Commuting

NovaGolden

For those of you who work in one town and live in another, where is you child?s daycare? Is it in the area you work or the area you live?

For those whose daycare is in the area you live, do you have family close by in case of an emergency?

My commute is about an hour and I am not a fan of being that far from my LO.

Iblamethebeer

Near where we live, but family is close by (which is one of the reasons we did it that way).

2 hrs/day is a long time for a kid to be in the car.

QueSrah

DH and I work in different directions, so daycare is near home (so we can split drop off and pickup, easily get to ped. appts. and use daycare if we're not going to work that day).  We're both 30 or 40 minutes away from daycare.  In most emergencies (if she got sick mid-day), one of us would still go get her.  My FIL lives about 15 or 20 minutes from daycare and he's our backup if we both got stuck in crazy traffic or otherwise couldn't get there.

JoAnna914

Our day care is near our home, and I commute over an hour by commuter train into the city; DH also works 45 minutes away by car..  We do have some family, but none that I can rely on due to them being snowbirds who go to Florida six months of the year.  The way I see it, if LO is not feeling well, I'd much rather he be in a stable place where professionals can take care of him while we make our way back home, rather than him being stuck in my car or on the train with me while miserable.

mben1119

It is closer to MH and my mother's jobs, and 20 minutes from home.  I work about an hour in the opposite direction. 

UpNorthGal

No family nearby & I work an hour away from home but get to WAH 3 days per week. DH works about 20 min from home. We toured DC centers near our house and the one we chose is 5 minutes from home (our pedi is 10 min from DC, which is great when you get a sick kid call and need to pick up sick kid & get in to see the Dr before they close). Having a DCP close to home makes it easier for us to share p/u & drop offs.

 

skipperkelly

LO's daycare is about 5 minutes from our house. Thankfully we have a cousin nearby who could pick him up if DH or I couldn't get there. I work an hour away from daycare and he works about 40 minutes away.

WBMom

DH and I work 30 min from home.  Our DCP is in our hometown:  allows DD to stay close to home so if they do need picked up they are not riding in the car feeling like poo, if we have a day off but still want her to go for a few hrs to get errands run, etc neither of us have to drive back down to work and it has allowed us to get to know families in our community.  Our older DD still have friends from DC that she sees/plays with on a regular basis b/c we are all in the same town.

KathrynMD

Its close to our home; I'd rather have DD happy and engaged in daycare for a longer day rather than stuck in the car w/ me - especially if we hit significant traffic or if DD were sick and we needed to get home/doctor or God forbid had an accident.  I just want to minimize her daily time in the car whenever possible.

My parents live about 25 minutes from daycare and DH's work is about 20 minutes.  My commute is about an hour.  Whenever DD has been sick, DH has gone to pick her up/take her to the doctor if necessary and then I leave and meet them wherever. 

EastCoastBride

Near home.  There are days where I'm home sick or I just need a day off to get dstuff done - I still want to be able to take DS to daycare.

mrambo3

Near where we live. DH's dad is about 15 minutes from our house. DCP requires emergency contacts to be within an hour of their location. Our neighbors are on our emergency list as a back up to FIL. 

I hate being far away too but since DH and I work in different towns than each other, it would be really hard to NOT have DC close to our house.  

ccm1203

I am the odd man out.  Our daycare is near my work, my mom and a good friend of mine take care of DD.    My commute is about 30 minutes. This will change in Sept when DD starts Kindergarten she will go to the after school sitter near home (DS goes there now).

shannm

Without traffic, I can get to daycare from work in about 25 minutes in an emergency.  On a normal day, it takes me about 40 minutes from the time I leave my desk.

Daycare is about a 15 minute drive from the house in the morning.  

I have also considered an hour commute (without traffic) from daycare.  It makes me nervous too but DH could get there a bit quicker than that...

I do not have family close by.  Our emergency contact are friends with a son about the same age.  In the event of a true, true emergency, they are equipped to pick him up. 

JEK76

DH and I work in totally opposite directions from where we live so if day care was near one of our workplaces it would be really far from the other.  So DS is in a center in our town.  It's worked out well.  Even when he's been sick, they'll bring him to the office and sit with him one-on-one while I make my way there (about 35 minutes).  We have friends/family close to the day care but have never had an issue where either DH or I couldn't get to him in a timely manner.

I agree with others, 1 hour in the car each way is a long time!

ksyknelvr73

It takes me about 40 minutes to get to work (one way), DS's day care is literally right outside of our neighborhood. My DH works only 6ish miles from the DC so I feel comfortable with that.

katiewhompus

I drive an hour each way and my daycare is near my home. My mom is our dip so she would handle anything. It does make me very nervous though.

saraboston

We have it near where we live. H and I work in opposite directions, so I do d/o, he does p/u--less time in the car for her. We don't have family close--not even in state. I seriously considered having her in a DC close to my work, but the longer she's in the car, the more opportunity for an accident. People in Mass are shitty drivers.

katie4253

I work 45 mins away.  He goes to daycare by our home, not by my job.  I don't want to have to have him in the car that much each day.  Too much car time for a LO. Plus, it would be hard to be the only one who could drop off and pick up. 

2 days a week H works from home, so it is very close to daycare.  The other 3 he works about 90 mins away (train/subway/car).  If he ever needed to be here faster he could get a zip car and drive (it'd take about an hour if it wasn't rush hour).  

belladonna11307

When I had asked my co-workers this same thing they said to go close to work for 2 reasons 1) if you get held up at the office and are running the late the late pick up fees will kill you and 2)  if LO gets sick most day cares want you to get them asap.  So based on that, we went with close to DH.  We work in opposite directions, but he has the shorter commute.

laurent2007

For those of you who use a DCP far from work, how do you make it in time to pick up before DC closes? If my DD wasn't near my work, I'd be paying late pickup fees through the roof!

ns1

DD's dc is in the town where I work (and also closer to where DH works than one in our town would be).  We do not have family in the town where we live (or in the state for that matter).  I am more comfortable with DD being closer to me for these reasons.  

turtletop

Ours is halfway between work and home. (Approx 1 hour daily commute) It has worked out well so far.

Mrs_Lady

I now work and live in the same town. Previously we thought if we had kids we would have daycare midway between work and home

SunMoon&Stars

My job is not in the town where we live, but DH's is and so is our DC. Because I work until 9:00 PM I take her to DC in the morning; DH picks her up after he gets off work. It works out pretty well.

 Sadly, neither of us has family locally

Mrs.Handy

DC is near home and my H's work, but closer to my H's work than to home.

We're extremely lucky since my DH works 5 minutes from home which is rare in the DC area. I work in the city so DH does the drop off and pick up.