"Education Center" versus Daycare for an Infant - Your thoughts?
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Anonymous
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I'm due in June and will need child care in September for a 12 week old infant. I still haven't decided if I want to go the daycare route or nanny share route but I know I need to make a decision very quickly. If I go the day care route, I've looked at numerous day cares in my area (Columbia Heights, Petworth, 16th St Heights) based on many of the reviews and feedback on DCUM and the day care spreadsheet that is posted and I've narrowed it down (I think) to two very different options. While I've pointed out 2 specific places, I'm assuming the pros and cons will be similar for these types of day cares in the area.
1. Licensed Home Daycare (Little Praudde, CoHi) A few pros/differentiators: - 3 blocks from home (I work from my home office); I can easily walk there - Good reviews/feedback - Kids all play together - Looks like they are having a lot of fun and the care givers seem nice and involved with the kids - Decently priced - ~$400/week - $1733/month A few cons: - No formal learning curriculum; seems more play-based - Day care takes everyone, including the infants, outside the daycare and to the park many blocks away (this makes me a little nervous being a FTM) - No English spoken at all it seems (I'm not sure if this is good or bad). I will be doing my best to teach my child at home, of course, but will it be detrimental if they cannot help teach my child to read, learn colors, shapes, days, months, etc in English? - BYO food (when they are older) and diapers - only a con compared to the other ($$$) place below 2. Larger Education Center Day Care (Bright Start Child Care, Petworth) A few pros: - Very nice, new, clean center - Child can continue there through preschool - Separate infant room with both English and Spanish speakers - An actual "curriculum" for infants - (i.e. It's Blue Week - they have the babies touch, taste, see, etc blue items) - They provide healthy snacks and diapers - Kids stay on site for play time on their own playground - A webcam in the room for parents to check in and see the infants - An app where they enter EVERYTHING your kids does throughout the day and you get emails/alerts - Have things like parent/teacher conferences A few cons: - Driving a mile versus walking a few blocks - About $450 MORE per month - when you add in all the fees, etc - so around $2200/month So, as you can see, I'm impressed by what the Larger Education Center Day Care offers but, being a FTM, I'm not sure which of these "pros" are really that important. And, the biggest question is, is it really worth $450 PER MONTH MORE?? Any thoughts or experience with these different types of day cares? |
Anonymous
| Have you applied or been offered a spot at either of these places? Your pro/con lost may be moot. |
Anonymous
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Personally, I like small home daycare centers. When you find a good provider, they really love your kid(s). It's a personal relationship and a personal investment, not just another kid in a large center. There's tons of one-on-one time and it really feels like family. I don't think an academic curriculum is so important at just 12 weeks old. Children really need to learn social skills. How to share, how to play, etc. I think being exposed to the basics (colors, numbers, letters, etc.) is enough, and your child will be exposed to that in a home daycare. Of course, once your child gets older, you can switch to an actual preschool setting. How many children does the larger center have? What language is being spoken at the home daycare?
My DD is now 5 and attends an excellent in-home preschool with no more than 12 children. She is performing above the Kindergarten level in all areas and I really attribute it to her being in a small environment full of love and nurture for her "entire life" (lol). It's all a personal preference, but that's just my 2 cents! |
Anonymous
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I work in early childhood. I think a play based curriculum is fine but for me there are two red flags as an experienced mom of two:
-bringing own food -no English My husband is trilingual and we value bilingual education. But with our nanny share for DS #1 we found it to be a "red flag" if no English is spoken. That is typically code for the person being illiterate in English or the other language (such as Spanish). We were floored by how many educated parents in the area were okay with illiterate nannies. Our nanny was amazing but there were many issues with illiteracy. One, we can't talk on the phone at work and rely on texting. Nanny was fluent in English but not comfortable with her English writing skills. She would call back rather then text. As babies got older and we wanted written reports more than just pooped, bottles, sleep, we found it to be an issue. While nanny was great with infants, toddlers and older infants she relied heavily on neighborhood fee based classes such as at the rec center, music classes, art classes, kids' musicians that are $5 or so per kids on Fridays, open play at the rec center that had a drop in fee. Nanny also wasn't computer literate. Although had 20 plus experience years in our neighborhood and had a great schedule, the scheduling was up to us to register for kids and remember when to register. This was time consuming and we had hired a nanny who we thought would do this. We had a nanny who made all meals for our son. I found this not to be the case when interviewing but it is one less thing to do. My son has asthma and allergies. someone who is not literate and doesn't speak English fluently, that could be a life or death situation. We now go to a center based place where we use an app. I absolutely love the app alerts and emails from the teachers. They send us detailed reports about the day's activities and pictures of DS at school. The teachers are diverse and not just one background (white, black, Asian, Latina, men, women, LGBT, Muslim, new Americans, young and out of college or experienced 30 years plus). We don't have to deal with taxes (you might have to do that with in home care) or having an employee. The food is provided and is very healthy and ethnic/organic, not "American" junk food like chicken nuggets. There is supplementary classes like Spanish, karate, yoga, music and art included in the fees. We have a director and assistant director who are communicative and a school community. My kids 3 months, 3 and 4 can all attend versus a preschool and then infant day care. |
Anonymous
I have a 15 month old in an in-home. I love it and am so glad we ended up doing an in-home instead of a big center. She gets lots of love and individual attention, the policies are SUPER flexible and accommodating, and I've developed friendships with the other moms. That said, I worry that she'll need to switch before starting DC PK3 at 3.5 years. It's going to be a judgment call in about a year, but I'm not sure if the owner will start to provide more structure as the older group of babies/toddlers gets older. Though they already do the "theme of the week" which you mentioned your center does. Based on your pros and cons, I'd do the in-home then evaluate at 2-3, like I plan on doing. The short walk and cost savings is huge, and finding a preschool spot is much easier than finding an infant spot. A good, loving in-home is the best of both worlds (nanny and daycare), so if you feel confident you've found a good one, then I'd do that. |
Anonymous
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I'm the PP. I am at a large center (150 kids) and find the teachers to have a personal relationship with the kids and families. My son's teacher left to go to grad school and still texts us. She works at a children's clothing store and gave us gift cards at Christmas. His teachers from his prior classes babysit for our family with a release from school and now have his younger sister. There is a community feel to the school. Yes it is a corporation but the teachers are very articulate, professional and loving. I also really value the diversity of backgrounds. Many are multi-racial/ethnic and speak multiple languages. Their worldview is broader and that exposes my son to different cultures. My son has teachers of both genders and all different races and ethnicities as role models. His classmates are reflective of this as well. I wish his school had more SES diversity, but overall I find center based to work best for our family. Every family is different and has different priorities.
The other issue I had with home providers is random people who are not vetted in the home. I used to do child care licensing site visits. Often there were family members like a husband, partner or adult child at home. For me, those people not being vetted and going through a background check makes me leery. At school, that process has occurred. I'm a social worker and unfortunately have a lot of personal experience that makes me very cautious. |
Anonymous
+1 to this. If you like the in-home, put her in there for a year or two, and drop the difference in costs into a 529. If you find it's not a good fit, or you just want to put the kid into an "education center" as a transition to something more structured before you get to school, you'll have 5-10k socked away for college and the price should actually be lower then at the big center (newborn vs. walking vs. potty-trained, etc.) |
Anonymous
PP with the 15 month old in an in-home here. I hear you, and I think kids can and will thrive in either environment. That said, my in-home provider LOVES her babies and I really feel like she cares for them like her own. It's not "professional" (though she is very professional), it's like a loving aunt or family member caring for her. I went to daycare as a kid, and this feels different from what I experienced. Again, daycare babies get plenty of love and attention too, but I feel GOOD dropping her off in the morning because of how much my girl and her teacher love each other. Plus, I was really turned off by the turnover at daycare centers. I like that I know she'll have one teacher that is with her until she moves on from the daycare. Totally agree about the random strangers in the home. I would be very, very cautious about that. My provider's husband sometimes comes home in the evening before daycare hours are over, but they have a policy that he stays upstairs until the kids leave. I trust my provider, so I don't worry about that for us, but am with you that it's better safe than sorry. |
Anonymous
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I'm surprised that the center provides diapers? That's unheard of.
In general, I prefer a center for all those reasons you mentioned. I also feel it's safer. There are people I know who loves their home daycare providers, but I just don't know if any. |
Anonymous
| We did an in home until 2 then switched to a proper school. From 0-2, your child doesn't need to be learning via a curriculum. That said, I refused to send my hold to a non-English speaking in home daycare because I wanted to be able to communicate well with the provider and my child when she started talking. We found a wonderful Sri Lankan provider (there are a lot!) who speaks perfect English, and is kind and caring and lives are kids (first is in preschool now, second is a baby). In your scenario I'd probably pick the center if you can't communicate with the provider or find an in home that speaks English. |
Anonymous
| I would definitely double check about diapers at BS. My child was there for over two years, and we definitely had to supply diapers and wipes, as well as breastmilk or formula and all food in the nursery before he moved to the toddler room. |
Anonymous
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OP here. This is really great feedback.
To the poster who asked if they have availability - yes, they do. To clarify on the Spanish-speaking aspect, the owner/director of the day care does speak English and she also is there with the kids but, when I went to visit, the caregivers were only interacting with the kids in Spanish. And, when I call, if the owner doesn't answer the phone, the caregivers can only seem to communicate to ask me to call back at X time with the owner is available. However, I've recently received feedback from another parent that communication can be difficult at this particular place, especially if you pick up your child and the owner is not there and the daily reports were not received daily. Sigh - this search and decision is exhausting! While the day care is in a home (well, 2 homes, she is opening a new extension a few houses down), she is licensed and says her employees have all gone through all required certifications, etc. Yeah, their whole message is, "all you bring is your baby." (and breast milk and a change of clothes - lol) they will even provide FORMULA if you use it! (I'm guessing this is a new thing they are doing because another poster mentioned they didn't do it before. But, then again, I think their prices have gone up.)
I've been considering this idea, too. The extra $450 per month is just SO significant. -- this is a very good point to take into consideration - thank you. I AGREE! Since I work from home or sometimes travel for work (tech sales), I rarely have to get in my car and drive some where during the morning/day. The idea of just strapping him into the stroller and walking each day sounds really nice! Technically, I could walk a mile and back to the other place, but, if I'm honest with myself, I highly doubt I would do that often!
These are good points, too. The in-home place says the provide daily reports but I'm not sure how regular they are. As for the parent-teacher conferences, I have no experience with this but a friend of mine in Texas (where "education center"-type day care is MUCH less expensive) had one for her 22 month old recently. They had her show Mom how she knew all her shapes (including a rhombus?!), months of the year, days of the week, numbers/letters, baby animals to adult animals. My friend was blown away. She was like, "yeah, we teach her at home but a rhombus??". She gives a lot of credit to the day care. So, this is where I start to think, "Gosh, do i just need to suck it up and fork up the $400+ a month so my child can learn what a rhombus is and what you call a baby camel??" I'm kidding, of course, but this is still such a difficult decision! That being said, this friend has the sentiment that your child just needs love and attention for the first year and not necessarily a curriculum like others have mentioned. |
Anonymous
In terms of the home daycare, I would suggest that you go and visit the park/playground they visit and hang back from a distance and see what really happens. |
Anonymous
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It will not be detrimental, long term, to have your kid learn another language at the in-home. BUT bilingual kids (which is what your kid will be) speak a little later, so be prepared for that. The delay disappears quickly (and obviously doesn't occur in every kid), and is so minor compared with learning a second language, but be patient with verbal development from 12-18 months in exchange for the second language.
Also, I agree that if you don't have a spot at one of the centers, you probably won't get one, so you will be at an in-home anyway. |
Anonymous
You obvious,y have no early childhood education experience. How would you know what is above the Kindergarten level? Do you honestly believe that a child at a home care can be academically better suited than one at an organized, quality driven preschool? That does not exist. Stop making yourself feel better. |