Daycare location

JessLB1014 · February 2014

Just looking for your thoughts/opinions....would you prefer your child's daycare close to home or work? My fiance and I both commute 45 minutes to work and we currently have DD in a daycare that is close to where we work. I have recently received negative criticism on our decision. Just wondering how others feel about this! Thanks!

jf198400 · February 2014

There are pros and cons to both

Near Work-
- easier to visit kids at daycare for mid-day holiday parties
- able to get to kids sooner if they are sick or daycare is closing early due to weather

Near Home-
- can easily take kids to daycare if you are WFH, sick, have a day off and want to do house projects, etc
- if you and your SO work in different directions, it is easier to share dropoff pickup responsibilities
- less commuting time for kids
- when kids get old enough to have friends at school, play dates and birthday parties will be closer to where you live

I think there are more pros to daycare close to home, but it really depends on what works for you and your family.

*sparky* · February 2014

Well, I wouldn't criticize anyone either way for this choice. Since both of you work close together, it makes more sense to have LO near work than it would for two parents who work in different directions. Also, ultimately if the best DC choices are near your work vs. home, then that is what you go with.

I have been looking near our house because DH and I do not work near each other, so if we were to put the LO near my work, he could never help with drop off or pick up. Also, if my other DS were to be home sick, and DC is near our house, I can still take the LO to DC instead of having two kids at home. My drive is just under an hour, and when my DS was little he hated the car, so I would not want to have to drive an hour each way with a screaming kid if this one is the same way.

Finally there is only one DC near my office and it is not great, so I don't know that the additional hassle would be worth it for the LO to be here.

kmh2201 · February 2014

IMO, it's important to do what's best for you and your family. Our DCP happens to be close to our home (less than 10 minutes), and we like that it is less car-time for the kids. (The biggest thing for me is there is less chance for DD to fall asleep on the way home and then make bedtime more difficult because she's not tired.) But, we started sending DS to a preschool (2 days a week) right across the street from DH's work, and that has been great with regard to convenience too. The nice thing about DC/PS being close to work is that someone can get there quickly if LO gets sick. Plus, you can use the car time to sing to them, talk with them (not sure how old your LO is), and generally spend some "more" time together. So we are doing both, and both seem to work out just fine. You could always do a pro/con list if that would help you think through which would work best for you/your family. Do what's best for your family and don't worry about what other people think.

vvvvvfee · February 2014

for us near home works better- my mother lives in the area, too, and she often picks DS up. i work about 20 minutes away, but with traffic in the evenings the commute is generally 30-45 minutes. DH's job requires a lot of driving around, so he doesn't always know where he'll be.

i agree with PP that a big pro to having it near home is being able to quickly drop off your LO if you are sick and want to stay home unmolested, or if you are off but still want to send them to DC for part of the day in order to get other things done.

ccam · February 2014

I never considered close to work because I work 45 minutes from home and DH is only 10 minutes from home. So having DC close to home was the only way we could share drop offs/pick ups. That being said, I don't think anyone should criticize you, it's a personal decision and you do what's best for your situation.

Other pros for close to home, for us:

- if I'm home sick or have a vacation day, I can still send DS to daycare without driving too far.

- when there is bad weather or traffic, my commute can be hours long and having DS in the car for that would not be pleasant!

- if I ever change my job, I won't have to change daycare.

- I can still utilize daycare if I ever go on maternity leave again.

- they have after school programs for school age kids in our town, which uses the bus system, that we'll be taking advantage of.

jennyelf · February 2014

Daycare is close to my work for a variety of reasons. DH takes public transit to work and has a fixed schedule so he can't run late in the morning at all and it'd take him more than an hour to get to the daycare if LO needed an early pickup. I drive to work and traffic can be quite variable (20 mins on a good day, 1 hour on a bad one). I'd rather drive a short distance to daycare and know that I'll always be on time than drive a longer distance and be stressing the whole time that I'm going to be late. Also the daycare close to my work is heavily subsidized by my work.

It sucks being the only one who can do pickup and drop off most days and it means that if I'm sick, unless DH can clear a flexible schedule, I'm also at home with LO while sick. But the other benefits are worth it.

VOR · February 2014

Who the hell is criticizing you? Why do they care? Hell.

I chose close to home -for many of the reasons listed. And actually even more so now- I WFH one day a week. DS needs to be able to go to DC.

emberlee3 · February 2014

We've always had the kids in daycare close to where we work. DS will attend elementary school in our neighborhood next year, so we are getting a nanny for DD and putting her on the waitlist for the daycares near our home.

Pips09 · February 2014

I perfer close to home for some of the above reasons. Neither of us is solely responsible for drop-off/pick ups, like we would be if it was near one of our offices. Also, if I stay home sick, I can still take her in without having to commute to my office. Also, the other kids that she knows from daycare live near us, not near my office.

But I wouldn't criticize someone for making the other choice. Why would anyone care?

rubber_chicken · February 2014

we have daycare near work, because we only have one car, DH's work is on the way to my office, and our days are so long that we wouldn't be able to make it to a daycare near our house on time for pickup. there's a limit to how long a kid can be in daycare during the day in our state.

ETA: daycares near my husband's office were significantly cheaper, without a loss in quality. and dd either sleeps or sings to the radio in the car.

traveltheworld · February 2014

DH and I commute together and DS is in the DC in my building. We have about an hour's commute each day. I like it. I enjoy spending that extra time every morning and afternoon commuting with DS - DH and I take turns so he sits with DS in the mornings and I sit with DS in the afternoons. We read stories, play silly games, and snack while we are in the car. We've done this since DS was a baby so he is used to sitting in the car.

It's also super convenient whenever I have to pick him up from DC due to illness, appointments, etc. But I sure wouldn't critize anyone for their DC choices. Parenting is hard enough as is.

JessLB1014 · February 2014

Thank you all for your help! I am going to write a list of pros and cons and discuss them with my fiance. One major reason why I like being close to her is God forbid anything were to happen, I wouldn't have to drive an hour to the hospital. Both our jobs and her daycare are 15 minutes from the hospital. If she went to a daycare close to home, I would have to drive an hour to the hospital and I don't even want to imagine that car ride! But thank you all again for your input

kelliskoviraWed244758 · February 2014

I too struggled with this decision. I ultimately chose close to home for 2 reasons: less travel time in car for baby, and if I wanted to take a day off or was sick, I can take her right up the street to the daycare center instead of driving into the city (45 minutes). I go back to work next week, so I will see how this works out.

iverske9 · February 2014

Close to HOME! You never know if your job will always be there but you will know your home. Plus if there is a day that maybe I don't have work but daycare is still open sometimes I drop little one off and get a much needed Mommy relax day. I would not want to drive that far to drop off if I don't have to.

ASmallWonder · February 2014

JessLB1014 said:

Thank you all for your help! I am going to write a list of pros and cons and discuss them with my fiance. One major reason why I like being close to her is God forbid anything were to happen, I wouldn't have to drive an hour to the hospital. Both our jobs and her daycare are 15 minutes from the hospital. If she went to a daycare close to home, I would have to drive an hour to the hospital and I don't even want to imagine that car ride! But thank you all again for your input

This is a solid reason BUT, the chances of this happening are very low. The chances of you being sick and wanting to drop her at daycare, the chances of bad weather where you wouldn't want her stuck in the car and the chances for being stuck in traffic are all far more likely to happen. And on a much more regular basis. Also, we like close to home because that means close to their pediatrician. As much as we want to be with them the moment we know they're sick, as the sick kid, it's far more preferable to stay comfortable at daycare until we get there than be sick in the car for an entire ride home/to the doctor.

But I also agree that it's no one's business what you do

C12H22O11 · February 2014

Close to home. If you're sick and want DC to still go to daycare, you won't really want to drive a long way to daycare.

laurakaz13 · February 2014

I can't imagine why anyone would criticize either of these decisions. Makes no sense to me. As PP have said, there are pros and cons to each. For DD's first 6 months in daycare, I drove an hour to my job and she went to daycare right in the hospital where I worked.

This was best while she was a baby, b/c I could go BF and hang out with her during lunch. If she was sick, I was right there and it just worked best for us. The con was that if either of us was sick, we didn't have daycare close to home to drop her off.

Now my commute is 10 minutes and her daycare is right next door to the hospital where I currently work. Best of both worlds!

rodiesmum · February 2014

id prefer a location closer to where i work so that anything comes up, i could be there

junebugrbig · February 2014

We have our DD in daycare near my DH work. He works closest to home, only about 10 miles away. Even though I work further, I end up getting her if she is sick because I have a much more flexible job than DH. In the end, it is whatever works best for you.

ss265 · February 2014

PP have brought up valid points but something else you might want to consider is having your LO with you on your commute and the type of commute you have. I have a 30 mile commute which usually takes me 45 minutes to an hour and I am mostly on major highways with high speed limits. I was recently in a 4 car accident on one of those highways (I was the car who was in the very front of the pile up so I had minimal damage) and it made me realize one of the benefits of having LO at a DC near home is that he is in the car with me a lot less and is less likely to be involved if I get into an accident. Now, chances of an accident are slim and there are plenty of other reasons we chose a DC near home but the reduction in accident risk definitely helped solidify my choice.

And agree with PP that you should take any negative criticism with a grain of salt - people always like to voice their opinions when it comes to kids. You need to do what is right for your family and stand by it.

jesuisfatiguee · February 2014

I chose close to work for DS because I had to nurse him on my lunch break the first month or so. As he gets older, I think close to home would be a bit nicer, because I do have WFH capabilities and it would be nice to save gas on the days when I am sick or just don't feel like going into the office until a bit later.

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