need help with finding a daycare (Austin: day cares, preschools, living in)

[tcortez3]

Me and my family of 4 will be moving to Austin in July. I am not familiar with the area BUT am going to visit next week to explore and what not. We are moving because my fiance got a job with the Austin police department.

My main concern with moving is finding a good, safe, great environment daycare in the Austin area. I am very overly protective over my son (2yrs) and I just want him to be safe, feel comfortable, and like going to daycare.

If ANYONE has any recommendations (I'm open to wherever even suburbs of Austin since we are unsure of what area we are living in) for any daycares you know of that you would reccomend looking at that would be greatly appreciated.

I want to try to look and visit some daycares next week in case there will be a waiting list at any place i may really like

Thanks in advance!!

[FalconheadWest]

I think you're not getting any responses because you aren't being area specific. There are literally thousands of daycares and preschools in the area, but to get from one area of Austin to the other end can take over an hour, so why would you want recommendations of schools without knowing where you're going to live? It's a waste of time to visit some if you aren't going to live there. You need to first look at where you will live and then ask for schools within 10-20 minutes of that area, and then you'll get responses.

[Trainwreck20]

Ditto.

Also, do a search on the forum and you will see lots of info.

Some of the big 'chain' ones that I can think of off the top of my head are:
- Children's Courtyard;
- Primrose;
- Bright Horizons;
- Stepping Stone;

All those will cost north of $1,000/month for a two y/o, most likely. There are many smaller places, some of which will cost considerably less. Church day cares seem to be the best bang for the buck - usually much cheaper with lower turnover than the big places; however, the systems at those places are not necessarily are well thought out, especially if a child has any special needs.

Anyway, at the end of the day, it really comes down to the specific location - a Primrose in one place may not be as good as the Stepping Stone in another, or vice versa. It seems as though the waiting list is down from what it was 5-7 years ago, so it should not be too much trouble to get worked into a schedule at a good place.