Day care. I need help.

Ducktale · September 2014

Okay so I've decided I need to suck it up and actually look into day care. It's difficult because we are moving to a different state in 2 months and at this point unsure if I'll be working full time, part time, or a SAHM. But I don't think I can put it off any longer.

Basically, where do I begin. I don't really know anyone with kids in day care where we are moving to so I can't ask for recommendations, so right now I'm googling centers. I know I'll need to visit, but any tips on questions to ask, things to pay attention to? How do you weigh one center over the other? I'd love the idea of an in home day care but I'd have to really trust them, and I don't know anyone.

Here is your reward:

rainbowbrite22 · September 2014

Ask about if they serve food and what it is and what they do for kids with allergies. Ask about their child to teacher ratio. How many kids to a room? Also ask about certifications of the teachers: CPR, first aid, child development classes, etc. Ask about tuition during holidays and if it is flexible for vacation. A big question is also turnover rate for kids and teachers. People don't stay long if they don't like it.

Izzy0927 · September 2014

This is probably not much help, but do you or anyone in your family have access to an Employee Assisance Plan? I've heard that I've had this at my last fee jobs and never really bothered with it, but time I called them and they did all the background legwork for me. I told them what I wanted to spend, the towns I wanted to look in, the hours I needed- even things I never thought about: if we went for an in-home family day care, can they have a pet? Anyway, they took 3 days and then got back to me with about 15 places/people to reach out to who had openings when I needed, and met all my criteria. I'm super pleased with it and think I found my facility through them! If you have one, give them a shot. They saved me a lot of headache.

mandamoochie · September 2014

I am in no way helpful at all in this area unfortunately; but, that is the best gif ever.

Mrs. Zee · September 2014

One thing that has been super helpful to me is to look at the state inspection reports and any complaints a parent may have filed with the state. I was really into a daycare by my house until I found a complaint filed by a parent that the state investigated and found that the infants were being left in cribs and bouncers and there wasn't an adequate teaching plan for the infants. I found the info for my state by googling "(zee state) daycare inspections" and for my state it is housed under the department of job and family services. There you can search by county, city, whatever. Hope that helps!!

mishka29 · September 2014

I have to admit that I took the reward before I read.

Personally I didn't like the idea of in home so I stuck with centres. Here's what I looked at...

Cost

Security - how do people get in and out of the centre

Tour the room and sleeping area - cleanliness/toys/art/pictures on the wall

Check out the meal plan

Check out the activity calendars

Wait list policy - super important if you have a firm start date and you want a guaranteed spot

We went in the late afternoon for both so we actually asked parents in the parking lot. People clearly loved one place and the other not so much - those people were hesitating a lot to say what they thought. I didn't like it either it felt cluttered and they had shelves piled high with shit over the cribs...uncool.

We are very happy with the place we chose.

AshleySparkle720 · September 2014

Honestly I worked in a child care center and I think the best thing you can do is tour the center, ask about cleanliness, policies on bottle feeding, diapering, what is all included in the price, curriculum is a big thing for me. It sounds weird, but some centers have a very awesome curriculum they follow and hand pick for each infant. There's so many things...I could write a novel, but I have seen SO many parents come from an "in home" daycare because they hated it or felt like their child wasn't gaining anything from it. You can feel free to ask me any other questions you may have.

AshleySparkle720 · September 2014

And looking up Parent Aware is also a great place to start

t8keepr03 · September 2014

Honestly visiting is going to be your best bet. We just visited 4 places and went with our initial gut feeling. I went the first time and just let them take control so I could get a feel for them and the environment. I then took the information they have me and made a list of questions. I then went back at a different time a day and different day and asked the questions and see how I felt. We narrowed it down to 1 place just by the initial gut feeling. They were open and kind and gave us a tour. They let us meet the infant room teachers and answered most of our questions without me having to ask them. The teacher to child ration was smaller than the state requires. Overall we love where we chose and I am glad I went with my gut.

mahalo3 · September 2014

Mrs. Zee said:
One thing that has been super helpful to me is to look at the state inspection reports and any complaints a parent may have filed with the state. I was really into a daycare by my house until I found a complaint filed by a parent that the state investigated and found that the infants were being left in cribs and bouncers and there wasn't an adequate teaching plan for the infants.

I found the info for my state by googling "(zee state) daycare inspections" and for my state it is housed under the department of job and family services. There you can search by county, city, whatever. Hope that helps!!

This. All of this. It helped narrow down all the day cares in our area to about 8, and then I narrowed it down further by my budget.

Ducktale · September 2014

Thanks everyone, this is super helpful. I looked up the inspections, is it just where I live or does every center have a whole list of violations? Most things seem like paperwork things, but some are actually concerning.

NQueen11 · September 2014

I work for my state's Quality Rating Improvement System (QRIS) and depending on what state you are moving to they might have one (22 states have implemented). Basically programs are rated based on their quality. It's the next step past just licensing basics. I would google to see if your state has one, find out if it is mandatory or voluntary, and see if you are able to search for programs at a certain quality level. This can give you insight in addition to looking at licensing violations which sometimes don't give the full picture (but are still good to take into consideration!)

mahalo3 · September 2014

There are different violations here (texas) that range from paperwork, to vaccines, background checks of employees, blankets in the cribs, hazardous liquids not labeled, to bad judgment and punishments of kids. So are really bad and make me wonder how a place is even still open.

Mrs. Zee · September 2014

There should be a yearly inspection report that will be uniform and violations and a cure period should be listed within that report. Or at least that is how my state works! If there is a complaint, it is a whole new set of paperwork and will list the specific complaint and what the states findings were. It was all in the same section for my state. In the yearly report it also had the ratios for the different age groups of teachers to kiddos and the teachers name which was kind of nice to see if there was continuity between years. You are right, some of the violations are downright scary! One of the most common I saw for our area was not properly documenting background checks-like they were doing them but not filing them correctly.

smg2302 · September 2014

I use an in home center and checked the licensing reports. I interviewed the 3 in my area that had perfect reports. I didn't have a list of questions per se, I really went with my gut. One lady met every single checklist item but not once interacted with my child. Our current provider wasn't exactly what I had envisioned but she loves my child almost as much as I do and it shows.

NQueen11 · September 2014

smg2302 said:
I use an in home center and checked the licensing reports. I interviewed the 3 in my area that had perfect reports. I didn't have a list of questions per se, I really went with my gut. One lady met every single checklist item but not once interacted with my child. Our current provider wasn't exactly what I had envisioned but she loves my child almost as much as I do and it shows.

Love this. Sometimes people can surprise you. The most qualified "looks good on paper" doesn't always check the boxes.

Valentino2013 · September 2014

I am a preschool teacher and meet with prospective parents all the time. Sounds like you got some good advise already, but NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) may be a good resource for you as well. NAEYC is a national accreditation that centers can earn. They have strict standards for child care centers.

Here is the link to their page about "What to Look for":

https://families.naeyc.org/what-to-look-for-in-a-program

Also if you like the home care aspect but the stability of a center you might want to consider looking for a center in a church or synagogue. They are generally very warm and inviting because they are part of the greater organization and most welcome everyone even if you do not belong to that particular faith.

You may also want to ask:

-at what age they begin accepting children. Some (like my center) do not accept infants before 6 months.

-the ratio of staff to children.

-is the center closed at any point during the year that you would need to arrange alternative care or take off work (holidays, vacations, etc...) Many places have a winter, spring or summer break.

Good luck in your search!!

NADumont613 · September 2014

We used care.com to search for and find in-home daycares. It's a great website that allows you to look for babysitters/nannies as well. We found the in-home daycare my son went to on care.com and it was the perfect fit. That might help you at least get started, plus you'll be able to search by the location of the place you're moving to.

MissEm15 · September 2014

I was thinking about starting w/ Care.com for an in-home babysitter. In my area, they start at $35/day from what I can tell w/out joining.

Does anyone know/rec.. Should I join Care.com now even though I won't need them until April? Or should I join later, closer to the actual time that I would be needing them? I really don't want to pay to be a member for 6 months if I can help it.. but obvs I will do what I need to. TIA!

Sorry if I'm hijacking your thread @ducktale!

HeyStVincent · September 2014

Thank you for asking this question @Ducktale. I'm in the same boat! We aren't moving (just yet), but we don't know many people in Chicago with kids. Our friends and co-workers that do have kids don't daycare - they either have a nanny or the mom quit her job (cost of daycare > what she was making).

Right now what I make at my job = what daycare will cost us, unfortunately.

everam01 · September 2014

We knew we wanted a center for accountability, so we looked for centers with a 4 or 5 star rating and were NAEYC accredited. We also were encouraged since we just dropped in without an appointment and were allowed to tour the center with the assistant administrator so I could really see what it was like. There are observation rooms and parents are allowed to come and go as they please. They also showed us the security (we have a code to enter) and gave me a copy of their policy manual.

jmcgra06 · September 2014

MissEm15 said:

I was thinking about starting w/ Care.com for an in-home babysitter. In my area, they start at $35/day from what I can tell w/out joining.

Does anyone know/rec.. Should I join Care.com now even though I won't need them until April? Or should I join later, closer to the actual time that I would be needing them? I really don't want to pay to be a member for 6 months if I can help it.. but obvs I will do what I need to. TIA!
Sorry if I'm hijacking your thread @ducktale!

We joined in May, were due in June and I went back to work early August. Most of the people on the website, though, were more interested in immediate work, or within a month. I just didn't want to spend my maternity leave interviewing providers.

lk2200214 · September 2014

If your moving to MN send me a PM and I can direct you to a few places! I use to work in centers for 10+ years and now do in-home daycare. There are pros & cons to both. There are some scary in-home providers out there but there are some REALLY amazing in home daycare providers out there too! Centers are are tough cause you can have amazing teachers but not good directors or directors that would rather put money in their pockets then meet the needs of the center (if their privately owned). Or they can have a great infant teacher and horrible toddler teacher. For sure look into the rating scales in your state. All centers in MN are able to get a Parent Aware Rating as well as now most in home providers as well. The county I'm in was one of the last to be eligible for it so I am just now going through the process of getting my rating. But a good away to tell right off the bat a good provider is are they willing to do the rating process. I know some that are just plain lazy and don't want to take the time or effort to better themselves. Some know their program would need to make major changes to be "approved". Which is sad. Also if looking at in-home ask what their education background is and experience working with children. Do they have child development training, etc. I remember as I was going through the process of getting licensed there was this lady in my class that didn't even have her high school diploma and was beyond scary with some comments she said & had no experience working with kids (and over all was creepy looking) and I just couldn't figure out why she wanted to do daycare. I still hope & prayed she didn't pass licensing. Anyways I could go on for ever about things to look for, what to ask and where to start. Biggest to ask 1) their education/experience 2) discipline methods (should be redirection) 3) polices/procedures for the business side (rates, vacation, holidays/time off, sick policies, etc) 4) what they provide vs. what your expected to bring 5) do they follow a food program 6) Curriculum/Educational program (will the kiddos have kindergarten readiness). In MN DHS over sees all Childcare (centers & in-home) and then social services is who monitors the licensing for in-home. Hope that helps! Sorry I rambled I kinda love my job and as a licensed teacher in MN/daycare provider and President of my county's Childcare association education/Childcare is near & dear to my heart!!! Let me know if I can help more...would love too!

NADumont613 · September 2014

MissEm15 said:

I was thinking about starting w/ Care.com for an in-home babysitter. In my area, they start at $35/day from what I can tell w/out joining.

Does anyone know/rec.. Should I join Care.com now even though I won't need them until April? Or should I join later, closer to the actual time that I would be needing them? I really don't want to pay to be a member for 6 months if I can help it.. but obvs I will do what I need to. TIA!
Sorry if I'm hijacking your thread @ducktale!

I think the timing of when to join care.com comes down to what type of sitter you're looking for. Since we were wanting an in-home daycare, we joined about 3 months ahead of when we needed to have a sitter since they sometimes have a waiting list or are planning a couple months ahead. Plus I'm a big planner and knew I would feel better if I at least started exploring the site and contacting people well in advance. For people wanting babysitters/nannies, it does seem like they prefer to have immediate employment, so in those cases, it might be better to join care.com closer to when they would start.

care.com has a monthly rate (where you just pay month-to-month). It ends up being a higher monthly rate, but you can start and cancel it as needed.

Lastly....a tip I have - when you're private messaging various sitters/providers on care.com and they send you their contact information (name, email, phone #, etc.), WRITE IT DOWN somewhere! Once you cancel your membership (either temporary or permanently), the website saves your messages but "x's" out any personal information, so you'd have to rejoin and pay again just to retrieve the past information. Hope that helps!

Good luck!!!

StephanieLBerg · September 2014

Unfortunately I don't have anything to contribute because I will be a SAHM with a homebased job, but I just wanted to say that you found a really cute gif there! I wish my puppy would do that.

Chcaggie1 · September 2014

We toured two this week and liked both. They both have space available in April/May timeframe. One of them had a back to school special going and they waived the registration fee so it was just $30 to get his name in the list and hold his spot! That was exciting! We still plan on visiting one more a friend recommended. But it's a relief to know that he does a place at a daycare we like.

munchkin8590 · September 2014

I will be a SAHM when the baby gets here so I'm really glad I don't have to worry about all this.

I've worked in child care facilities for years though and am willing to answer any questions anyone has. I know a lot about what to watch for in a good facility and a bad facility.

MaddScientist · September 2014

Why do all the tours have to be Tuesdays or Thursdays at 10am??? I called 3 centers and they all had the same thing. I don't want to take off work for this. Blah.

michelle142 · September 2014

This post is reminding me I should probably stop being a slacker and see if the center we used for DS as a baby will have an opening in April/May of 2015...

Chcaggie1 · September 2014

@madscientist yuck that time does stink! It could be something they do in your area. The daycares around me typically take tours the entire time they are open or at least btwn 9-4pm. It still requires time off work but I think its more convenient to go at the end of the day and only miss an hr or so of work. Try asking for a specific time that's better for you and see if they will work with you. When I called primrose to schedule a tour she offered me two times in the middle of the day and I told her that I work full time but will be taking the afternoon on Monday off and requested to tour at 3 and she was happy to accommodate. Hope that'll work for you too!

nbad311 · September 2014

Hijack bump: re: FT day care at 3 vs 4 months old

Because work (sucks) is perpetually busy and the staff are at max capacity in terms of workload all the time, they are already asking me when I am going to return from maternity leave (or if I will return at all! Muahahaha! Just kidding, I will definitely be returning L ). I am fortunate enough to be offered 12 weeks paid leave, and on top of that there is an option to take an additional 12 weeks, unpaid, but keeping benefits and holding my job.

DH and I are debating if I want to take an additional month, unpaid, and then send DS to daycare @ 4 months old versus 3. Any STMs have input as to sending the baby to daycare later in infancy instead of at 2 or 3 months? Any benefits or disadvantages ? The absence of my paychecks for a month will sting, but it might be nice to be home and extra month with the babe... and then I already have other moms telling me "omg you'll be READY to get back to work after 3 months!!"

iandebender · September 2014

https://www.angieslist.com/ If you want to check reviews

wintersong139 · November 2014

Bump.

Dh and I are touring a daycare that we hope to start using in September. (Yep, long wait list, too!) anyway, I'm curious to see if anyone else has ideas for what to ask about and look for on this tour.

Day care. I need help.

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