When to look for daycare? What questions to ask?

Lyn09

DH and I are wondering when we should start looking for daycare? We won't need daycare until May, is it too soon to call people now? We plan on finding an in-home daycare.  Did you interview several people? What questions did you ask? Did you follow up with the people you didn't select to let them know? I'm not sure how this all works. This is all so new and a tad overwhelming. 

TIA!

schmood

We looked about 6 months out.  Some places said it was too early to know, others had a waiting list already.  Might as well start now. 

If you're looking for an in-home place - find out what they do if they aren't available.  I had a place that had an opening, but she takes a few week-long vacations through the year when she doesn't have coverage, so we'd have to find an alternative for those weeks, which we thought would be difficult to get.  Or, what do they do if they are sick.... again, what coverage do they have?  Do they follow a school district schedule (like if a district has Presidents Day off or if there is a weather related school closure, is the daycare also closed?)

 

ladygeek83

I don't think it's ever too early to start looking, especially if you want an infant opening in a home day care. From what I understand, those are hard to find and book up quickly because home day cares can take very few infants, and many parents prefer home day cares because of cost and the smaller environment. We looked at centers last November, and one of the places we checked out was completely booked for infants through the following August - about when we would need day care. Good luck!

stephmarie

I would start calling now if you are looking for in-home. Like pp said, most can only take one infant at a time, and they should already know when their next spot will be open. We interviewed a number of in-home providers and these are some questions we asked:

- schedules (drop off and pick up times, vacations, sick days etc.)

- cost

- discipline strategies/policies

- is play all free time or do they do structured activities

- are they willing to cloth diaper

- what kind of food do they serve

I know I had more but those are the major ones I can think of right now. I also only followed up if they requested I did.

MesmrEwe

I agree with what Steph posted for being a good start.

 I would add - don't be completely turned off to a center before you even check them out in your area.  The one we used for DD we really liked and plan to use them as soon as DH decides it's time to start DS on some DC.  The one we used is a private center instead of a chain center.  We liked how the kids are grouped into their respective ages/phases without being on top of eachother.  The bigger thing, we liked that their hours ran later as with DH & my (at the time) work schedule was such that we didn't work a strict 9-5 job.  With the in-home centers we checked out a lot of them required pickup between 4:00 and at the lastest 4:30, which is great if you're a teacher, but if you've got a commute almost impossible around here. 

If anything, trust your instinct regardless of where you go.  We had some in-home DCP that just gave us the heebies as soon as we walked in, some that we went "um, NO".  There was one chain center that it felt like a cross between a military base and prison when the kids went out to the play yard (instead of being excited to run outside it was an almost march into place)..

abbigaild

I love the inhome daycares because they do seem to give more love and attention to your child and it's a comfortable environment. 

We started to look late for our first child and ended up being luck with the person we found.  We love her location and how she treats our child, but our main problem is the amount of time off she takes each year.  She has vacation time, sick time, and random days for doctors and other appointments.  She does not have back up and neither do we.  We end up using all of our vacation and sick time for her days off that we pay her for.  This leaves no time for us to use when we want to go somewhere.

MesmrEwe

abbigaild:

I love the inhome daycares because they do seem to give more love and attention to your child and it's a comfortable environment. 

We started to look late for our first child and ended up being luck with the person we found.  We love her location and how she treats our child, but our main problem is the amount of time off she takes each year.  She has vacation time, sick time, and random days for doctors and other appointments.  She does not have back up and neither do we.  We end up using all of our vacation and sick time for her days off that we pay her for.  This leaves no time for us to use when we want to go somewhere.

This is something we also had turn us off to the in-home DCP we checked out.  In a lot of cases their vacation schedule was such that when DH & I needed to be at work the most (seasonal industry), they were taking vacation time.