Daycare: it’s unavailable everywhere

[Anonymous]

I recently got a fully remote job and fully intended to move this summer… but ecery daycare I’ve called in the places I would like to live has quoted me waitlists of years. I thought this kind of insanity was unique to DC, but no. It appears to be universal; the daycares in other places are just as unavailable (although they are slightly less than half the price). At this point the city we end up in is going to be determined by the race of the daycare waitlists, we’ll just move in 3 years when my youngest is ready for kindergarten.

(This is just a vent but if you have a positive story about getting off daycare waitlist I’m all ears 😂)

[Anonymous]

We needed care for our two year old with a week’s notice and got in to a place we love in Chevy Chase. They are moving out to Rockville in the fall but still have infant and toddler openings.

[Anonymous]

I would join a local Facebook group and ask if anyone knows about openings. I’ve been a parent for over 5 years and I totally know what you mean about the waitlists, but there are always *some* options. People move, care needs change, places turn out to be a bad fit, it happens. I’ve never seen a question about openings get asked without the OP getting multiple leads.

[Anonymous]

This happened to us when we moved to the DMV in 2016. We literally moved to Alexandria because there was day care availability. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would join a local Facebook group and ask if anyone knows about openings. I’ve been a parent for over 5 years and I totally know what you mean about the waitlists, but there are always *some* options. People move, care needs change, places turn out to be a bad fit, it happens. I’ve never seen a question about openings get asked without the OP getting multiple leads.

Thanks for this advice; I’ll give it a try!

[Anonymous]

What about in home daycares OP? Or a nanny, maybe? Until you can get into a daycare?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about in home daycares OP? Or a nanny, maybe? Until you can get into a daycare?

That’s definitely a possibility but I feel like those are harder to find and vet at a distance although PP’s suggestion of reaching out to local parent groups on fbook or similar is probably a good place to start there too!

I think part of the challenge is that we have a really great daycare in DC so since I don’t *have* to move by any set date I get a little twitchy about upending the kids’ lives to put them in a worse situation. Although their college funds will for sure be healthier if I’m not paying DC daycare prices for the next three years…