Please tell me about your daycare/nanny situation

[Acntx]

Moderator Note: As this discussion continues, please provide responses to the seven questions in the original post. Further off-topic posts will be removed.

To the OP: A reminder that cross-posting the same message in multiple forums is not permitted.

[cjw0918]

1. Over 6 yrs have had full-time nanny, day care, and several part-time nannies, live-in and live-out.
2. Full-time nanny for 2 kids was $17-19/hr plus bonuses ($48K/yr). She was an experienced professional nanny fr a agency. Daycare was close to home and $2200/mo x 2 kids. Part-time nanny pay is $15/hr live-out, $10/hr live-in. Found thru Nextdoor.com and Care.com

Each arrangement has advantages and disadvantages. The full-time nanny was highly competent, but became more and more demanding and less willing to care what I said as time went by. Daycare has been great, but kids do get sick a lot. The drop off and pick up at 2 diff schools now are a major pain. Our part-time nannies have helped w this a lot. The live-in arrangement works well for us b/c we mainly need help in the early mornings then the nanny can go to class/work.

Good luck. None of this is easy.

[Backliteyes]

What service do you have? Licensed daycare
How much do you pay? $300 per week for 6-12 months. 12-18 months will be $275 per week, I believe.
How did you find it? Recommendations from local residents
How did you end up selecting it? We toured the facility and liked it. It's also a 5 min or less drive from our home and extremely close the elementary school our child will attend later on. That convenience mattered to us.
Any misc other benefits it includes? This facility has cameras and the Tadpole app. Food and baby wipes are included. Enrichment activities like music and crafts are included.
Is it worth it? Compared to a cheaper daycare, I think so.
Anything else worth mentioning? If you can swing paying for a year up front they'll give you 10% off. They'll give you a 5% sibling discount. Turnover seems low, which is good. There's also extra events - they did an optional professional photo shoot in the spring with the option to buy the pictures afterwards. They hosted breakfast for mother's day and father's day. They gave us small, but touching and well thought out mother's and father's day gifts. They have parent's night outs about once a month and other events for parents.

[camj70]

Originally Posted by UnfairPark

It seems OP wants to start a business. However, my advice is to not have kids, unless you really want to and have enough patience, time and money to support this hobby. If you don't have time to raise them yourself and hoping to live your life as it is while counting on some daycare or nanny to keep them occupied during day time from 7-7 and sleep from 8-7. Just rent some kids for few hours on weekends and holidays for family pics, social media and occassional cuddling or outings. You can do your duty to humanity by sponsoring two poor kids in Cambodia. Seriously, having kids because its customary, is not a good enough reason.

Yes, because anyone using a nanny or daycare clearly considers parenting a hobby and has little actual interest in their kids.






OP - we found it more cost effective to have part-time in home help in the early stages, then enrolled in a preschool with after care for those days when our schedules did not allow us to pick up at 2.

[Sunshine92150]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

I’m sorry, certainly you’re not saying people shouldn’t have kids unless they’re going to be stay at home parents???

That's exactly why I suggested the OP call the Dr. Laura Show. She is absolutely against the nanny/daycare situation. UnfairPark is spot on!

[unknown00]

Wow did not imagine this thread getting out of hand, esp with such a harmless question.

NO - I am NOT starting my own business. I am considering sending my child to daycare for the very first time and just want to see what I should expect. I posted this in Houston as well because I visit that city often because of family and also Parenting because that's the logical choice.

You can always count on the internet to spin things lol

[Waterdragon8212]

When we were first researching options for our oldest, we had a friend tell us that even though our son was over a year old, we should tour centers and pay particular attention to the youngest infant rooms. This proved to be sage advice, as there was much more variation between the infant rooms we observed than between the older kiddo rooms. How the infant rooms appear is a good indicator of the values the center espouses. For example, the center we picked had cameras, diapers and food included, a 3 to 1 ratio (with no more than 6 infants/2 teachers in one class max), a separate sleeping area that was kept dark for napping babies, developmentally appropriate toys, fastidious cleanliness, and daily feedback regarding meals, activities, curriculum, sleep, diaper changes, etc. The worst one we saw had no cameras, meals/diapers not included, 12 babies with one teacher and one helper, screaming children in cribs, a helper heating up breast milk in the microwave as she talked to us (eek!!), an entirely lighted room (no dark areas for sleeping), and a number of developmentally inappropriate toys. While the state of that room alone would turn most parents off, the toddler room we would have been in based on my son's age was lovely, organized, and the children seemed happy and well-adjusted. Had we only seen his age appropriate room, we might have considered the center, but after seeing the infant room, it was a BIG no.

Our kids are both pro-social, strong willed children that we thought would really benefit from the social environment of school in a way that they wouldn't with a nanny (at least not in the same manner.) We actually still use some of the teachers from our kids' first daycare as babysitters and it is so apparent how much they love and adore our boys. I think if you are looking for younger kids (i.e. infant until age 3 or so), the developmental values and the way they care for the kids is most important. At or around age 3, I think it's really important to also start checking out the specific curriculum and ask questions about educational values and objectives. Some places are wonderful at caring for kids and being a warm and inviting place away from home, but come up short in the later years with academic preparation for Kinder. Others are the other way around. It's like finding a needle in a haystack to find a place that does both things well, but it does exist!

As a side note, it is great if the center you choose has an on-staff nurse/nurses office. It's a rarity, but a great perk. When there is a place to quarantine sick kiddos, there is less of a "get him immediately or else" vibe from the school. Kids often get really sick when they first start daycare, and it is nice to have someone trained to save you unnecessary trips to the doctor.