Daycare Calendar Inquiry

[Anonymous]

We have our 10 month old at a daycare in upper NW DC, and as I was going through the calendar for this upcoming 12 months marking dates so we weren't surprised by any, I noticed that the students get a full week off in end of July (not around 4th of July time), a full week off in the end of March, and week and a half off over Christmas/holiday season, 3 days off over Thanksgiving, and a handful of other days for of course every holiday but also 3-4 teacher in-service days.

That's at least 4-5 weeks of lack of coverage throughout the year, biggest concerns being the full week in July, full week in March, and week and a half over the holidays. We don't have family in the area that can assist us with childcare during the weeks so I have just noticed the days REALLY add up, since I will need to take those off from work.

The cost of course does not change per month on months there are breaks this daycare is typical DC range in mid-$2000s.

Is this normal? Please tell me it is so I feel less overwhelmed. I have just been thinking about shopping daycares anyway, but I'd like to know if these "daycare closed" time frames are standard.

[Anonymous]

Our center (Maryland suburbs, just over $2,000/month for infant care), is closed for a total of 19 days in 2022 - just checked the calendar.

It's a lot of days to be closed, but those breaks are also good for the teachers. It sounds like a nice benefits package for a daycare. That was one of the things I was looking for when we looked at daycares. How are the teachers treated? Generally there will be lower turnover rates at a daycare where the teachers are treated well (including time off), which results in overall better care for your child (generally speaking).

[Anonymous]

I don’t know if it’s normal but it’s definitely a good thing. Daycare burn out is high. Working 9/10 hours a day with young children is very difficult and you want those teachers to be fresh.

[Anonymous]

This is why we used an in-home. She almost never closed. She did take 2 weeks off during the year, at different times (normally 1 in the summer, and another week another time). But at Christmas she was only closed for 2 days.

Paid time off for the teachers is a good thing. If I were you, I'd make friends with one of the teachers and ask if they want to do some babysitting during any of the closures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is why we used an in-home. She almost never closed. She did take 2 weeks off during the year, at different times (normally 1 in the summer, and another week another time). But at Christmas she was only closed for 2 days.

Paid time off for the teachers is a good thing. If I were you, I'd make friends with one of the teachers and ask if they want to do some babysitting during any of the closures.

OP here. That's a great idea. Thank you!

[Anonymous]

My daycare does 1 week at Christmas and 1 week in August, as well as federal holidays. This is a federal daycare downtown with low staff-child ratio (I think it's 4 staff in the 0-2 room with 6-8 kids), so I assume the teachers get sick/vacation time aside from the closures and I know they stagger their shifts so they're not all working 10 hours a day every day.

Agree that asking if staff are willing to babysit is a good solution! I haven't needed it yet, but I know one of the other daycare parents has done that and it seems to have worked out well.

[Anonymous]

One thought is that you and your spouse stagger the days off. So you’re each taking off different weeks. We’ve also flown grandparents in

Also want to say that you should plan a few weeks of your kid being sick too. My kids were all sick for about a month their first winters.

[Anonymous]

That seems on the high end for a daycare. I fully support daycare workers taking time off but it doesn't seem necessary for them to close for that to happen- actually seems like it would be better for the workers to have vacation days they can use whenever rather than being told what set vacations to take

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One thought is that you and your spouse stagger the days off. So you’re each taking off different weeks. We’ve also flown grandparents in

Also want to say that you should plan a few weeks of your kid being sick too. My kids were all sick for about a month their first winters.

Good point about sickness! I'm the PP with a daycare that has 2 weeks of scheduled closures but my kid has definitely been out several more weeks on top of that for illness/doctor's appointments/etc. It's definitely a drain on PTO for sure! I do lots of night work to recoup time when it's feasible but still.

[Anonymous]

Our daycare runs on a school schedule and summer session. It is closed 26 days- including federal holidays, (2) 1 week closures with optional OOP pay for days, spring break closure, 3 day thanksgiving, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That seems on the high end for a daycare. I fully support daycare workers taking time off but it doesn't seem necessary for them to close for that to happen- actually seems like it would be better for the workers to have vacation days they can use whenever rather than being told what set vacations to take

Agree with that. Ours is closed most fed holidays but not Columbus or veterans. Thanksgiving and the day after. Don't remember Xmas/NYE exact days. Two days in tht summer for training days. No full week closures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That seems on the high end for a daycare. I fully support daycare workers taking time off but it doesn't seem necessary for them to close for that to happen- actually seems like it would be better for the workers to have vacation days they can use whenever rather than being told what set vacations to take

Agree with that. Ours is closed most fed holidays but not Columbus or veterans. Thanksgiving and the day after. Don't remember Xmas/NYE exact days. Two days in tht summer for training days. No full week closures.

Same PP - and the teachers do get and take vacation days beyond that. I know a few who took multi week vacations and traveled.

[Anonymous]

This is similar to our first daycare. Our new program takes 4 day weekends a few times per year when there is usually a 3 day weekend and does that instead of the longer breaks. We much prefer the latter even though it’s a similar number of days off.

I agree this is tough when presumably everyone in daycare has working parents! But it’s common and teachers do deserve breaks.

[Anonymous]

I've worked at two downtown DC daycares and one State U. childcare + sent my child to another State U. childcare. Here's what was typical of those. Agree with PPs that this is good for staff, quality, retention, etc.

Downtown Center #1:
*Last 2 weeks of August
*week between Christmas & New Year
*all Federal holidays
*half day every other month
First year, staff had to use vacation time for closure weeks. Second year, staff got additional 14 days PTO.
Pay & benefits well above average (eg., some Lead Teachers making $50k)

Downtown Center #2:
*Last week of August
*Week between Christmas & New Year
*All Federal holidays
*One Friday per quarter
*additional 30 days PTO / personal / sick

State U #1:
*Winter Break
*Spring Break
*2 weeks in summer
*all Federal holidays
*Additional 30-50 days leave depending upon position (staff v. faculty, etc.)

State U #2:
Federal Holidays, and a week at 4th of July.

No idea about benefits, as this was the program my child was at. I was definitely spoiled here by the lack of closed days.

So, there's a variance. If the time off is a big strain on your job, then you may need to look for a program with fewer closures. Not every program is going to meet your needs.

Agree with others about asking teachers about babysitting. On the times our programs were closed, if they were true closures and not professional development days, some of our teachers would keep basically half the class at one parents' home and make more in that week than they did in a regular month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is why we used an in-home. She almost never closed. She did take 2 weeks off during the year, at different times (normally 1 in the summer, and another week another time). But at Christmas she was only closed for 2 days.

Paid time off for the teachers is a good thing. If I were you, I'd make friends with one of the teachers and ask if they want to do some babysitting during any of the closures.

Depends on the in-home. The first one we went to never closed for extended breaks, only the usual federal holidays. She didn’t even take extra days off for Christmas. The second one was closed for a total of 15 calendar days in addition to all the federal holidays. This worked out to 3 weeks we would have to fend for ourselves. In addition they would close early before Thanksgiving, Christmas and Good Friday was also a holiday.