thinking ahead... child care

quietvoice · December 2010

I don't think we've even touched on the SAHM/WAHM/Working Mom issue yet here, and I don't know about you guys, but I don't really know for sure what we're going to be able to handle financially and/or where we would turn for childcare.

Without writing a novel about our situation... in a nutshell, I'll need to go back to work after baby. MH is currently in grad school but should have a job by then and will likely not be in a situation to be a WAHD or SAHD.

We haven't even told my parents yet, and in my dream world my parents would love to be our primary caregivers, but I'm not banking on that right now.

Here's my question. A couple of local places have their rates for the current year online, and infant classes are described as being for children that are "2 months by September 1st". Ummmm...... that's not happening, kids. So.... what does that mean? My kid can't be in an "infant" class until they're 11 months old? I hadn't really thought about it, but will our August babies always be the oldest kids in their classes? I don't know if I'm happy about that.....? I'm clearly confused.

TheGregory's07 · December 2010

I am extremely luck to get to stay home with our 22 month old. I will continue to do so when the new baby arrives. It hasn't all been sunshine and roses, we cut down to one car, moved into and older less expensive apartment which at the time of moving was with in walking distant of my husband's work. I cook at home 95% of the time.

quietvoice · December 2010

TheGregory's07:
I am extremely luck to get to stay home with our 22 month old. I will continue to do so when the new baby arrives. It hasn't all been sunshine and roses, we cut down to one car, moved into and older less expensive apartment which at the time of moving was with in walking distant of my husband's work. I cook at home 95% of the time.

Sounds a lot like where MH and I are right now in order for him to go to grad school.

crystal959 · December 2010

I get to stay home this time. Last time we were lucky enough to have a friends mom watch her. She had a daycare out of her house. When we stopped doing that we had family.

In NC my August baby will be the youngest in his/her class. The cut off is August 31st. Home in IL the cut off is Sep 1st so even there they'd be the youngest.

quietvoice · December 2010

cadegani:
I get to stay home this time. Last time we were lucky enough to have a friends mom watch her. She had a daycare out of her house. When we stopped doing that we had family.
In NC my August baby will be the youngest in his/her class. The cut off is August 31st. Home in IL the cut off is Sep 1st so even there they'd be the youngest.

Public schools around here have a Sept 1 cutoff as well, so I'm confused by the "2 months by Sept 1" thing for infants, because that seems like a July 1 cutoff to me. Weird, right?

crystal959 · December 2010

That is weird. Where my husband used to work was 6 weeks to 6 years. Only the 5 and 6 year olds had to enroll by a certain day for "fall enrollment" because it was for Kindergarten. The rest was open enrollment for infants and toddlers. It seems silly to have a fall enrollment cut off for infants. I'm sure the lesson plans are excruciating.

TheGregory's07 · December 2010

quietvoice:
TheGregory's07:
I am extremely luck to get to stay home with our 22 month old. I will continue to do so when the new baby arrives. It hasn't all been sunshine and roses, we cut down to one car, moved into and older less expensive apartment which at the time of moving was with in walking distant of my husband's work. I cook at home 95% of the time.
Sounds a lot like where MH and I are right now in order for him to go to grad school.

We also have no credit card debt, we actually cut up all our cards before we even got pregnant. The only debt we have is student loan debt and our one car payment. Which will try not to have again.

quietvoice · December 2010

TheGregory's07:
quietvoice:
TheGregory's07:
I am extremely luck to get to stay home with our 22 month old. I will continue to do so when the new baby arrives. It hasn't all been sunshine and roses, we cut down to one car, moved into and older less expensive apartment which at the time of moving was with in walking distant of my husband's work. I cook at home 95% of the time.
Sounds a lot like where MH and I are right now in order for him to go to grad school.
We also have no credit card debt, we actually cut up all our cards before we even got pregnant. The only debt we have is student loan debt and our one car payment. Which will try not to have again.

Congratulations! Debt free is awesome!

littlepoppyseed · December 2010

That is strange! I wonder if they just meant that the babies need to be 2 months old before enrolling - maybe they just wrote that during that time of year and never updated?

All daycares that I've used, worked at, or heard about take infants whenever they are at least 6-8 weeks old.

I'm SO excited about the timing of this pregnancy - My DS will be starting kindergarten about a week after baby is due... so, I'll actually have a lot of alone time with the new one. So looking forward to that during those first couple of months!

quietvoice · December 2010

littlepoppyseed:
That is strange! I wonder if they just meant that the babies need to be 2 months old before enrolling - maybe they just wrote that during that time of year and never updated?
All daycares that I've used, worked at, or heard about take infants whenever they are at least 6-8 weeks old.
I'm SO excited about the timing of this pregnancy - My DS will be starting kindergarten about a week after baby is due... so, I'll actually have a lot of alone time with the new one. So looking forward to that during those first couple of months!

Open enrollment makes a lot more sense to me. The one in question is the daycare program at my church.... I'll just have to ask around a bit once the time to ask around has come.

I guess my next question is... when is the time right? I would feel a little crazy calling anyone now about the possibility of enrolling a child in October 2011. You mentioned you've worked in child care? Any idea what a normal timeline would be?

jacmdb · December 2010

We have a tough situation. I work 7am - 4pm M-F and DH works 3pm - 2am T-F and Sun. If I keep working full time the baby will have to go to daycare even though DH is home during the day because if not he would never get any sleep. This would basically make me a single mom and DH would see his child Mondays and on the weekends.

I am thinking about going part time and working in the morning. That way DH would have to get up when I went to work but he would have a chance to take a nap while baby was napping or when I got home. I still don't know if this will work as far as DH getting sleep.

I am not even sure if my work will allow it but I am going to bring it up at my review in March.

Anyone else work opposite shifts as their DH?

HadleyS · December 2010

quietvoice:

Here's my question. A couple of local places have their rates for the current year online, and infant classes are described as being for children that are "2 months by September 1st". Ummmm...... that's not happening, kids. So.... what does that mean? My kid can't be in an "infant" class until they're 11 months old? I hadn't really thought about it, but will our August babies always be the oldest kids in their classes? I don't know if I'm happy about that.....? I'm clearly confused.

I don't know about the infant class, but there are certainly day care centers that take infants after 6 weeks, as that is the shortest amount of time most working moms are able to get.

As for the oldest kid in class thing, we actually were hoping for this, or at least to be in the older half. I taught kindergarteners for 4 years and the oldest did perform well, especially in reading. Kindergarten today is like 1st grade when I was in school...school and society are packing a lot more on kids a little too early in my opinion, but that's a completely different subject. Boys that are the youngest in the class tend to have the toughest time (with reading, with socialization/interacting with other children well). The reading seems to even out/level out by grades 3-4, but I don't want my child to struggle his/her way through elementary school.

Froggy76 · December 2010

I am the breadwinner and will be returning to work full-time. My plan is to stay home for 12 weeks after the baby is born, and then go back to work and have DH stay home for 2-3 months. This means we won't need daycare until early 2012. We had discussed asking a couple that we are friends with to watch our LO since the woman is already a SAHM to her 3 young kids. But I'm not sure if that's what we want or if they would agree to it. We will most likely start looking for a daycare soon.

Froggy76 · December 2010

quietvoice:

As for the oldest kid in class thing, we actually were hoping for this, or at least to be in the older half. I taught kindergarteners for 4 years and the oldest did perform well, especially in reading. Kindergarten today is like 1st grade when I was in school...school and society are packing a lot more on kids a little too early in my opinion, but that's a completely different subject. Boys that are the youngest in the class tend to have the toughest time (with reading, with socialization/interacting with other children well). The reading seems to even out/level out by grades 3-4, but I don't want my child to struggle his/her way through elementary school.

Won't our kids be the youngest in their class? Cutoff is generally in September. Or are you planning to hold back a year?

I was born in November, so I was old for my class and never had problems. Boys are different, though, so I would be more inclined to hold a boy back a year.

BK33 · December 2010

I am a self employed dance instructor and I teach 6 days a week only in the evenings so I am always home during the day anyway. I plan on getting back to work 2 months after the baby is born which is perfect because I dont really teach in the summer anyway. My stepson has a babysitter who is like family to us so if we need any other assistance we will just use her.

ohfour · December 2010

QV, Maybe that's when it starts in the Fall and in order to start your child then they need to be 2 months old, otherwise you have to wait until they are 2 months old to start them? I hope this is the case.

When I worked, my mom watched DD 2-3 days a week and the other 2-3 days my DH was off work so he stayed home with her. It worked out really really well.

nikkiheidelberg · December 2010

I am a full time working mommy to my first August baby. She was born August 18th and I did not go back to work until the first of November. She has been at the same day care from that day on. Her daycare just specified they had to be 6 weeks old but that they could start at anytime. If you are thinking daycare and you know you have to go back to work then start looking soon. With or little one we started looking in the spring of that pregnancy and went to several daycares and then took a while longer to finally make a decision. I am so glad we did that and looked well in advance because her daycare has worked out really well for us and if I go back to work after this one they will both go there. Just do your research and be prepared. I am sure though that like any daycare we looked at the one you looked at has open enrollment for newborns. If not then they would not be able to magimize the potential to fill the class Smile

CarolynRundhaug · December 2010

I don't know where you are from but most daycares will allow an infant to start when they are 6 weeks old. I worked at one for over a year. They will allow you to sign your child up whenever but they can't start until 6 possibly 8 weeks old. I would call and ask. Maybe what they mean is that to start Sept. 1st they have to be 8 weeks old. As for oldest babies in the class it depends on your schools cut of date some schools do Sept 15th some Oct. it just depends!! Hope this helps!!?

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