Moving to NYC - where to begin with finding daycare etc
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Anonymous
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Moving to NYC next year with a 1 year old and no idea where to turn for info on daycares, parent life, resources, etc. I lived in NYC for 8 years once (UWS and Ft Greene) but without a kid! I understand each neighborhood in NYC may have different parent sources so just seeing if anyone has any advice on where to get info from other parents. Still dont know what neighborhood we'll be in of course. The tricky part is I guess I'll have to antipate where and get on waitlists for daycare ASAP. So overwhelmed.
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Anonymous
I would recommend looking on FB or Meetup for Mom's groups in NYC based in whichever neighborhood you plan on living in. It's hard to get into day care, but with so many families leaving/declining birth rate you may get lucky. Lots of families use nannies. |
Anonymous
| Daycare is going to be hard to find. Look into a nanny instead. It’s more common. Real estate is so expensive that it’s often less expensive to have a nanny. |
Anonymous
Not my experience at all. We've had no trouble getting daycare spots, though my kids were not infants. I think it is harder if they're under 6 months or so. |
Anonymous
| OP where will your job be? |
Anonymous
Remote |
Anonymous
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It is very neighborhood and budget dependent.
On Roosevelt Island (where we live) there is a parents’ FB group where parents will answer questions and try to help each other. This is especially true with regard to finding nannies - people who are leaving the city or have aged out of their nanny will try to help beloved nannies find a new family. However, in some ways, RI is probably easier because we have limited options. Additionally, a reasonable percentage of the people on RI aren’t mind-blowingly wealthy, so some of the options tend to be affordable. Since so many people have left the city recently, funding a space has been easy for the last year (With the exception of kindergarten - so many kids were redshirted due to covid that I heard K was waitlisted at PS/IS 217). My brother is in a really nice area of Brooklyn. Everything (daycare, camps, classes, aftercare, nannies) seems more stressful there because there are more options and the parents are very into getting “the best”. |
Anonymous
Second the FB group recommendation, many neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Manhattan have them. Getting into a daycare isn't that hard, although it may not necessarily be your first choice. Also many times if you keep trying back they have spots that open up periodically as children age out, families move away etc. |
Anonymous
| Check out Park Slope Parents, it's a subscription forum/listserve. It is not strictly limited to Park Slope, and you can find ideas and recommendations there. It costs some $$, but everyone I know that uses it finds it very useful. |
Anonymous
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+1 the above advice. Also check out parenting Google Groups and listservs. Off the top of my head (we're in Brooklyn):
https://groups.io/g/FGKids https://groups.io/g/bedstuykids https://groups.io/g/PHeightsParents And here's a Park Slope Parents link with a list of online parenting groups all over NYC: https://www.parkslopeparents.com/Local-Organizations/other-parenting-groups.html |
Anonymous
| ^^Also, once you move into a neighborhood, you can ask your neighbors. If they have youngish kids, they will have advice. Plus, you will likely want to move into a kid-friendly neighborhood (parks, playgrounds, cultural institutions, well-rated schools, etc.) so there will likely be lots of daycare options. |