When selecting childcare for a baby, what factors helped your decision?
It's clear that I'll be returning back to work after the birth of our first child. I've been advised to start researching and interviewing childcare options now, but am completely overwhelmed by the thought of someone else taking care of my child. What should their background be, how many years of experience should they have, what type of environment, etc. are all questions I have but have no basis for an opinion.
When it comes to selecting childcare for your baby, what qualifications & environmental factors mattered most to you & why?
4 Answers
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When I was looking for child care, I asked everyone around me at work what they used and got their feedback. When I determined that group care was a better option for us than getting a Nanny or taking my son to someone's home, I honed in on centers in our area. A friend was using Bright Horizons and really liked it so I scheduled a center visit and liked what I learned and saw how happy my friend's child was at the center. They really focus on early education and not just babysitting.We've had my son at Bright Horizons from age 3 months until Pre-K and he is off to Kindergarten in the fall. What I needed from the center varied at different age levels.
First, I wanted a clean and safe environment. I wanted to know that the teachers were warm and loving and would work with his schedule as an infant. I also wanted to know that he'd get a lot of stimulation and contact with adults. As he got older and progressed from Toddler to Preschool to PreK I was more interested in what he would learn - self help skills, socialization and age appropriate curiculum.
Bright Horizons has been a wonderful experience. Jack has loved going "to school" everyday and has loved his teachers. He started reading at age 4 so I believe the experience has prepared him for Kindergarten and he has made some wonderful friends. Bright Horizons has national locations. www.brighthorizons.com
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We researched childcare places before the bith of our son and picked one - we looked primarily at larger centers (like Bright Horizons or Kindercare....).
A few weeks before my son was supposed to enroll, I went back to the place we had selected, and I sat there and watched their operation for about 2 hours. And in the end, I decided that I had made an incorrect choice. I didn't like how many children there were (even though they followed the ratios that are required) - and I'm not talking about just infants, but kids in general (infants, toddlers, babies, etc). I also felt that the fussier babies got more attention, and our son was more mellow, and I was afraid he'd be more ignored as a result. Lastly, even though they said they would, I wasn't sure that they would really follow the routine I had worked hard to establish with my son. There just seemed like a lot going on...
So I went on a frantic search for alternatives -- we considered primarily two options, hiring/sharing a nanny and a small family daycare. We met with a few nannies, but we weren't completely sold by any of them, and we really wanted my son (who is an only child) to be with other children. So based on a referral from a friend, we checked out a family daycare near our house, and this is the option we chose in the end. We are very happy with our choice. We really like the fact that he is in a house rather than a "facility," we like the fact that he has a small number of kids he's with (there are four kids total and 1.5 people caring for them), and we think that the financial tradeoff is better than the nanny option (what you get for your money). All in all, my son gets a lot of personal attention, and he seems to really like where he's at. On the downside, there are of course some tradeoffs. Our provider's hours are not as flexible as in the larger centers, and when she gets sick, we need to accommodate by staying home ourselves or finding someone else to watch our son. Or when she wants to take PTO and days off...
It's ironic because before my son was born, I was adament that we not go with a family daycare -- I didn't want to deal with the possibility of an unlicensed/poorly run operation with bad people. But having gone this route in the end, I highly recommend it. I would just make sure that you go with referrals and find someplace that has been recommended by people you trust.
Hope this helps.
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Our first challenge was finding a list of childcare options in our area, and we never really did find a list of recommended options for infants. So, in the end, we based a lot on personal recommendations (as sarahm and Evelyn suggested).
Before my son was born, we toured 1 recommended "big" centers and nearby 2 home care options (between 8 and 12 children). We both got an immediate feel (right or wrong) from visiting and that quickly clarified that, for us, we wanted small. At that point, the time pressure was off - it's only the big centers that have months-long waitlists.
Then someone posted an offer to share their nanny to our local email list. We met with them, liked them, liked their sons, liked their values and their home... and brought all that good will to a subsequent interview with their nanny. We were sold, and it has worked out very well. In addition to knowing we have a very trustworthy nanny, our children have wonderful "older brothers" that they admire and who are kind to them. Plus, it splits the costs, and she's at our house part of the time - so is able to do child-related things here like their laundry and keeping their closet up-to-date as they grow. She's also able, now, to pick my son up from daycare and take the kids to activities I pick / she suggests (like storytime or music class). One thing I didn't anticipate is how much having someone come to you helps us - the parents - get out the door in the morning, on time/earlier and with less stress going into your day - weekday mornings, ironically, often end up being less intense than weekends.
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Trusting the person/people taking care of your child is obviously a big (if not the biggest) factor. Look for personal recommendations from your inner circle and when you see the actual place and meet the caretakers trust your instincts.
And not that I consider myself part of your inner circle, but I've been pretty happy with Happy Days Montessori in Santa Clara. Both my kids have gone there:
http://www.happydayscdc.com/
Good luck!
Hi Jason - I just checked out this place. How long ago did you send your kids there & for what ages did they attend? Would you share with me your overall experience with this facility?
- Erin, Oct 27, 2010