Childcare & Daycare questions & Discussion

moon1417

I think we have all discussed daycare at different points on this board. I thought it might be a good idea for it to be in one place.  I'm not sure where everyone is at in their journey to find daycare if that's what your going to need, but with help I found the following questions for the daycare teachers/director throughout the board.  

I thought we could also use this thread to discuss childcare and daycare in general, so any comments/concerns can go here too!  Are you hiring a nanny? In-home daycare? What is your plan?

Sounds like a lot of people have been struggling with daycare waitlists lately - so if you haven't started, it's not too early!

If you want questions added to the list below, just tag me and I will add them here too so that everyone can have an all inclusive list. 

You typically schedule a tour to see the facility and ask questions directly. 

What is the ratio of teachers to kids

What is included in price

What does your wait list look like

How many are trained in CPR

Are all infants on the same schedule or do they adjust with each infant

How often do they change diapers

If you live somewhere where there is snow: what's the snow day policy

What is the policy for bringing in breast milk and or formula

Once they are a year old what is provided in terms of milk and solid food (ie. breakfast, do you have to pack a lunch) and if food is provided do they offer allergen-free options if needed. 

In addition to above - what kinds of foods (if you don't want your kid to have sugary things, will that be difficult)

Do they require vaccination

Do they have a quiet nap room

Do they cloth diaper (if your interested in that)

Can they sleep in swings/bouncers (which are not safe for sleep)

If they send the child home and you have a doctors note for an infectious reason they can't be at daycare do they credit you for that time? 

What kind of communication do they have with the parent? 

Do they take pictures? 

Do they go outside to play - what are the temperature restrictions etc.

Can you watch them on a camera

What are the rules and regs for people picking up children

How closely is access into the facility monitored? (ie is there someone at the front desk? a special code? or can you just walk in and walk out with a kid and not have hardly a question asked?) 

How often are toys cleaned

How do they handle discipline

What types of things do I need to bring on the first day (Crib sheet, change of clothes, diapers, wipes, etc.)

Can parents/grandparents come visit during the day (take the child for lunch/dr appt/stop in to breast feed etc)

What are your sick policies

how are allergies handled? (do they have polices in place, etc?) 

How is potty training handled

Someone suggested: also I would just show up for a tour, that way you can see what is really going on and not something they have spruced up.

peachy0709

Baby's new daycare requires me to bring crib sheets, which I've never had any experience with.  Is this something you all have had experience with before? They recommend pack and play sized sheets, but most that I've found are just basic and not very soft.  

moon1417

@peachy0709 I have had to bring crib sheets since day one for my daughter.  She slept in a normal crib at daycare and they would always just put her sheet in it.  Even now in the toddler room she uses it, they must cover her mat with it - because they sleep on the floor now.  I just have to take it home every week to wash it/bring a clean one in on Mondays. 

aukeev

@peachy0709 The day care we have chosen asks that families bring two mini-crib/pack n play size sheets. One will be sent home every Friday for washing and the other will be changed out. MH thought it was odd, but I actually kind of like that. I feel it helps guarantee they aren't sleeping on the same surface another child is where they could be passing drool/snot/germs in general, and it also lets me bring sheets in the fabric we like. Amazon has some pack n play sheets that are muslin, organic cotton or several other fabrics. I haven't found anything other than the standard scratchy cotton ones at a brick-and-mortar store, though. 

In terms of questions, one other thing we asked was how teachers feel about parents visiting during the day. Our day care will be just two miles from my office, which we chose because I wanted the option to go pick up our LO and take a walk with him on my lunch break, or just be able to visit him during the day. I didn't want a facility that discouraged day time visits.

mrosek91

@peachy0709 we had to provide our daycare with a pack 'n' play and a sheet.
Also, I'm going to move your question about costs from random over here. We live in MD in the Greater Washington area, and have used basically every type of option.

The first 6 months we sent DS#1 to someone's house, it was part time, and she watched only him, and charged us $10 an hour.
Then we got a "nanny." I consider her our nanny because she works out of our house, and does light housework. But technically she's an independent contractor who runs a child care service out of our house. She has a limit of 3 children at a time, and will do any ages. We use her with our babies from when I go back to work (or 6 months with DS#1) until they are old enough to start pre-school, she also watches friends' babies, and my older one when his school is on break. In the beginning she used to rotate houses, but she requested that we pick one house and stick with it, and we were the lucky ones who got her, mostly because we are the only ones who use her full time. She charges $12 for one baby, $14 for 2, and $18 for 3 (So for example, if she has my 2 boys we pay $14, but if she has DS#2, and my friend's baby we each pay $7). Every week my friends who use her send me their hours, I calculate how much we each owe her, and pay her, and my friends pay me back. We will be using her for the baby. It differs from week to week because my friends don't have set hours, but when we're the only ones using her it's $456 a week, when they do send it ranges from about 300-400 a week.
This year and last year DS#1 went to a friend who runs a playgroup in his house, it's 4 kids including DS#1 and they are all around the same age. DS#1 is there from 8-5 every day. The man who runs it charges $750 a month for core (9-2:30) and then $7 an hour for before and after care. (Side note: A lot of family members expressed concern that a man would be interested in running a day care facility. But we spoke to other people who used him, and they were very happy. We have been thrilled, and he is so good with the kids. I think that the stereotype that if a man is interested in kids it means there is something unhealthy there is so harmful to our society.)
Sadly our friend is moving away so we had to find a new solution for next year. We are planning on sending DS#1 and DS#2 to an official preschool. They publish their cost as an annual rate and it is $7,950 for the 2yo class and $8,395 for the 3yo class, plus before and after care. (Official hours are 9-3) They also offer a 10% sibling discount on the second "tuition." So in total it will come out to about 21K for both of them to be there 8-4 for the year.

I'm not sure how much this affects the costs since we did not compare it to other options, but both daycare places are religious schools.

moon1417

@oklahomak I added your question  

MamaK225

@mrosek91 - Your options sound pretty ideal. I totally agree with the male childcare provider, I love the idea and think it would be great it there were more male workers in the field, especially as a quasi-role model for young boys.

We're currently third on a Preferred waitlist at our daycare with DD2. They've got an infant room with 6 possible spots (they have 2 resources during peak hours - 9-3 - with one of them being fully dedicated to that room). They've given me an approximate mid- to late-November availability, though I'd prefer to return to work the week of Oct 21st, so we'll see how this pans out. Infants are now $140/wk and you provide all formula (pre-mixed and labelled) or breastmilk for the day, as well as diapers & wipes, any salves or lotions, and bottles. I didn't think about crib sheets, but I'm going to do that this go-round since they have 6 assigned cribs so there is no intermixing of germs, etc. When they are sitting up well and you give permission, they provide table foods and they generally stick with the more bland, safe foods until allergies are known, etc.

I hope we can get in a little earlier. I had to shuffle DD1 around and it was awful. There wasn't a spot at my daycare until she was nearly 9 months old and it added 30 min - each way - on my commute that was originally only 20 min. I'm never doing that to myself again; my job can suck it if they want to get huffy. Worse case: I use my 8-10 weeks of maternity and then my 2-3 weeks of vacation that I'll have left. But if I am forced to use my vacation time, I'm not answering a single damn phone call or email. It really is a shame in a town of 60,000+ with a median age of 34 that there aren't more infant care options. Ugh.

sourlemon

We pay about $1300/mo for both my kids at the same place. For infants, parents have to supply the formula/milk (pre-made in labelled bottles), diapers, wipes, and any lotions/creams needed. After 12 months, the center provides whole milk and unless there's an allergy or medical reason, all kids are moved to that and no bottles are allowed. Diapers and such are the parent's responsibility until potty training.

When we couldnt get DD2 into the center for 6 months, her alternate daycare was $210/week. So much more expensive and the quality was a lot lower because it wasnt as well regulated as the military daycare.

There are men and women that work at the daycare, but it is mostly women.

One thing to think about is whether you will be provided updates/pictures during the day. My daycare doesnt do it, but I have friends who's daycares use some sort of an app that gets updated a few times during the day with what is going on and a picture. I think it draws attention away from actually caring for the kids (plus, dont kids have camera/phones shoved in their faces enough without having it done at school), but some parents wouldnt consider sending their child somewhere without that type of communication throughout the day.

peachy0709

Re: cost, as I mentioned before, we have always used a corporate sponsored daycare, which meant it was subsidized by our companies.  I cannot remember what we're paying right now because it comes out of DH's paycheck, but I do know it's going to be a shock to the system when we move, especially because our oldest is in the PreK class which has the lowest overall cost (all in we probably pay ~$615 a week for both kids?).  Our new center will be $20,000 annually for infant care and $18,000 for DD2. It is a gut punch for sure. DD1 will be in Kindergarten and we're figuring out the aftercare.  I'm pretty sure my very frugal father threw up in his mouth when I told him all these costs. My mom, on the other hand, just calls me every other day and tells me to "just stay home." 

Because the girls have always been at accredited daycares that were only for either people I worked with or DH worked with, we've never ever explored other options.  I'm feeling a little stressed about the fact that 3 kids in daycare + school + aftercare is going to cost us so much money annually. 

As for questions, my biggest ones have always been around sick policies (our current school is SUPER STRICT and it can be a nightmare), frequency of communication, and flexibility on schedules.  We have never been really regimented on our scheduling of infants, and so it's important to us that a daycare we use respects our philosophies. 

@MamaK225 - I don't want to be a creeper since we're still internet strangers, but I have a guess of where in SC you might live based on what you said and I'm pretty sure it's very, very close to my parents  

mrosek91

@MamaK225 I know! hearing all these stories makes me realize I should stop complaining that with our current option closing the commute goes from 5 minutes to 20 minutes (still on the way to work.)

@sourlemon it's funny how different people feel about the same thing. My son's daycare sends out daily videos which are just slideshows of pictures from throughout the day, and I love them. They usually send them out around lunchtime because that's when nap time is, and it's the highlight of my day. I don't think it's in anyway taking away from the quality of care, as toddlers, they love playing with each other, and don't necessarily notice what the adults are doing. It's not a deal breaker for me, but something I appreciate if they have.

@peachy0709, I know the costs can be insane. Based, on what everyone else is saying it's sounds like we got pretty lucky with our options for preschool, but we are planning on sending to private school. One of the conversations on this board made me do the math earlier this week, and assuming static tuition and 4 to 6 kids (both big assumptions) we will be paying the school between 462K-693K dollars. And that's only K-6 and does not include all the fundraising that they do. 

peachy0709

@mrosek91 - oh the FUNDRAISING. DD1 will likely be at private school, too, and my friends have all warned me about how aggressive they are.  

moon1417

Just chiming in about costs.  We pay $215/week for my toddler and then at least $230 for this baby in the infant room.  We will get a 10% discount on the cost of the toddler room for having a second child at the daycare. 

aukeev

On costs - the price for infant care at our facility is $250/week. It drops down by $10/week for each classroom (year) they move up.

BigBadWolf12

Spoilered bc I'm in Sweden so my points of discussion are basically irrelevant to everyone else here in terms of advice or anything like that...

Kids aren't allowed to go in daycare until 1yo here (Sweden).  If you want to/ need to go back to work before then you need to get a nanny or private care. They have the parental leave benefits to back that up,  and you can put your kid on the list from birth (as soon as they get a social number) but don't start moving up the queue list until 4 months old. It's also extremely subsidized.  My son (who will start someone around August) has a ton of allergies and the chef is fully aware and already prepares foods for other kids there with similar allergies. Kids sleep in sleeping bags outside for fresh air year round (very Scandinavian..they stay warm in their sleeping bags don't worry)

I can't imagine the extra stress of cost,  wait lists,  etc when you haven't even had your 6-10 week pp checkup and you're already stressing about care for your infant the public social system isn't perfect by any means,  but it goes a long way to support parents in the transition to parenthood which can make all the difference

Twinkiedoll

Definitely check on the security.  I went to one daycare where, supposedly for fire code reasons, none of the classrooms were locked.  She tried to reassure me by saying that she gets a notification on her phone every time a door opens.  But yeah... no, that's not good enough.  My kid could be kidnapped by a rando and halfway down the next block before you even pull out your phone to see the notification. 

moon1417

@BigBadWolf12 Wow.  I am always so shocked by the differences between the USA and other countries.  I cant even imagine living in a country that treats new mothers so well.  

I am a little shocked by the sleeping outside in sleeping bags haha that sounds interesting -- what are the temperature fluctuations throughout the year in Sweden? How cold does it get?? Snow?? I have so many questions hahaha

MollyH1987

We currently pay $315/week for our toddler and the new baby will be $335/week. Like @moon1417 said, we'll also end up getting a 10% discount on the older kid once both are in daycare. The new baby will start daycare at around 8 weeks old so by then, my toddler may move up a class and the cost of will drop to $300/week for her. Still, not looking forward to that bill but we really like the school and their curriculum so it is what it is.

We had to provide an extra set of clothes and supply breast milk and/or pre-made formula when she drank that at her daycare and we only have to provide a blanket in terms of sleeping/napping. At her age, they sleep on cots but if they are small enough for a crib, they provide basic white sheets that get washed by them (not sure how often though as our daughter was already old enough to sleep on the cots when we transferred her to her current daycare -- that's a good question for me to ask them). 

Other than that, they provide all meals and snacks throughout the day and they have notices in each classroom of any allergies that the kids may have. You also cannot get into the building unless you are "beeped" in by the administrators that work there.

BigBadWolf12

Haha @moon1417 normal Temps are -15 to 25 C (5-77F according to Google). Snow yes.  I didn't see. But my husband did.  He just said "the sleeping bags were so cute all lined up for nap time" but idk if they're just on a platform or in a structure of some kind,  but they've done it like that for generations (and they have really strict laws about child welfare etc here so it's not just ignorant practice) so I'm good with it. (Eta: he said they were set up in a structure with no walls I think,  but a roof and foundation. They'd also have an extreme weather backup plan if it was to windy/cold/snowy/etc)

But ya, being "lonely" or feeling isolated is more common here for new parents on parental leave, especially those with babies born from October-March,  than PPA or PPD it seems. And there are lots of patent groups and baby programs you can go to,  but you have to get yourself together to do that,  theoretically you could just be a hermit for a year,  which wouldn't be good for anyone.  The society is very family/typing child focused though,  so people generally aren't intimidated at going out and about even from early ages, so that helps a lot

Twinkiedoll

So I already said this in another post.  We are in Hawaii, where the cost of living is really high.

Daycares (licensed or otherwise) run out of people's homes (6 kids max, and only 2 infants) are $800 a month for full time care.  This is the cheapest option. 

Daycare centers in downtown (near where I and many people work) range from $1500-2K a month for infant care.  We just put down a deposit on one to at least hold a January date, and that place is $1990 a month.  But it's also a five minute walk from my office.  There are some daycare centers that charge $1350-1400 a month for infants, but they are not in downtown. 

Toddler care gets a little cheaper.  Goes to $1400-1700 a month in downtown, unless you go to one of the "elite" preschools.  There is one subsidized preschool in town that starts taking kids at 18 months.  That school is $930 a month.  The waitlist is a mile long.  DD finally got off the waitlist for the 2 year old program, and I applied when I was 24 weeks pregnant with her. I put Bean #2 on the waitlist two months ago in hopes he will get in right at 18 months.

cato99

Chiming in with another high cost of living US location (SF Bay Area, though I'm not in San Francisco proper where I'm sure the costs are even higher!):

The daycares I looked into when I was trying to place my infant daughter were around $2K/month, give or take. As I mentioned in another thread, the competition is insane and we didn't get a spot anywhere (despite many waitlist check payments!) so we employ a nanny. Industry standard for nannies is $20/hour for one child, starting at $28/hour for 2 or more. 

So since we already employ and pay the nanny, I will keep DD (who will be 2 in May) at home with her another year after this little one is born (2019-2020 school year) and only put her in preschool when she is 3 (2020-2021 school year). At that point we'll be paying for preschool (looks like $2ishK/month) plus the nanny so idk, $5ishK/month? <melts into a puddle and cries> 

Twinkiedoll

@mrosek91 In Hawaii (specifically Oahu), where you went to high school follows you around for the rest of your life.  When people meet you, they ask two questions: (1) What's your name; and (2) What school did you go to?  And they don't mean college, law school, etc.  They mean high school.  Culturally, people believe where you went to high school says a lot about you as a person. 

The public schools here are terrible, except for a couple of very wealthy neighborhoods. So if you can afford it, you send your kid to private school.  And there are two private schools that matter: Iolani and Punahou.  [Fun fact: Obama went to Punahou.]  If you go anywhere else (except for Kamehameha Schools which is for native Hawaiians only), then no one really cares. The tuition for Punahou for the 2018-2019 school year is $24,780 a year for K-12, with tuition increases every year.  Iolani is about the same.  And on top of that, they expect you to donate, fundraise, volunteer as a "room mom" (never a "room dad"), chaperone field trips and all that stuff.  There is a master spreadsheet that keeps track of how involved you are as a parent and how much money you contribute.  It's awful.

 

jmesue1030

@BigBadWolf12 I’m so jealous of the childcare in Sweden!!! I can only imagine how cute all the little ones are sleeping outside in their sleeping bags!!!! 

@Twinkiedoll wowza, that’s crazy. Nothing else to add... just wow.

heml

@cato99 Thanks for sharing nanny costs, that was going to be my question. We're in a similarly competitive market in Austin, TX, so I'm trying to figure out how much a nanny will be

MamaK225

@Twinkiedoll - I wanted to Love It for that effort you put into explaining one of the conundrums of island living, but I just can't ... that's insane. I get it, but it's still insane. That's what a full year of tuition at a 4-year state school is - and you only pay for those 4 years until you graduate!! 

@heml - We've been dying to get out to the Austin area, but nothing has really worked out just yet. I guess the one good part of staying put is the comparatively reasonable childcare. A nanny here is about $500-600/wk for 1 infant and 1 toddler (compared to about $270/wk for the same at my daycare) ... and that's if you're a decent person who pays someone a living wage. I know several people (all of whom have *more* than the means to pay more, but don't) who pay much less and it's infuriating. I sometimes grimace when filling out checks for daycare, but I do everything I can to give/provide extra for the class and the teachers.

cato99

@MamaK225 oof yeah I hear you on being shocked at laboral abuses for domestic workers. I volunteer with an activist organization fighting against that. Hopefully the tide is turning as more states and federal bills codify worker's rights for domestic workers (minimum pay, overtime, basic protections). A depressing historical fact is that domestic and farm workers were left out of original worker rights legislation in the 1930s because of pressure from former slave owning constituencies, since enslaved populations normally performed that kind of work; so it's been an uphill battle since then to institute even basic worker protections (which are still ignored by many employers since this work often involves vulnerable populations--and there's been so little discussion that honestly many employers have no idea they're violating employment law by underpaying domestic workers).

Twinkiedoll

@MamaK225 A nanny for $500-600 a week is amazing.  We were looking into hiring one for DD, but it would have cost $4K a month, plus we had to provide health care under state law.  A friend of mine went the au pair route because she had the space in her home.  Unfortunately, that's not an option for us.

I find it amazing what some people expect to pay for a nanny, as if being a nanny isn't a full time job like anything else.  Why would you want to underpay the person on whom your baby's life depends on, day in and day out?

Avrilmai

I know I'm late on this but I did want to chime in. we got on the wait list for our preferred child care center at the beginning of February and that is for a spot in Jan. 2020. The place is associated with my employer and don't have a strict structure, so we can pickup /drop off at any time.  they provided all diapers and wipes. Parents supply formula/breast milk and crib sheets. Each infant has an assigned crib with his/her name on it. There are no cameras, but they will email/send individual pictures with updates and a daily summary. seems like the cost is kind of middle of the road.

@moon1417 one question I would add is: how are allergies handled? (do they have polices in place, etc?) 
our center will provide all meals once they are on baby food/ table food, but they will make accommodations for allergies. 
another question I asked was how they handle potty training?

MamaK225

@cato99 - I am right there with you, even if it isn't legally "required" because of exclusions or ambiguously-written laws ... how could you even *feel* ok paying someone under $10/hr? They are in *your* home and caring for *your* child. Wouldn't you want someone who is both qualified AND values their worth? Given the origination of the exclusions - as you stated in your comment - I could see how it has perpetuated, but it still makes me cringe.

@Twinkiedoll - Oh, I'm certainly aware that we're living large with that sort of a price (if that's the route we end up going) for a well-qualified nanny. An au pair is a great idea, though, we'd definitely have to do a little renovating to the upstairs area to include a kitchenette.

suzycupcake

Wow, I had no idea so much was involved in this part of the process and it feels overwhelming. Many questions surface for me. 

How do you know where to start first? Also, if any Mamas are planning on being home for the first couple of years or so, should a Nanny be hired at the very least to come help? How do you know if you
should wait to send your child to kindergarten or will you know that they should start with preschool instead? 

moon1417

@avrilmai   Good questions  - I added them

olivemomma

@suzycupcake I’m a SAHM and we made the decision to start both of our kiddos in preschool around 3. We did this mainly for socialization and to get them used to a daily routine that wasn’t dominated by life at home with only me in charge. It’s been incredibly valuable for both of them and I think will make the transition to kindergarten a breeze. Studies have shown that kids who are in preschool on average do better in their early childhood school years than their peers who wait to begin school in kindergarten. Of course each kid and family are different.

in terms of hiring a nanny - I know several SAHMs who have one. These tend to be the same ones who also have a cleaning lady and people to do a lot of other things for them so they have more time for themselves. I’ve personally never understood the reasoning behind needing these things if you aren’t working - I consider my kids and my home my job. It’s definitely not necessary But to each their own there I suppose.

peachy0709

@suzycupcake - You hit the nail on the head of what makes this all so difficult! It's all deeply personal. I know being home while on leave was incredibly lonely, so if a nanny at that point is something you want to consider, I say do what makes you happy. 

As for preschool, it depends on what you want to do.  A lot of my friends do preschools at their churches which start at varying ages and are usually just a few days a week for a certain amount of time.  

Twinkiedoll

@suzycupcake When I was on maternity leave, I was in a Mommy and me stroller exercise class (which I highly recommend btw) so I met a lot of SAHMs.  One of them left her kids with a full-day sitter twice a month so she could have some time to herself to get pedicures, hang out with girlfriends, run errands, etc.  I think it made the transition to preschool easier too because the idea of being dropped off for a day was not entirely alien to them.  I thought that was a great idea. 

purplg8r

@suzycupcake I was a kindergarten teacher for 9 years.  Please send your child to pre-school first. We could totally tell the difference. The kids who had never been in a school setting before weren’t as advanced socially and didn’t know how to act in an environment that was more structured. They were often behind academically as well.  (Now, this wasn’t the case with every child but definitely the majority)

MamaK225

@purplg8r - As an early-ed teacher, what is your take on a formal 2K/3K/4K programs v. daycares with strong school-like curriculums? My daycare has done an amazing job with their curriculum and DD1 is also enrolled with a parents-as-teachers program with our school district, where someone from the district comes out twice a month to evaluate DD1's social, verbal, and developmental (gross-motor, fine-motor, etc.) abilities and progress. Through the evaluations, she appears to be thriving. I just wonder if there's any benefit to putting her in "official" school or if it only replaces the less-structured free play with butt-in-seat, structured lessons? All of my friends who are in public education are either in MS-HS or work in administration, so they don't have much of a peek into those early years.

peachy0709

@purplg8r - I feel bad that you exposed yourself as a former K teacher because now we want ALL THE SECRET SAUCE. Following @MamaK225 's lead - my daughter recently got in to a private kindergarten program.  We did a lot of testing, including an IQ test, which she did very well on, and then a "kindergarten readiness test" in which her percentile was, well, a little below average.  I'm now panicked that she's not ready for kindergarten.  DH thinks I'm reading too much into this.  Do you have experience with any of these kinds of tests?  How much value/merit do you think they hold?  They did not give me specifics about her score, just the topics they covered in 20-30 minutes and then her national percentile.  

olivemomma

Oooooo and @purplg8r whats your overall opinion on late summer babies and starting kindergarten super young or holding them back a year? I know this isn’t a 1 size fits all answer but I already worry about it and would love a kindergarten teachers opinion!

aukeev

@olivemomma I'm also curious about this! There's talk in my area at the legislative level about pushing the age for starting Kindergarten back to August 1 instead of September 1, which would guarantee our son is about to be six before starting, and we have mixed feelings about it. I'm curious to hear what educators and experienced parents think.

peachy0709

@oklahomak - I think I've shared this before, but now that I KNOW where we're sending DD1, there is no way in hell they will admit this baby for K because 1) K starts in early August here, 2) this school is fond of the "gift of time" and they will give that to DS and 3) even if he was super advanced and got it, he would more than likely be in class with several 6 year olds (I know this year's class is made of one half kids that will be 6 either when they start or before December 2019).  So our decision is already made up for us and we will send him to a transitional K program that our preschool offers. 

It's interesting because DD1 was born in a state where the cut off was October 1 so that just seems crazy to me now that I'm in this very very different world where all the Kindergarten boys are 6!! 

aukeev

@peachy0709 That seems so odd to me that so many kids will already be 6 by then! But then again, I have no ties to the school system, so that could also be the norm and I wouldn't be the wiser. Is the transitional K program where you're at paid, or covered by the state? At least here, it seems most of our preschool programs are paid programs with a similar vibe to an advanced day care. 

MamaK225

I'm curious, too @purplg8r about late summer babies. DD1 is July 1 and this one will be Aug 9 or 14th. DH is 8/3 and was the youngest in his class and said the only thing that it affected was that he was slightly smaller/behind everyone size-wise (i.e. later growth spurts, etc), but academically it wasn't a big deal to him.