Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Who is we? You were very rude to me. Claimed I was saying the children with BAD HABITS were special needs. That is rude. You've been rude and questioning me. Everyone else gets what I'm saying. If I'm defensive to you, it's because you were rude to me and never once apologized.
Well, Braunwyn also thought perhaps you were talking about home day cares, so, no, not everyone knows what you are saying.
I most certainly DID NOT say that about special needs kids. I only mentioned them because we were talking about free preschool, and special needs kids qualify for free preschool.
I'm in Texas, and according to that map our child care costs are just barely above college costs.
Now aside from that original point I want to add some information to the child care issues brought up here. First to qualify what I post, I am an Early Childhood Education Professional and have been for about 24 years now. Second, I was management in a center that was NAEYC accredited for years before switching to Home Child Care. Third, I am currently part of a large group of Home Child Care Providers across the nation who communicate on a daily basis regarding issues. Fourth, I have 4 children of my own and have been very involved with their schools and PTA since 1987, so I think my experience is fairly broad.
In regards to ratios, Arizona is the only state I am aware of (perhaps one other but I didn't research to verify) that allows 1 adult to 5 infants, all the rest are 1:4, 1:3 or 1:2 and there are NO states that allow 1:7. A quality teacher can attend to up to 4 infants at once with ease. Something to remember is that in an infant room the babies are going to be of varying ages and have varying needs, unlike a home with twins, triplets or quadruplets who are all the same age. In an infant room they won't all be napping at once, eating at once or needing to be diapered at the same time. It was not unusual to check on the infant room in our center and find one napping, another eating snack in a high chair, another being bottle fed in the lap of a teacher while another played on the floor beside them. Of course, not everyone can be so adept at handling 4 infants, however a good owner/director will not place someone in the infant room if they are not capable of doing so.
As they get older, the ratios rise and there you might find a ratio of 1:7 beginning with 18 month olds. If someone truly believes that a teacher cannot provide the kind of attention needed for the grouping of children they have, then they must not believe any teacher at any level can provide the kind of attention needed for their grade levels either. While there absolutely are some teachers, at all levels, who are not successful at their jobs, they are the exception and not the rule.
A quality teacher has an established schedule that provides time for personal needs of the children such as diapering/toileting, meals and naps. It also includes time for circle time for learning, stories, free play, teacher directed play, outside time, indoor recess, music and movement and is flexible enough to accommodate changes that may be needed. A quality teacher finds the time to spend one on one with every single child at some point during they day.
Additionally, there is NO TV in a quality child care program and there ARE policies in place for things such as biting, which is most often a language/communication problem and not a behavioral one.
Also, there will always be favoritism of sorts going on in any group situation whether it is child care, elementary school, high school or work environments. Everyone has certain people, including children, they connect with better than others and it will show up in some manner or other. In my experience more teachers children have routinely been in trouble than have been favored. lol
Now, addressing the issues of a young child staying home with a parent/grandparent versus attending a child care program. there is not one single uniform outcome for either side. It widely varies in each and every individual situation.
Some are very well prepared to start Kindergarten, some are not. Some adjust easily, others do not. Some continue on to 1st grade, some do not.
The deciding factor of an easy transition into school is more about the child's ability to learn and adapt along with hand in hand with the caregiver/provider's ability and willingness to nurture, educate and help them grow in all ways.
Just one small example of my experience....when my son began Kindergarten, he had been home with me the entire time. Having the background I have, he was well prepared academically, socially, emotionally and physically. His independence and curiosity had been fostered and not smothered. He had been in group settings enough to participate without issue. I spent hours upon hours in his class that year, mainly because of my background, assisting his teacher. I saw many children that garnered absolutely nothing being home with their moms. Nothing. I saw a couple who came from being home that were perfectly average and capable. I saw one other student who was well prepared across the board. I saw many who came from various child care situations that were good to great at where they needed to be and one who had to be held back in Kindergarten the next year.
Same thing happened when my now 16 yr old started Kindergarten at a different school.....the kids that stayed home with mom were far behind the kids that came from our center and kids from other centers were in the middle. The behavior problems were most often kids that had come from being home with mom.
So, it just goes to show that my experience is quite different from what's been offered up. Everyone will have a different experience and no one way is the absolute best way to go.
Well this thread really went down the crapper quick... You guys can take it to DM's, unless you like arguing in a public forum for attention. Where's the popcorn emoticon when you need it...
Day care costs are so varied geographically speaking, it's a hard topic to generalize about.
No kidding on the cost!
The church child care down the street from me has very tiny rooms for their classes and has a small outside area charges $208 for infants and works down to $130 for schoolers in the summer.
A corporate center charges less than that and has far more to offer and has degreed teachers.
A family owned local chain charges even less and has average offerings and does not require degreed teachers.
You can find all three of those with a few miles of each other.
Then there is me who charges about middle of the road but has the advantage of now providing care from my home (and it's not just one room either) while providing the children everything they need to grow and learn.
It's all over the place....lol
Adding you can google creme de la creme to find one really over the top...but it's not close by me. :-)
Last edited by Jaded; 04-17-2014 at 11:49 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
