Daycare costs - OMG
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Anonymous
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In home daycare are nice. All children of any age socialize. The toddlers likes to pass a toy to the little babies, it's so cute.
There's also a middle gate to divide the 2s/3s room and the infant room if they need to like if the 2 babies are doing tummy time, etc. |
Anonymous
It's the opposite. the higher the ratios, the less expensive it is. |
Anonymous
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Lots of daycares in downtown DC have open spots and are a lot cheaper than $3300. It’s why I’m in the office 4-5 days/week….my kid’s daycare is next to the office. we are paying $2300 and that includes diapers and catered food.
If you can come into DC, there’s lots of spots open for the taking. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if hybrid work means prices have surged in the suburbs. |
Anonymous
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It doesn't get expensive as they are. Most daycares keeps the same rates because daycare providers are teaching potty training and kid goes to prek at 4 or 3.5.
Many providers are teachers, they are prek teachers |
Anonymous
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We lived in Arlington with a newborn in 2020 and had moved to upper NW DC by the time we had our our second kiddo. We’ve moved daycares a couple times, mostly recently last fall. Anecdotally, I’d say that $3300 is on the higher end and $2500 would be on the lower end for an infant. $2700-3000 is closer to average for an infant. That said, we do have a few friends in Fairfax county who pay much less for daycare. Maybe it gets cheaper the farther outside the beltway you are.
As noted by others in this thread, the prices do drop as they age. We pay $4700 per month total for our two toddlers. We like the convenience of our daycare, but if we had three kids under 5 it would probably be a little cheaper to get a nanny. |
Anonymous
This isn't the right place to have this discussion. It's just not helpful. Also, no parent of infant wants to hear about how expensive teenagers are. Just let the sleeping dog lie. |
Anonymous
It's the opposite. As children get older, the ratios increase thus decreasing the price. Usually at age two. |
Anonymous
| Everyone in Arlington uses in home daycares or nannies. More affordable, better for the children. |
Anonymous
I think that poster may have meant that every year the prices go up. So you think you’re getting a discount next year due to the kid getting older but the daycare raises their price so you end up paying more even for an older kid. I have a toddler who has been in daycare for over a year now. I’m paying more this year per month despite the fact that he’s older because the daycare has to raise their prices to keep up with inflation and labor costs. So while I do pay a bit less than people who have infants, my personal costs do get more expensive. The businesses are raising prices every single year. All the contracts I’ve read allow them to raise the prices if they give advance notice. The only difference I see is if you choose a church-based traditional preschool that runs on a schedule like public schools. Those places are way cheaper than any daycare but then you need to deal with the long breaks and short hours. |
Anonymous
Okay so it’s cheaper. But I don’t like that only one adult is alone with the babies all day. Anything can happen and the babies cannot talk. No thanks. I rather pay more for licensed daycare facility. There are other adults there watching each other. It’s safer for the children. |
Anonymous
You k must be joking if you think you can find a nanny above the table for $22 or so an hour. |
Anonymous
Lots of people use little ambassadors. The desperate ones use merit. |
Anonymous
Every in-home that we looked at was an adult plus one assistant because licensed in home daycares also have to adhere to legally required ratios. Ours was a loving family with three generation of women in the home. We read all the licensing reports for every provider we considered and called multiple references. I felt so much comfortable with that than a rotating cast of underpaid caregivers at a daycare. Not to mention that every horror story I have heard about a child being injured or, worse, dying has occurred at a center. This was so sad and it was a well known national chain in a government building: https://wtop.com/dc/2017/01/3-year-old-boy-chokes-dies-department-labor-daycare/ |
Anonymous
I thought Little Ambassadors was a preschool - did that change? When we were looking years ago, they were new and were 2+ (maybe even 2.5+) and still very expensive. |
Anonymous
Also have heard horror stories about Merit!! |