Daycare advice needed! (long, sorry!)

starsmaycollide

I'll be at home with Owen until probably May-when I'd like to go back to my part time job tutoring. So, I'm thinking about doing a part time hours type of care for the summer. In August, I hope I'll have a full time teaching position-so he'd need full time care. It's frustrating because I don't know this for certain, and it would suck to pay for full time if I am still just subbing/job searching-but hopefully I would find something during that time so I think planning on having a full time spot then is wisest.

 I know it's normal around Birmingham to get on a waiting several months in advance-so that's why I am starting to think about this now, so we can research, do tours, etc. before getting on a list, so a spot will be avaliable when we need it.

But, looking things up today....one place had a HIGH fee just to be put on the waiting list in the first place. Is that normal?! And how early did you get on a waiting list?

If I think I want him to do a mother's day out type of care first, should I expect to look into those just as early as full time daycare?  Because my thinking was, the big ones wouldn't want to hold a spot/do part time hours first like church mother's day out places do.

 Regardless of where you live, any suggestions/recs/advice on how to go about this process are appreciated. I feel a bit overwhelmed trying to think about this so far in advance.

uagirl

We placed LO on a waiting list when I was 14 weeks pregnant.  Right now, it looks like late Dec. or early Jan. before LO will have a spot.  She will be almost 5 months old before she gets in. 

We had to pay a $10 deposit to hold our spot on the waiting list.  The money will be deducted from the registration fee when we enroll her.  Our backup daycare didn't charge a fee at all.

ameliaandmatt

I don't know anything about MDO waiting lists or fees, but I got on the list for our DC when I was about 15 weeks pregnant.  We had to pay either $50 or $100 to get on the list, then another $50 or so when her spot opened up and we registered, I can't remember.  They had a spot open for me when I went back to work, thank goodness!

I know how overwhelming it can be trying to find the right childcare option.  Good luck!

star21gazer

I'm not sure whether or not a high fee is normal or not...I can see a fee being charged but I would guess it would be similar to what Liz said in that  they would deduct it from registration fees or something.  But I really don't know since I never looked into daycares. 

Question for you?  I have been looking at some Mothers Day Outs programs around here for Aubrey for next year and most of the ones I have found here don't accept until age 2 and also they are usually only 4 hour programs and only one or two days a week.  Are they different in Birmingham?  I haven't done extensive searching yet, so there could be different types that I am not aware of.  

Have you thought about a nanny/babysitter as an option?  

starsmaycollide

star21gazer:

I'm not sure whether or not a high fee is normal or not...I can see a fee being charged but I would guess it would be similar to what Liz said in that  they would deduct it from registration fees or something.  But I really don't know since I never looked into daycares. 

Question for you?  I have been looking at some Mothers Day Outs programs around here for Aubrey for next year and most of the ones I have found here don't accept until age 2 and also they are usually only 4 hour programs and only one or two days a week.  Are they different in Birmingham?  I haven't done extensive searching yet, so there could be different types that I am not aware of.  

Have you thought about a nanny/babysitter as an option?  

Looking at some here, there are some that accept babies under 1. It just depends. I gues some of these are bigger churches with bi programs from that to preschool. It seems to depend on the place  how many days you can have.... but now that I think about it , it's probably not worth it-because it would easier to get him in one place and stay there, plus have more days/hours avaliable to us.  It wouldn't be helpful to have a 9-1 program if those are also my summer work hours...we would need him in somewhere earlier and be picked up later. 

Ugh, can you tell I'm new to this? lol.

 I would love just to have someone come here to keep him, or even do an in home daycare- but I don't know where to start with that. We live an hour and a half from family and my parents are both still working. I've thought about using a friend but I'm afraid to get involved with a situation paying a friend and it not going well/working out.

I've worked privately for a family and totally got burned by the experience (wasn't paid on time, then was dropped with no warning/explanation). Even though I would never do that to someone else, whether I knew them beforehand or not, I'm wary of doing it. I don't know. 

I do have a classmate (another certified teacher) who is a nanny right now. Maybe I should talk to her at some point. I have no clue what to pay in that scenario, though. 

SeasideBride06

DD is not in daycare, but she does go to a MDO program at a church 2 days a week...and will also go there for pre-school.  For us, we had to register her for the 2010-2011 school year back in Jan/Feb...and it was very competitive!  We got there way before the "official" time just to get a ticket in line and then they only had a certain amount of spots before they started a waiting list. (The church we chose does a MDO program for 6 week olds through age 3, then they also have K-3, K-4, and K-5.)

With that being said, if you are interested in even doing something like that it is a good idea to start looking now, because the registration dates could be coming up in the next couple of months.

SeasideBride06

I also wanted to add that there was another church program that we were interested in and narrowed it down between the two.  The other one does offer 2, 3, 4, and 5-day programs, and they also offer before and after care outside of the 9-1 hours...starting at 6 weeks old.  However, they also register in Jan/Feb for the following year.