How to approach day cares

[Anonymous]

We are expecting our first in August and put ourselves on several day care waiting lists (list of specific places below) in December/January. I have read on other threads that the best way to get off the wait list is to be politely persistent, but when do we start calling? With my husband and my leave, we probably will not need placement until January 2019. Any tips from parents who have been successful in actually getting their infants placement (in these or other centers) would be much appreciated! We don't have family in the area, so daycare is the primary plan and I'm not quite sure what we will do if none of these is available by the time we need it. Thanks again in advance!

Estrellitas
Rosemount
First Baptist at 16th and O
Centronia
David's Star
Jubilee Jumpstart
Julia's Home Daycare
Barbara Chambers
Library of Congress Little Scholars

[Anonymous]

I didn't call until the baby was born, at which point I called to update my information--baby's name, birthdate, and roughly when we wanted to start.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are expecting our first in August and put ourselves on several day care waiting lists (list of specific places below) in December/January. I have read on other threads that the best way to get off the wait list is to be politely persistent, but when do we start calling? With my husband and my leave, we probably will not need placement until January 2019. Any tips from parents who have been successful in actually getting their infants placement (in these or other centers) would be much appreciated! We don't have family in the area, so daycare is the primary plan and I'm not quite sure what we will do if none of these is available by the time we need it. Thanks again in advance!

Estrellitas
Rosemount
First Baptist at 16th and O
Centronia
David's Star
Jubilee Jumpstart
Julia's Home Daycare
Barbara Chambers
Library of Congress Little Scholars

Do you know anyone whose kids go to any of these places? We are at one of them and I'm pretty firmly convinced that the only way we got a seat was that a friend who had a kid there advocated for us with the director and introduced us personally. Also, for the Spanish ones on your list, try to speak Spanish with them. It may or may not help.

[Anonymous]

We called when the baby was born to remind them we were still interested. We only had 2 places, so my husband got chummy with the receptionist at both and got them to tell him what day of the week she knew about openings and made offers. Then he called every 2 weeks to find how we were doing on the waitlist movement.

Here’s the kicker. We were “first on the list for September” but what we didn’t know was that there were June, July and August families still waiting ahead of us. My whole pregnancy they kept saying “you’re first for September” but come July / August we found out that didn’t really mean we had a September spot. We ended up getting a fluke opening at another center and transferring over to our preferred one in December. For us “first in Sept” turned out to mean “start December 15th” and then only because they took a bunch of older infants and made a new toddler room to make room for babies.

[Anonymous]

Right now, they are probably focused on summer transitions and fall enrollment. So while it can't hurt to check in maybe every other month, if I were in your shoes I wouldn't know what else to say right now because so much is up in the air right now. Come June/July, I would say monthly check-ins might be more reasonable. You'll also get a sense from each of these places on what they are comfortable with / expect... some pretty much told us, if you want in you better call all the time. We just accepted a pre-enrollment spot for September for our little one due in June... and we only knew to call and ask because of how they pitched their process / staying in communication.

[Anonymous]

We only called after our kid was born to let them know the birthdate/name. Both places we were on the list for were not going to go out of order for their waitlist, but we did hear from them both to tell us when we would be off the waitlist--fortunately our preferred option had availability when we needed it. There's a lot of luck involved though.

[Anonymous]

I would wait until the baby is born to start calling again. Honestly, at this point anything could happen, you could deliver in May/June and have a very different reality vs. what you are planning for now.

[Anonymous]

Please stop calling.

Former director, who went strictly by the list, and calling did nothing to help you move. It’s a time-waster and truly not necessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please stop calling.

Former director, who went strictly by the list, and calling did nothing to help you move. It’s a time-waster and truly not necessary.

If only you were the norm...
Definitely call when the baby is born to update the name and birth date. Then take your cues from the center. We had one center that was cheating on the wait list and took my son in response to a call from me, on the spot. "Oh yes, in fact I was about to call you." I rushed down with a check that afternoon to make sure they couldn't back out. My other child ended up at a center where the receptionist kept encouraging me to call her frequently so I complied and I did get a spot, though it wasn't as obviously fraudulent (that same center had been cheating on their wait list previously so I assumed the "keep in touch" meant they still were). You never know which wait lists are real and which are fake, which makes it so stressful.