How to find a good in-home daycare?
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Anonymous
| Just starting the process, and both places we've looked at have not worked for us (one looked dirty, one way too small for the number of kids there). We searched on Carelulu to find both. Seemed like the pics didn't have much relationship to the reality. Are there criteria to look for, questions to ask to find something of good quality? Possible we just had bad luck but wondering whether we should start freaking out about finding something we're comfortable with by the time we need it. |
Anonymous
| I would say word of mouth - ask on neighborhood parent groups for ones near you. |
Anonymous
| You get what you pay for. Expect dirty or too crowded. |
Anonymous
| Agree that word of mouth is best and touring them. It can be a slog but we loved both the places we used. |
Anonymous
+1. We found a really good place but toured several others that we weren't comfortable with. |
Anonymous
| Follow your gut. We had our child at an in-home daycare temporarily that we found based on word of mouth - and not just any word of mouth but from early childhood development professionals. When we toured my gut was, this space is really cluttered and depressing, and the child-teacher ratio is not good enough (no assistant). Our child was fine there for a short time, but is much happier at another daycare (happens to be a center) that is kept very well organized, has a larger space and has better ratios. |
Anonymous
Wow, OP didn't say anything about cost. Not all home day cares are dirty or crowded. |
Anonymous
| Where are you located? If in Virginia, I'd use the state search to find home day cares near you and call them for tours. I live on a street with two wonderful home day cares, but neither one advertises with Care lulu (or at all). |
Anonymous
| Where are you located? Montgomery County has a list of licensed in-homes. We looked up all the ones in our zip code, called for availability, shortlisted a few and toured 4. We lucked out with an excellent one literally 3 streets away. |
Anonymous
This is amazing info! We (OP) are in Montgomery County and had no idea. |
Anonymous
No one chooses an in home daycare over a center or a nanny because of their reputation. We all know they are the cheapest option. |
Anonymous
|
Many counties have lists of licensed, in-home daycares.
I never trusted in-homes and we stretched when my oldest was a baby to enroll at a national center, where there are protocol, procedures, and a hierarchy in place in case something went wrong. I just didn't feel comfortable with a (non-verbal, as they all are) infant. Too many stories of weirdo nephews and other relatives doing awful things. |
Anonymous
Suit yourself. But some of us chose an in home daycare over a center for other reasons. We found it be a more nurturing environment for the younger years (moved to a preschool center at 3). |
Anonymous
So what? |
Anonymous
We did. We knew the owner and knew that the ratios were better. We can afford a nanny or center easily. |