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Preschool and Daycare Discussion
Care for children two years and under-how big of an impact do you think care is?
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decemberbaby09
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Our child will be starting daycare at 12 weeks next March. My husband and I have visited 5 daycare centers and have 2 more to tour this afternoon. Three of these are out and two are contenders. If the price was the same at each center I would enroll the baby in center A, definitely. For the programs starting at 2 you can definitely tell that Center A seems to provide the best learning experience in terms of activities and curriculum. But for below 2, I do like center B as well. I still like A better but I feel pretty good about Center B. We have already decided that if we go with B we will probably start looking into other options for programs 2 years and up. The price difference is pretty significant-471/wk at center A and 360/wk at center B. Since I will be a first time mother, I guess I am just wondering if you think that care for infants makes a big difference.
Thanks for any input you can provide. This is definitely teh hardest decision I've had to make in my life, thus far. |
Anonymous
| Yes, it matters. A ton. Spend the money if you have it. The personality is formed in the first four years, and good care from day one is part of it! |
Anonymous
| I agree with the PP. |
Anonymous
| And, switching daycares is no picnic. I thought I would switch my DD when she turned 2, but am now rethinking that because it can be so hard for kids to transition. Daycare is no place to skimp. |
Anonymous
| Parents switch daycares all the time to fit the changing needs of their children. That's why most parents opt for nannies or in-home centers for the newborns and tehn centers for older kids. I would go with whichever place has the best care for your infant. A place with lots of attention, low ratio, and loving caregivers. You can then re-evaluate after your child is walking (or around 1.5 years old) and doesn't "need" a caretaker as much. There were plenty of places I would never leave a baby at but felt were perfectly suited to older kids. |
Anonymous
| For 0-2 I'd go for the place that offers the most loving, affectionate, and attentive staff. The one with the lowest staff turnover you can find. My son's been in day care since he was four months old, so I'm not opposed to it in any way. But I do think trying to reduce the number of "different" caregivers your child has during those first two years is really important. Do you know how those top two centers rate on that? My guess (only a guess) is the more expensive one is at least paying its staff fairly well, which would tend to reduce turnover. I personally wouldn't worry about educational curricula or anything like that until about 2 years old. |
Anonymous
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My daughter has been in daycare since 6 weeks; we picked a place that had extremely low staff turnover and providers that seemed warm and seemed to genuinely like the kids. She's 10 mos now and I still feel I made the right decision. I was lucky in that I also found a place that was conveniently located and reasonably priced. (I started looking very early in my pregnancy, did extensive research and waitlisted at a few places.) The ratios are 4:1 kids:caregivers for infants, though, which some people don't like.
We are likely going to move her to a more traditional preschool program when she's 2.5 or 3, and i'm already researching our options. There are fewer full-day, full-year programs than I expected, quite frankly, so our options are limited and I plan to waitlist her early. I'm glad we have her current program as a fall-back in case we don't find anything "better." (we're mainly looking at private schools with kindergarden programs - she will just miss the age cutoff for public kindergarden by 3 weeks, and I'd like to have the option of moving her to kindergarden at not-quite-5 if we feel she's ready, rather than keep her in preschool for 3 years.) You don't really need a "curriculum" for kids that young. And if the $400/month difference in price will make a big impact on your family (i.e. reduce stress, etc.), you could go with Center B with the option of switching centers in a couple years. But if you can handle the extra money without too much strain, it might be worth it to just go with Center A from the beginning. It could save you some stress down the road. Plus you wouldn't have to transition your kid during the terrible 2's or 3's. (Devil's advocate, though - you don't really know how your child will do in either program until they're in it. you might find that center A has issues you can't foresee, or that Center B's actually a better fit for your kid. There are no guarantees.) good luck! |
Anonymous
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I am shocked that it is so expensive! Is this typical?
(Sorry to be ignorant- my kids started at 2 when I went back to work and it is closer to 250/week for full-day care) |
Anonymous
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I agree - the quality of care for infants is critical to their well being. We actually decided to go the home day care route for this reason. I know there are very very amazing centers out there, but the ones that were near our house or near our work that we could get into when our child was an infant had alarmingly high turnover rates. I just felt that it was important for my infant to have one caregiver that he could bond with, get to know, love, and trust. We love our daycare, but we will have to move him to a more formal preschool at age 3 because his caregiver isn't really in a position to do that structured teaching.
Go with the quality program, and worry about preschool when you get to that point. |
Anonymous
We are researching this right now. In the Bethesda area, the going rate for infant care seems to be about $1500 to almost $2000 per month. I agree with the previous posters that if you can afford it, you should go with the Center you like better. Transitions can be tough. And, while I feel that loving caregivers can be great at any center, it makes more sense to form bonds with the center you think you will like for the longer term. Good luck! |
Anonymous
Indeed. Two years from now, the whole notion of a "curriculum" may seem strange to you, or the school's notion of an appropriate curriculum and yours may diverge widely. I once sat near a woman who was talking on her cell about how she'd moved her daughter to get her more structure. At the time, I was trying to get my kid in someplace with less structure. 
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Anonymous
| I would definitely go w/ the center I liked best and felt most comfortable about even if it's a stretch money wise. At that high a price though, I would look into a nannyshare for the first few years unless you're really opposed to that option. |
Anonymous
| I'm sincerely not trying to rain on your parade, but have you been accepted at both centers? I ask because your "choice" might be limited to where you get in. The waitlists in this region for infants are INSANE. So you might be worrying unnecessarily given that the choice, for better or worse, might be made for you based on where you get in... |
Anonymous
| When you were looking at the three centers you ultimately decided against what factors turned you off? How did you know, especially in regard to infant care? We're looking and are having issues deciding on a place. Besides asking for others' opinions how do you decide on a tour if caregivers are affectionate or change often? |