unlicensed day care

Turtle143

Anyone use unlicensed daycare? I know at first glance, that doesn't seem like the brightest idea. In Nov, I am working more than usual (4 days a week) and need daycare. We checked out Kinder Care. 7:1 ratio and $77/a day up to 10hrs. Seems okay. The hard part was that when we were there observing, a couple of toddlers had snot dripping from their noses and caregivers were both obviously too busy tending to other needier toddlers at the time. It broke my heart thinking that could be Liv one day.

So my nursing colleague/friend who lives in a brand-new yuppyish community has a next-door neighbor (also Asian) who operates an unlicensed day care for toddlers under 3. She trusts her and I trust my friend. See where I'm going? So Liv and I and DH went to check it out on Monday and we all feel comfortable there instantly. Caregivers are Asian females in their 40s to 50s and speak decent English. The owner, Vietnamese and we're probably the same age (30s) is a CNA and has a Bachelor's in Child Development. Used to work for a bigger/corp daycare. Very nice and has a good vision for teaching and nurturing toddlers of Liv's age. She provides all food organic milk and food and cooks 3 meals a day for the kiddos. Ratio is 2-3 to 1.

DH feel comfortable with the Asian daycare. I do too. I wonder if this is too good to be true? I don't have any experience with daycare so I guess I'm just looking for opinions.

By the way, this daycare is literally about 5 minutes from us. 

 

Thanks ladies!

justme04

My boys go to an unlicensed in home day care 2 days a week while I'm in class.  I meet the girl who watches them at school and she is in the child development program so she is doing everything by the book.  She is a single mom and she and her mom, who used to work for a daycare, watch my boys and twp little girls.  Her son is in preschool those days.  So there are 2 of them to watch 3 kids.  But the girl I go to school with is the primary person in charge.  I went with her because she lives 6 mins away from campus and the nanny we had hired kept showing up a half hour late.  I wasn't about to keep paying her $20/hr to show up late.

frugalwife

We use unlicensed care and couldn't be happier. Licensed doesn't always mean better by any means. We love our daycare provider and I feel he has truly benefited by being there. So long as you trust the individual then I say go for it. It sounds like she would be wonderful for your family.

Jills83

I think your gut feeling is the best indicator.  I know licensed daycares have a lot of checks and balances to ensure things are safe and clean, but like a pp said, it doesn't always mean it is the best care.  We use an unlicensed, in-home sitter and have since I went back to work when V was 11 weeks.  When I met her I felt like she was the perfect fit and she has been.

CarlaAndJames

If those are absolutely your only two choices, it sounds like the unlicensed one is better. But if it were me I would probably keep looking for a licensed provider I liked. I just wouldn't be comfortable with an provider with no oversight.

slstine19

We use an unlicensed DC.  The lady who watches DS is a former student of mine and I trust her.  Her mom also provides daycare...don't know if she is licensed or not.  However, she grew up in daycare environment.  I trust her and DS seems to be very happy there.  Plus, she is only 2 blocks from school.

Turtle143

Sorry for the late follow up! I really do value your inputs and opinions. We decided to go ahead with it. PPs make a good point about some licensed daycare necessarily not being the best caregivers for children. Honestly though had Liv been under 1 year old, I would not have considered it even.

Tomorrow is her first day there. On Monday, we did a "trial" drop off. She was there for 2 hours. The owner texted us pictures of her mingling with kids. She apparently does this throughout the day for parents. I think that's very thoughtful. Her own 3 year old goes to a special ed. school and misses her so she figured parents would appreciate if they could at least get a photo of their little one while they''re at work. 

Thank you all again for replying! you guys are awesome as usual