Will you be the first to send your kids back to daycare when it reopens?

[Anonymous]

It depends. If I have to go back to the office, I will have no choice.

[Anonymous]

Nope. Ours reopened with precautions. We unenrolled because I don’t think our DD will return to daycare before K in the fall and our youngest is about to turn 3 so we will have more options for her in the fall since there are more preschools available for 2.5-3 years +. If we can’t find a spot.

I get why some parents have no choice, but we’ll keep muddling along with working from home with staggered hours and burning some leave (even if unpaid) as long as this take. We have a high risk family member and would rather stay home for the long term if necessary to make sure our family comes out intact.

[Anonymous]

My kids are already back at daycare. My wife and I are both teleworking, but you can't really watch toddlers at the same time you're doing telehealth visits.

[Anonymous]

Ha! I'll probably be one of the last to send my kids back to preschool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids are already back at daycare. My wife and I are both teleworking, but you can't really watch toddlers at the same time you're doing telehealth visits.

Can you report if/how your daycare are taking extra precautions? As medical professionals, what is your take on the risk to your family and society by opening daycares?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are already back at daycare. My wife and I are both teleworking, but you can't really watch toddlers at the same time you're doing telehealth visits.

Can you report if/how your daycare are taking extra precautions? As medical professionals, what is your take on the risk to your family and society by opening daycares?

PP here.

We're in a unique situation. Our kids go to a small in-home daycare with only one other child. So, the increased risk of infection is rather low. I know she tries a bit harder to clean before/during/after the day, but you can only do so much when toddlers are putting their mouths on everything. I'm under no illusions that the spread could be contained within the daycare. But with only one other child, it's not something I worry about.

We briefly looked into the essential personnel daycare options before our provider offered to work under-the-table. She had briefly looked into getting into approved to continue operating, but was turned off by the rules. In particular, it sounded like they could have forced her to take additional kids, which she didn't want to do.

It would have been harder for us if we had to send our kids to one of the essential personnel daycares. It seems like a bad idea to have daycares crowded with high-risk children. Still, I think we would have done it if we had to. We need to work regular hours, and that's simply not possible with young kids around the house. Sometimes I wonder if it would have made more sense to simply let all daycares stay open, with the expectation that many non-essential workers would keep their kids home. There's no great solution to the childcare problem.

A few weeks ago I was very concerned about the risk of COVID spreading to health care workers, and then between children. I haven't seen statistics on COVID cases with health care workers, but anecdotally it appears we've so far managed to avoid my worst fears. It seems nursing home staff have been fit fairly hard, but hospital staff have fared much better. At this point, I probably wouldn't lose sleep over sending my kids to one of the essential personnel daycares, but I'd be a bit worried.

I'm certainly not saying it would be wise to open up daycares with the expectation that all kids would start going back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the demand for daycare will be way down after everyone has had to figure out how to go without for 2-3 months.

How? My company is making an exception for now, obviously, but once we we are reopened, we cannot WAH without adequate childcare. I’m half-assing my job and my kids’ lives right now because I cannot do both. And DH is even busier than I am.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are already back at daycare. My wife and I are both teleworking, but you can't really watch toddlers at the same time you're doing telehealth visits.

Can you report if/how your daycare are taking extra precautions? As medical professionals, what is your take on the risk to your family and society by opening daycares?

PP here.

We're in a unique situation. Our kids go to a small in-home daycare with only one other child. So, the increased risk of infection is rather low. I know she tries a bit harder to clean before/during/after the day, but you can only do so much when toddlers are putting their mouths on everything. I'm under no illusions that the spread could be contained within the daycare. But with only one other child, it's not something I worry about.

We briefly looked into the essential personnel daycare options before our provider offered to work under-the-table. She had briefly looked into getting into approved to continue operating, but was turned off by the rules. In particular, it sounded like they could have forced her to take additional kids, which she didn't want to do.

It would have been harder for us if we had to send our kids to one of the essential personnel daycares. It seems like a bad idea to have daycares crowded with high-risk children. Still, I think we would have done it if we had to. We need to work regular hours, and that's simply not possible with young kids around the house. Sometimes I wonder if it would have made more sense to simply let all daycares stay open, with the expectation that many non-essential workers would keep their kids home. There's no great solution to the childcare problem.

A few weeks ago I was very concerned about the risk of COVID spreading to health care workers, and then between children. I haven't seen statistics on COVID cases with health care workers, but anecdotally it appears we've so far managed to avoid my worst fears. It seems nursing home staff have been fit fairly hard, but hospital staff have fared much better. At this point, I probably wouldn't lose sleep over sending my kids to one of the essential personnel daycares, but I'd be a bit worried.

I'm certainly not saying it would be wise to open up daycares with the expectation that all kids would start going back.

And what are your thoughts about the safety of childcare workers, particularly in centers with many children, who are expected to work without the protection of PPE with potentially asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic children? The center I work at has an enrollment in the 200 range. We are closed now, but I am honestly terrified to go back when we reopen. I work in a class of 12 one year olds/walkers. They aren’t going to wear masks, and even if I did, it would protect them, not me. Not to mention they would likely pull at my mask often, may be scared of it, and social distancing is just not a possibility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the demand for daycare will be way down after everyone has had to figure out how to go without for 2-3 months.

How? My company is making an exception for now, obviously, but once we we are reopened, we cannot WAH without adequate childcare. I’m half-assing my job and my kids’ lives right now because I cannot do both. And DH is even busier than I am.

NP and a lot of folks are losing their jobs and many businesses are closing for good. Probably a lot of people will be pulling their kids out of daycare until the economy improves.

[Anonymous]

where i work there is a daycare. which is obviously closed at the moment.

my fear is that my agency will open up and we will be called back to work, albeit staggered. but the daycare won't be able open back up. or open up in a way that would serve all the families all the time like it did before.

what a mess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are already back at daycare. My wife and I are both teleworking, but you can't really watch toddlers at the same time you're doing telehealth visits.

Can you report if/how your daycare are taking extra precautions? As medical professionals, what is your take on the risk to your family and society by opening daycares?

PP here.

We're in a unique situation. Our kids go to a small in-home daycare with only one other child. So, the increased risk of infection is rather low. I know she tries a bit harder to clean before/during/after the day, but you can only do so much when toddlers are putting their mouths on everything. I'm under no illusions that the spread could be contained within the daycare. But with only one other child, it's not something I worry about.

We briefly looked into the essential personnel daycare options before our provider offered to work under-the-table. She had briefly looked into getting into approved to continue operating, but was turned off by the rules. In particular, it sounded like they could have forced her to take additional kids, which she didn't want to do.

It would have been harder for us if we had to send our kids to one of the essential personnel daycares. It seems like a bad idea to have daycares crowded with high-risk children. Still, I think we would have done it if we had to. We need to work regular hours, and that's simply not possible with young kids around the house. Sometimes I wonder if it would have made more sense to simply let all daycares stay open, with the expectation that many non-essential workers would keep their kids home. There's no great solution to the childcare problem.

A few weeks ago I was very concerned about the risk of COVID spreading to health care workers, and then between children. I haven't seen statistics on COVID cases with health care workers, but anecdotally it appears we've so far managed to avoid my worst fears. It seems nursing home staff have been fit fairly hard, but hospital staff have fared much better. At this point, I probably wouldn't lose sleep over sending my kids to one of the essential personnel daycares, but I'd be a bit worried.

I'm certainly not saying it would be wise to open up daycares with the expectation that all kids would start going back.

Thank you, this is helpful to hear from a Healthcare worker and parent perspective and I appreciate the daycare teacher perspective too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the demand for daycare will be way down after everyone has had to figure out how to go without for 2-3 months.

How? My company is making an exception for now, obviously, but once we we are reopened, we cannot WAH without adequate childcare. I’m half-assing my job and my kids’ lives right now because I cannot do both. And DH is even busier than I am.

NP and a lot of folks are losing their jobs and many businesses are closing for good. Probably a lot of people will be pulling their kids out of daycare until the economy improves.

There are also a lot of people who are very fearful of catching the virus and want to stay home with their kids for as long as possible. Was talking to a friend who thought she wouldn’t bother taking her youngest kids back until September even if daycare reopens since her oldest is out of school anyway. She and her DH expect they can telework indefinitely.

[Anonymous]

Parents who are home with older children that don't have school, and probably don't have summer camp might keep their younger daycare kids home as well.

Also, a lot of people are getting furloughed. If daycare opened in May, I wouldn't use it because my pay has been slashed and I really can't afford it.