Help finding potential daycare
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yjorjorian
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| I live in Alexandria and we are currently trying to find daycare for our soon-to-arrive daughter. My husband works a job where his shift is 24 hrs on and then 72 hrs off. So we would only need daycare a couple days a week and each week the days would change (for example, one week he works Monday and Friday, the next week he only works Tuesday, etc.). I was wondering if anyone knew of daycare (whether in-home or not) in the NoVA area that is more flexible - instead of having to pay for an entire week, you can pay by day or a minimum number of hours or some other type of schedule? Any suggestions or advice would be great!! Thanks! |
Anonymous
I don't know if you can find that. I know that when we looked at daycares (in MD) back in April-May, we found that some will do part-time, but you have to have the part-time schedule set up in advance (like Tue-Thu or Mon/Wed/Fri) and it needs to be a consistent schedule. None of the five daycares that we actually interviewed nor the 12-15 that I previewed on-line had anything like what you ask for. My suggestion is that you might want to look for an in-home nanny to come to your home or for someone who has a nanny that would be willing to do a flexible nanny share. I think that would be more likely to work out for your unusual circumstances. |
Anonymous
| I think it's going to be tough to find that kind of flexibility. There's really no incentive for a daycare provider to do that. By law they can watch X number of kids at a time and if they have to hold your child's slot open on different days each week, that probably means they're going to have an empty slot the other days, unless they can find someone with a similarly varied but not overlapping schedule (highly unlikely). As expensive as daycare seems, providers really don't make much money in the scheme of things, and most probably can't afford to have unused spots. Around here any good daycare can easily fill with kids paying for full-time. You may find that you need to pay for full time care and just use it when you need it--that's what many people do. It has its upsides-- I would imagine that after a 24-hour shift your husband might need some time to rest before jumping right back into full-time childcare for the next 3 days. If you have daycare available he can get some time to himself and still have plenty or time with your child, at his convenience. |
Anonymous
| What does your husband do? Do any of his other co-workers have a similar schedule? If so, I'd ask them what they do for day care. My friend's husband is a police officer and they found a great, in-home day care that accommodates his schedule and allows them to pay for care only on the days that they need it. The day care was referred to them by other officers and she works with their schedules. |
yjorjorian
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| Thanks for the tips! My husband is a firefighter and I know he works with others in similar situations, although many of them live farther out in VA or in MD, so we probably can't use their daycares. But we should definitely ask around in case anyone in the dept has suggestions! |
Anonymous
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I am a provider in Alexandria, 22303, that would be open to this kind of schedule. While one of the PP was correct, that most will want a full time schedule, as it is hard to leave a spot open, I on the other hand am NOT looking for anymore full time children, so your schedule would work perfect. I do prorate and ask for at least minimum of 2 days a week, but that is better than paying for a full time slot and not using it.
you can email me at mnchkds1@aol.com |