Swapping Day Care Providers
We?re looking at swapping day cares for the girls. They have been going to the same in home day care since T was 4 months (that?s over 2 years now). The people there are super sweet, love the girls, and have been very flexible without schedules. We?ve had some concerns about the place (lack of structure, potty training, among some other things, etc) but knew they were getting some great care.
We found a place with infant care and preschool. Everything about the place is amazing. EVERYTHING. Makes me feel like we?ve been doing a disservice send them to their current place (although, we don?t exactly regret where they are going). T and S both seemed to love the DCP, T Loved the facilities. Its closer to our house. More activities. More routine. NO TV. Its all just better! We wanted to wait until the fall for preschool, but they have an opening now and we have received a great referral.
The only downfalls are that we?re looking at a few hundred $ more a month?.AND we have pay for full time care year around. We don?t need 5 days a week. We need 3. We can afford it, but things will be quite a bit tighter than we?re used to. If you were in our shoes, would you do it? Would you pay for more days of care than you need?
I don?t know why I?m having a hard time pulling the trigger. DH and I both agree it is the right thing to do. Its just more $ and transitioning the kids away from someone they essentially have known their entire lives.
Does anyone have any advice or any experience with this?
How did your LOs do when transitioning to a new DCP?
How did have the goodbye talk with your current DCP?
I swear this is SO much harder than I expected it to be.
Re: Swapping Day Care Providers
Does anyone have any advice or any experience with this? Yes. Our situation was a bit different in that our DCP is my mom and she was/is caring for DS at our house. But we still wanted a different environment for him.
How did your LOs do when transitioning to a new DCP? DS had a hard time. But he was used to being at home with Gramma and didn't really want to be out without his safety net. But he needed it. He still does.
How did have the goodbye talk with your current DCP? It was super hard to bring it up but it was necessary. And eventually we worked out an alternate schedule (half days instead of full days) and have made it work for a good long while now.
As for the schedule, DS' school required 3 days a week even though we really only wanted 2. We loved the school so much we went for it and it has been great. His school is year round and if you miss your scheduled days, you lose money, but we had the same arrangement with my mom. If you had to pay for days you really wouldn't use, I'd be more hesitant but would likely go for it. What happens on the days they miss?
Thank you for sharing your experience!
T (especially her since she's 2.5 years old) needs that routine and structure that she's not getting righ tnow.
If she missed any days, we would lose the money. DH is home 2 days during the week so they'll be w/ him.
Does your DH love that time with them? What happens at school when they are at home?
I ask because you might consider sending them for one of the days or even part days if DH isn't super wedded to having that time with them. DS's school has special things on certain days and we chose his school schedule based on it. Tuesday is music day with a special music teacher, Friday is show and tell, etc. So if possible find out that schedule in advance before you pick days or commit. And if you DH is home but could say, use a break for a few hours on those days to do things that would free up family time, having them at school can be awesome.
When DH's schedule changed last year to a split shift, two of the days he went in late were C's school days. We still sent C to school even though Daddy was at home. We used those hours as an advantage to our family. DH would do our weekly shopping on Monday's after drop off, before he went to work. He did household chores without a "helper" under foot, etc. It's how we plan to use some of his time now that he's unemployed and C is still going to school. Job search and chores frees up time for them to do fun stuff later.
GOOD Point!!