Would you change daycares so you can make friends with other families?

[Anonymous]

Typing it out, it sounds stupid. 2 yo DD is in a wonderful daycare that mainly serves children in the immediate neighborhood. We are probably the only family that doesn't have some connection to the neighborhood, it's just relatively close to work and had an opening when we needed it when she was a baby. We are moving and would likely be able to change her to a different, very highly regarded daycare closer to home, maybe for when she starts in the preschool room. Because of our routines, it probably wouldn't save us much time, but one benefit might be that we wouldn't be the odd family out, and might perhaps be more likely to do playdates and such with other kids. But I'm not sure if it's worth uprooting DD for this. Anyone BTDT?

[Anonymous]

Yes, I would. Some of our closest friends are the family friends from day care. It helps that we all live relatively close to each other and all of the families have crossed paths over the years at kid activities such as soccer, swimming, tap and ballet, art class, camp, etc.

[Anonymous]

I did this the last year my kid was in preschool so that he could make friends before real school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Typing it out, it sounds stupid. 2 yo DD is in a wonderful daycare that mainly serves children in the immediate neighborhood. We are probably the only family that doesn't have some connection to the neighborhood, it's just relatively close to work and had an opening when we needed it when she was a baby. We are moving and would likely be able to change her to a different, very highly regarded daycare closer to home, maybe for when she starts in the preschool room. Because of our routines, it probably wouldn't save us much time, but one benefit might be that we wouldn't be the odd family out, and might perhaps be more likely to do playdates and such with other kids. But I'm not sure if it's worth uprooting DD for this. Anyone BTDT?

Yes. Had our daughter in a day care near work. Also planned to move her when she got older and traditional preschool age. COVID messed that up and we moved her faster. Made a ton of friends as had a ton of play dates!

[Anonymous]

Yes. We have always defaulted to the neighborhood options even though they are more scarce than those near my office for this reason. Also because it makes WFH days a lot more pleasant and I like keeping WFH days easy (do not want to have to trek downtown on a day that I don't have to). But also very much because it's easier to meet other families this way and it has helped us find more people in the neighborhood with same age kids. It has come in handy in a variety of ways.