Stressed about daycare options, need advice please!

krisim

Our DD1 is in a great daycare.  It's the only daycare in town that is convenient to work for both DH and I and they have a great educational program.   Plus, I can visit it over my lunchhour since it's only a block away!    The problem is...we don't know if they are going to have a spot open for DD2.  It's a very small program and while current families have priority over new-comers, they don't guarantee spots for anyone.

I'm due in 3 weeks and will I'll be returning to work full-time in October. We plan to continue sending DD1 to daycare while I'm on maternity leave to keep her schedule consistent (we have to pay for her spot anyways).   We'll only hear from our daycare if they have a spot open...otherwise DD2 will remain on the wait list indefinitely.   

 Should we:

1. Keep DD1 at our current daycare indefinitely (hoping that DD2 will eventually get a spot if she doesn't have one by October) but start DD2 at a different daycare if she doesn't yet have a spot at our current daycare.    This means that we'll be driving to 2 different daycares (possibly in different areas of town).

2.  Move both girls in October if they do not both have spots at our current daycare, which means that we'll probably not ever have the chance to get back into this daycare, but we'll be taking them to the same daycare rather than driving to 2 different ones.

 

xtencornfield

Daycare is such a PITA. Normally I would say you would want them in the same location but this situation is a bit different. Personally, I would wait it out and keep DD1 at your current daycare in hopes that a spot will be availble for #2. In this situation, if you can't get a spot right away at your chosen DC, I think I would put #2 in a different daycare for a while. If it ends up being horrendously hard to get both to different DC's, you can always move DD1. However, hopefully, you wouldn't have to do that for too long. You might also set a limit on how long you would keep this arrangement before you would move DD1.

moonfaerie

xtencornfield:

Daycare is such a PITA. Normally I would say you would want them in the same location but this situation is a bit different. Personally, I would wait it out and keep DD1 at your current daycare in hopes that a spot will be availble for #2. In this situation, if you can't get a spot right away at your chosen DC, I think I would put #2 in a different daycare for a while. If it ends up being horrendously hard to get both to different DC's, you can always move DD1. However, hopefully, you wouldn't have to do that for too long. You might also set a limit on how long you would keep this arrangement before you would move DD1.

this. FWIW, my DDs went to different daycares for a while and it wasn't that bad. DH dropped DD2 off and I dropped DD1 off.

krisim

Thanks so much for the advice.  I think that's what we're leaning towards that option unless we end up finding a new daycare that we love (there's a shortage of infant care in our town, so I don't see that happening!).