused), and she's generally well socialized when it comes to interacting with other kids.
4. In your experience, once you were on a waiting list, was your LO accepted/enrolled when you were ready to go back to work, or did you have to wait longer? N/A.
5. What is a good caregiver to child ratio? A lot of the DCPs listed on the MD Childcare search say that the home care centers accept 8 children at a time, and I assume it is one caregiver for 8 children.
I'm not sure exactly what our DCP's ratio is... but, I know she just upped her license to 8 kids - and, when she did so, she was required to hire an assistant. She now employs her neice, who also lives in her house. I personally think that different DCP have different levels of ability for handling kids... some places we visited, there were only a few kids, and the place seemed crazy chaotic. Our DCP has a lot of kids, but, they seem calm & well behaved (I mean, it's still a "normal" level of kid energy... but, it doesn't seem totally out of control...)
6. If you have a DCP located in your office, would you put your LO there even if it costs more than you had budgeted?
Personally, no. But, I don't have a center directly on site (it's like 2 or 3 blocks away) and, we really like our in-home DCP... if I was faced with that decision when she was younger, then I would seriously consider the center close to work (depending on how far out of the budget it is...) In your case, I'd probably do it if I could afford it. One thing to consider - the centers are very inflexible. If you're like 5 minutes late, they charge you by the minute. Also, we're able to take stuff to our DCP's house and leave it there (a big box of diapers, 2 or 3 bottles/sippy cups, a weeks worth of milk, some dry/pantry food...) - this is REALLY great for us, b/c we're always running around in the morning - and can barely get ourselves ready, much less pack a whole diaper bag.
7. Any other words of wisdom on selecting a DCP for a new mom-to-be?
After calling a bunch of in-home DCPs, we decided to use Monday Morning Moms - they took us around to different pre-screened DCP's houses. We pay them a service fee, and they check-in on the providers periodically. They also provide names and numbers for back-up care for times when our DCP is on vacation, sick, etc. It's a little pricey (around $320/week? Not sure, DH pays the bill...) but, we've found it to be worth it. When we were looking, it was hard for us to find a spot for an 8wk old baby on our own. None of the places were calling us back, and there were a lot of language barriers when cold calling from the MD DCP list.
I just wanted to add - you will probably find a zillion in-home DCP's within 2 miles of your house... We have at least 3 within 3 or 4 blocks of our house (and, those are just the ones I've noticed signs for!)... With some of them, looks can be deceiving. Some places, the house looked run-down on the outside, but the daycare area was clean & well maintained. Some of them looked nice on the outside, but the daycare area was in a crappy, cramped basement.
Yeah - our next door neighbor is actually a DCP, and unfortunately we have seen enough to know we do not want to put our LO there, even though it would be super convenient.