In home vs center daycares

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reviving an old thread to get some advice. I'm a first time mom and have been having some trouble finding care. We found an in-home daycare that would be quite convenient, but one lady (who seems lovely and has been doing this for years) takes care of EIGHT kids right now. She says a lot of them are older and I just checked VA regulations and you can have that many if children are 2+.

My son would be 1.5 and will be the only one that young. Any thoughts? Our other options are bigger centers which I actually really like but I'm having a hard time justifying an $700+ price difference. At 1.5 should i be looking into curriculum or is it really still about loving care more so than anything? Also any downsides to him being the only one his age?

TIA!

Signed,
Anxious mom.

1 caregiver for 8 kids is way too much. Your child will not receive any attention. This is not a quality daycare. Keep looking. I had my child in 2 in-homes from age 4 months to 2.5. Both had 1:4 ratios and the second one also had cameras.

[Anonymous]

We had DD at an in-home with a 1:8 ratio temporarily right around when she was 1.5 years old. The provider had amazing references, and she was clearly very skilled, but we didn't feel she got enough attention. My sense is DD was much happier at her center where there were 3 teachers for 6 babies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had DD at an in-home with a 1:8 ratio temporarily right around when she was 1.5 years old. The provider had amazing references, and she was clearly very skilled, but we didn't feel she got enough attention. My sense is DD was much happier at her center where there were 3 teachers for 6 babies.

OP here. This is exactly how I'm feeling. This in-home daycare has amazing references and she seemed very capable, but there's something in me telling me that 1:8 would be too much to get him the attention and care I'd prefer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had DD at an in-home with a 1:8 ratio temporarily right around when she was 1.5 years old. The provider had amazing references, and she was clearly very skilled, but we didn't feel she got enough attention. My sense is DD was much happier at her center where there were 3 teachers for 6 babies.

OP here. This is exactly how I'm feeling. This in-home daycare has amazing references and she seemed very capable, but there's something in me telling me that 1:8 would be too much to get him the attention and care I'd prefer

PP here - I definitely think you should follow your gut! References are helpful but they only tell you so much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had DD at an in-home with a 1:8 ratio temporarily right around when she was 1.5 years old. The provider had amazing references, and she was clearly very skilled, but we didn't feel she got enough attention. My sense is DD was much happier at her center where there were 3 teachers for 6 babies.

OP here. This is exactly how I'm feeling. This in-home daycare has amazing references and she seemed very capable, but there's something in me telling me that 1:8 would be too much to get him the attention and care I'd prefer

OP, trust your instincts. We looked at an in-home that had a similar ratio, with the same explanation around older kids. I'm sure the care provider is a lovely person, but it was a hard pass for us. We chose a center with small ratios and are so glad we did. Our kids are older now (youngest is 6) and we never regretted paying more to have our kids in a care setting we trusted. We're lucky we could afford to, of course, but it was definitely a priority.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had DD at an in-home with a 1:8 ratio temporarily right around when she was 1.5 years old. The provider had amazing references, and she was clearly very skilled, but we didn't feel she got enough attention. My sense is DD was much happier at her center where there were 3 teachers for 6 babies.

OP here. This is exactly how I'm feeling. This in-home daycare has amazing references and she seemed very capable, but there's something in me telling me that 1:8 would be too much to get him the attention and care I'd prefer

OP, trust your instincts. We looked at an in-home that had a similar ratio, with the same explanation around older kids. I'm sure the care provider is a lovely person, but it was a hard pass for us. We chose a center with small ratios and are so glad we did. Our kids are older now (youngest is 6) and we never regretted paying more to have our kids in a care setting we trusted. We're lucky we could afford to, of course, but it was definitely a priority.

+1. I also recall visiting a daycare that was one provider for 8 kids and just not feeling comfortable with it, despite the recommendations from parents. My DC was an infant at the time. But there were others we visited where the provider had an assistant with that many kids, which felt a lot better to me. We actually ended up at a large in-home with two assistants so it was 3 adults to 12 kids. That worked out well and our oldest was still there when we had a second child so they overlapped for a bit. Now, we actually had more staff turnover at the in-home that we have at a center, particularly when my youngest was there (it was fairly stable early on). We actually moved my youngest earlier than we would have because of it. Sure the main provider is always consistent but the assistants are often not paid well and if there is any sort of intrapersonal drama it can have a dampening effect on them retaining staff. I guess that's another downside of in-homes overall- so much is dependent on one person vs. at a center. But overall it was a good environment and felt more nurturing at the infant/early toddler phase.

[Anonymous]

The inhome we used was two providers for 8 kids. They had a lot of dedicated space like a big yard, a room to eat and color in with a big table, and a nap room. They had a toddler group and an infant group and it felt like there was always enough room for both groups.

[Anonymous]

In-home daycares are super dangerous. They are not well regulated or policed in most states and lots of kids die there. Centers receive closer monitoring and usually have a series of policies and practices to prevent danger to kids.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2014/08/30/in-virginia-thousands-of-day-care-providers-receive-no-oversight/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In-home daycares are super dangerous. They are not well regulated or policed in most states and lots of kids die there. Centers receive closer monitoring and usually have a series of policies and practices to prevent danger to kids.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2014/08/30/in-virginia-thousands-of-day-care-providers-receive-no-oversight/

"Lots of kids" do not die in in-home daycares. Please stop fearmongering.

[Anonymous]

In home much better choice

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people have already listed some general perks of centers, so I'll just mention two things that we liked about the center where we sent our three kids for their first 2.5 years.

First, we liked that we were allowed to drop in anytime to either pick our child up or just peek in on our child without the child seeing. The only rule was that, if your child sees you, you should be prepared to take him/her home, unless you have prearranged otherwise. I have not used in-home daycare, but my understanding is that most in-home providers do not allow parents to just roll through whenever.

Second, it was a JCC and we really liked the facilities. There was a big outdoor playground, lots of riding toys outside, a big indoor gym with lots of toys and gross motor activities. There was also both indoor and outdoor swimming pool time for ages 18 months and up, four days a week. Our kids loved the pool time. There was even a slide for them. I don't think most in-home providers would be able to provide that sort of thing, although I realize many centers wouldn't either.

Yeah, many in-home providers are control freaks and might like you pick up at one pre-ordained time per day, definitely no stopping by to visit. Yes, to those gearing up to respond, I know not YOU/or your in-home, but many are quite serious about their pages and pages of "policies" in their 80 page homemade handbooks.

[Anonymous]

We’ve done both.

Center - always open. If you kid’s teacher is sick or injured or on vacation, there is a back up. You kid is never alone with an adult - there are always people around. Consistent procedures and clearly defined policies. Space may be larger, toys may be newer. Cons - frequent staff turnover, inflexible.

In-home - Personalized care, almost like a nanny share with less administrative work, for us it was in our neighborhood, cheaper, homemade food, super flexible- my kid’s foods and nap schedules changed when he was ready instead of being automatically moved to the toddler room at 12 months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people have already listed some general perks of centers, so I'll just mention two things that we liked about the center where we sent our three kids for their first 2.5 years.

First, we liked that we were allowed to drop in anytime to either pick our child up or just peek in on our child without the child seeing. The only rule was that, if your child sees you, you should be prepared to take him/her home, unless you have prearranged otherwise. I have not used in-home daycare, but my understanding is that most in-home providers do not allow parents to just roll through whenever.

Second, it was a JCC and we really liked the facilities. There was a big outdoor playground, lots of riding toys outside, a big indoor gym with lots of toys and gross motor activities. There was also both indoor and outdoor swimming pool time for ages 18 months and up, four days a week. Our kids loved the pool time. There was even a slide for them. I don't think most in-home providers would be able to provide that sort of thing, although I realize many centers wouldn't either.

Yeah, many in-home providers are control freaks and might like you pick up at one pre-ordained time per day, definitely no stopping by to visit. Yes, to those gearing up to respond, I know not YOU/or your in-home, but many are quite serious about their pages and pages of "policies" in their 80 page homemade handbooks.

My in home provider had kids napping at various times or was in the back yard with kids and didn’t want people walking through her house. I could come any time I wanted, but I needed to text from the door so she could open the door quietly instead of me ringing the bell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had DD at an in-home with a 1:8 ratio temporarily right around when she was 1.5 years old. The provider had amazing references, and she was clearly very skilled, but we didn't feel she got enough attention. My sense is DD was much happier at her center where there were 3 teachers for 6 babies.

OP here. This is exactly how I'm feeling. This in-home daycare has amazing references and she seemed very capable, but there's something in me telling me that 1:8 would be too much to get him the attention and care I'd prefer

I was also interested in in home daycares but could not find one in my area so I ended up at small center with four caregivers for eight under-2s (and admin done by yet another person) and I’ve been very happy there. I liked the mixed age aspect of inhome but I do really think for infants/toddlers having a small teacher student ratio is absolutely key.

[Anonymous]

In home has more age mixing, which can be good (kids learning from other kids) or bad (small kids getting hit, etc by bigger kids who are stronger than kids their own age)