Commiting to a daycare early

[Anonymous]

Curious to hear others thoughts and experiences. We need care for this fall. My top 2 choices have the longest wait lists and I’m not sure how confident I am that we will get in. A few places have mentioned to me while touring that they are pre-enrolling / we could secure a spot now. They are decent places and maybe even #3 on the list. I just did our last tour so we will be finalizing our preference list in the next few days.

Would you commit to a center six months before you need care, just to know you have it?

[Anonymous]

YES. Potentially eating the deposit or whatever is worth the peace of mind.

- Mom who's been on waitlists since August and hasn't gotten off any.

[Anonymous]

If you are talking about $100 or something - in a heartbeat.

[Anonymous]

Yes. —former director

[Anonymous]

I just paid a $50 deposit to hope to get off the wait list 12 months from now.. you should get in a lot of wait lists..

[Anonymous]

Home daycare provider and my 3 openings for next fall filled in February.

[Anonymous]

Get on the waitlists. If you're lucky, it will work out when you want. If not, get a spot at a home daycare and wait until the place you really want has a spot. By then, you'll know what you value in infant care. There's always a home daycare spot somewhere.

[Anonymous]

OP here: oh trust me, I’m on all the waitlist and have been for months haha. I think the majority are supporting my inclination that we should lock one in and see what happens with the top choices as we get closer.

[Anonymous]

I got on the waitlist for our daycare when I was 6 weeks pregnant and got in when I needed to be. I wanted until 15 weeks with DC 1 and had to scramble for daycare for 8 weeks.

I would have locked in the spot sooner if I’d had the opportunity, no question.