Any daycare facility recommendations for Arlington VA

[Anonymous]

Hi

We are expecting our first child in September and are looking for a daycare center in Arlington VA for September 2010. Can anyone recommend any or tell us which facilities to avoid? All advice is greatly appreciated! Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Are you in north Arlington or south Arlington? Or does it matter to you where in Arlington the daycare is located?

[Anonymous]

Honestly, if you are looking at big centers in Arlington (vs. in-home centers), you are going to find VERY long waiting lists. At the end of the day, you may not have much choice. Here was my process... like you, I started looking early (12 months before I needed care). You can pull the directory of licensed childcare centers from the Arlington County website. I circled the ones that took infants and were on the way between home and work (about 11 of them). Then I called each of them and asked about the current wait list. Some told me 2-3 years, so those were out. I made an appointment and visited the centers that told me the wait list was 9-12 months (7 of them). I liked all but one of them, so I put us on the wait list for 6 centers. By the time I was ready to go back to work (DS was 4 months), I had only gotten off the wait list at one center so I really didn't have a "choice" per se, although that was fine because I had only put us on the wait list for centers that I liked in the first place. [As an aside, two centers called me with a spot after 14 months, and another called me with a spot after 18 months. The other two have not called yet.]

As an aside, I found DCUM to be of limited value in determining the "good" vs the "bad" centers. You can read the reviews here, but you will find the opinions to vary widely. It is really a "gut" thing that you and your spouse will have to figure out. It is kind of like finding a wedding dress or buying a house-- you just kind of "know" when you visit whether you would be comfortable with having your kid there and it is a very personal decision. Really, the best you can do is just visit the centers and see what you think.

Good luck with your pregnancy!