Daycare Stress

intensivepurposes

@petrichor14 H and I moved out of Baltimore City because we couldn't stomach putting a kid in the public school system, and we couldn't afford the decent private schools.  I had no idea day care was that expensive to boot!! And I *totally* understand where you're coming from re: in-home care.  There are a lot of shady "businesses" run out of homes in Bmore that seem like they would be impossible to really parse, plus I wouldn't trust the city to regulate or police practices.  I feel you.

And in case I get flamed about the public schools, it's really really hard for me to say, as I'm the child of two public school teachers and I have been taught to support public schools no matter what.  But there are areas of Baltimore that make Detroit look like Disneyland, and we weren't fortunate enough to afford to live in a nicer area.

cschissell

Daycare was by far one of the most stressful things we had to decide on.  We ended up with an great in home daycare before I finally stopped working.  We did a criminal background check on her, checked references, made sure she was licensed with the state, etc.  It was a great experience and my son absolutely loved going there.  I still feel bad sometimes that he is now home with me and not at daycare with his friends anymore.  It has been over 6 months and he still talks about his friends. 

littleschmidt

We also used care.com- and couldn't be happier. We found a SAHM looking for some part time work- and they care for our son and spoil him. We are fortunate enough to only have to pay for when he goes- if it's 2 days a week or 5. It's stressful finding a place to trust with your little ones! Good luck!

lifeisgood27

I can't imagine paying that much for daycare. $2k plus a month is more than my monthly salary. I'm only working part-time (4-days) right now, for sanity's sake, but I don't make much after taxes. We have dd in school/daycare 2 days a week. We pay between 300 and 350 per month depending on the contacted weeks. You get a sibling discount, but I'm hoping and praying to find someone to watch #2 in home until after a year. That's what we did with dd, then put her in the toddler room at the center. I havent begun to think about this. If it weren't for my health benefits, and schedule I would try to sah, but it's not in the cards right now.

mantgal

I would definately look for churches... I found one in my area that is only $130 a week for full time infant care

apbogan

Ya'll made me do a search last night after reading thru these (my DD is 15 years old so it has been a while) and our local centers are $750 a month. I know there are worse but damn. Now I'm worried. 

kate5all

officedronette said:

The issue with the in-home centers is there is a lot of variability in quality and very little oversight. I hesitate to share this, because it definitely scared the crap out of me and it is not a common situation, but my aunt's sister lost a baby in an in-home childcare due to improper care (behavior that I can't imagine would have happened at a center because of there being more than one person in the room, background checks, etc). I'm certain good in-home care exists, I just don't know that I could ever feel comfortable with it given that history. As for us, we are back on the waiting list (was on during first pregnancy but pulled off due to miscarriage) for the center across from us. It's a great facility and we love it, but it is bananas expensive ($2900 a month). This is about what we would pay a nanny if we chose to go that route, but personally I would feel a lot more comfortable with a center than with a nanny, for the same reasons that in-home care makes me nervous.

It's hard not to let stories like that affect your decision!! A few years ago, a local in-home daycare provider was sentenced to jail for neglect that led to the death of a 2-month old. Now, when I search in-home daycare for our city, those news stories are on the first page of results!  

I've always been a supporter of in-home daycare because I have family in other states who do it, but now that I'm thinking about sending MY baby to one...I'm pausing! 

intensivepurposes

Has anybody looked into an au pair program? They're a bit more expensive up front, and you'd have another person to feed/care for, but to me it looks like it'd be less expensive in the long run and a whole lot more flexible.  If you have the room, etc.

I had a live-in nanny as a child and I have really fond memories of her.  I'd love to provide that kind of stability.