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My husband and I are expecting our first child in Feb 2010 (yay!), and, among many other things, we're trying to pick a daycare center, since both of us will have to go back to working full time after maternity leave. We've been doing tons of research, and have checked out the NC Div of Child Development and that child care esearch site, but I wanted to ask about a couple of specifics here, since I think word-of-mouth is important, too.
I know we're not as early as we should be, but time got away from us, and here we are, still trying to figure out where we'll be sending our 3-month-old daugther in May 2010. As much as we'd love to send her to the "best-of-the-best", we just can't afford to shell out $250-$300 a week, so places like Calvary or Goddard are unfortunately out of reach. We live in Balantyne/Blakeney, and both of us work uptown, so we searched for places between work and home.
We are trying to stay below $1000/month, and these are the places we found that are in our price range. They all seem to have good ratings on the NC Div of Child Development site, but then, so do some other places that my friends have told me horror stories about, so I'd like to hear anyone's firsthand (or second hand) experience. If you know anything, good or bad, about these places, I'd really appreciate your input. Thanks!
I know you (usually) get what you pay for, but this is still a lot of money for us, and we want to get the best we can afford, so thank you so much to anyone who can tell me about any of these places. Thanks!
Congratulations!! I completely know where you are coming from b/c we also experienced the scariness and paranoia of picking a daycare for our babies when they were infants.
The only center I recognize by name is Shining Stars, and someone mentioned that it was good, but honestly no first hand experience.
By the way, Calvary is out until your baby is 2 years old. They don't take infants.
You may also want to try searching/posting in CharlotteMommies.com -- A Mommies Network Community, especially in the Working moms section. You'll have to join but it's a great site for moms (free). There are some posters here who also post there.
Congratulations! I can't comment on the places that you asked about specifically, but we had a great experience with Gateway Academy when we lived in South Charlotte. Our kids go to Kids R Kids in Fort Mill now, but I've also heard good things about the KRK in the Blakeney area.
I'll share some of what I went through with our first in case it helps. Ultimately, your child will go to wherever you can get in, because infant waiting lists are awful. I'd bet you're too late for Dilworth Chold Development - when we went there when I was 6 months pregnant, the others in our tour group were 2-3 months along. The pre-registration is crazy. They called and offered us an infant slot when our daughter was 15 months old. I was troubled by their ability to do math.
At any rate, I've used church-based centers close to work and close to home, and day care/child care centers close to home. I found that bringing an infant on the lion's share of my commute every day (South Charlotte to uptown) so she could be closer to my work was a drag for both of us. As soon as she hit 6 months old, she didn't like being strapped into the car seat for that long and I didn't like listening to her cry for 40 minutes each way. I moved her to a center close to home and we were both much happier. Shortly after I moved her, I was rear-ended on the way to work...and boy was I glad my child wasn't in the car with me. I realized that more time in the car with me was more risk for her.
One tip for your search - your short list should contain centers where you really like the director. Most centers will have turnover, but I've seen happier teachers and less turnover at centers with likable directors. And happy teachers make for happy kids! I wouldn't worry about any sort of fancy curriculum - what matters is that your child is getting enough loving attention and is kept safe from harm. Anything else is extraneous.
Have you visited the centers you mentioned? That should be your first step. Also, I 100% agree with the above comment on likable directors. I can't stress to you how true that is.
Visit the centers, get a feel for the director and the people working there. Look verrrrrry closely at the interactions between the adults and children. Ask other parents at the centers what they think. Ask the director for parent references. Some people are comfortable with regular for-profit centers (kids r kids, gateway, etc), but I would caution you to either steer clear or be extremely picky. not for profit centers such as churches have staff that actually want to be there, and children generally get better care, particularly infants who need so much nurturing.
You need to get out there and get on the list ASAP, as I'm sure you know. Most centers that are worth a damn will have a year long waiting list for infants. Best of luck! I'm sure this is such a hard decision!
Thank you both so much for the info--that was very helpful. It's great to hear from other people who understand my situation, especially since this is our first child and there's so much I don't know yet!
Chicagomichauds, I didn't know Calvary doesn't take infants...so there you go, even if we could afford it we couldn't send her there anyway lol! I actually did join the Charlotte Mommies site when I first became pregnant, but I haven't looked through it for this information yet, so I'll do that today. Thanks!
Megassel, you hit the nail on the head: I was absolutely looking for a place closer to work so I could spend more time with my daughter in the car, but, not having children yet, it didn't occur to me that the baby might not feel the same way about spending "quality time" together on my work commute! And I never even thought about the fact that there's always a risk of being in an accident, so I might as well minimize her car time, if possible. Thank you!
I have heard wonderful things about Kids R Kids and Gateway, too--those would be top on our list if we could do it, but unfortunately, they are too expensive for us right now. But thank you for the suggestions, and it's also good to hear the advice about the directors. You're right, it's so easy to get caught up in the cirriculum idea, and I need to remember how important it is for the employees to be happy and caring people, above all.
This was supposed to be a quick thank you post, but I always end up rambling on! Thanks again, and I'm still all ears for anyone's input!
Coastalgirl, looks like we were typing at the same time! I just wanted to add in a thanks to you, too. It seems like we really need to make sure there is good management at our center of choice, because you guys are right that bad management leads to unhappy employees, and we want the staff to be happy. We know we're definitely later than we should be on visiting the centers--time really snuck up on us, so we're trying to hurry and schedule visits asap. Thanks!
Last edited by KLeigh0916; 12-13-2009 at 09:01 AM..
Reason: Responding to the 3rd reply
Congratulations!! I completely know where you are coming from b/c we also experienced the scariness and paranoia of picking a daycare for our babies when they were infants.
The only center I recognize by name is Shining Stars, and someone mentioned that it was good, but honestly no first hand experience.
By the way, Calvary is out until your baby is 2 years old. They don't take infants.
You may also want to try searching/posting in CharlotteMommies.com -- A Mommies Network Community, especially in the Working moms section. You'll have to join but it's a great site for moms (free). There are some posters here who also post there.
This poster is incorrect. Calvary takes children starting at 6 months. My child is there now and has been since he was a baby. Excellent facilty.
I concur with the poster that suggested having kids at school/daycare near home, especially with traffic the way it is. Sitting in traffic with a screaming baby when you can virtually do nothing to help is agonizing for both Mom and baby. I wish I could comment on the schools you have mentioned but my kids were toddlers upon moving here and we ended up at Goddard and loved it...but it is very pricy which is why we moved to the YMCA preschool at Morrison when the oppourtounity arose for alternate care in the afternoon. But I have heard from other moms that liked Kids R Kids and Shinning Stars. Also I have heard good things about Covenant Baptist or something like that, but I have no idea if they take infants. I also highly recommend posting this question on Charlotte Mommies. I saw that you are a member and when we moved we received great info about the area from there too. As for Calvary, they are amazing, but from a working mom's perspective not at convenient because there preschool program ends at 1 and (I think) you pay per hour for time after that. I could be wrong for the younger childrens program. When we looked there and I seriously considered it but I was concerned I would be staring at the clock to make sure I got out of work on time and no traffic to control cost, with a daycare center they usually have a closing time of 6. BTW...I did exactly the same thing with my first, checked out every center(in NOVA) checked out the state evals, talked with everything to make sure my little one got the best care she could. Good Luck and congrats!!!
We were recently at Lambs of Grace from infant - two. We really liked it for the infant room. We left about mid-way through the two's room due to some issues with another student (think Hannibel Lector) and managements lack of help with the issue.
We have since moved our three year old to Calvary and my daughter absolutely loves it. It is MUCH bigger but it is run like a well oiled machine (and the facilities for a toddler blow away anything else around).
That said, we really enjoyed the infant room at Lambs but once you child is getting close to two, I suggest getting on the waiting list at Calvary (or something similar). Yes, it does cost more but rememeber that your lunch is included (and it a great way for them to learn to eat new foods) and you are not getting charged extra for the "extras" like mister music, spanish, etc.
As for Calvary, they are amazing, but from a working mom's perspective not at convenient because there preschool program ends at 1 and (I think) you pay per hour for time after that. I could be wrong for the younger childrens program. When we looked there and I seriously considered it but I was concerned I would be staring at the clock to make sure I got out of work on time and no traffic to control cost, with a daycare center they usually have a closing time of 6.
Not sure where some of the posters get thier info about Calavry but apparently they aren't parents of children there.
Calvary's daycare standard hours are 7am-6pm. My kid is there 9-10 hours a day and we pay the weekly fee just like everyone else.
There is a "pre-school" that is designed for stay-at-home moms to help get kids acclimated for school but it is not all day daycare. That ends middle of the day.
And yes, there is a whole side of the building dedicated to infants!
Not sure where some of the posters get thier info about Calavry but apparently they aren't parents of children there.
Calvary's daycare standard hours are 7am-6pm. My kid is there 9-10 hours a day and we pay the weekly fee just like everyone else.
There is a "pre-school" that is designed for stay-at-home moms to help get kids acclimated for school but it is not all day daycare. That ends middle of the day.
And yes, there is a whole side of the building dedicated to infants!
this is great info! I also thought Calvary was just a partial day program, so this is good to know!
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Thanks!
