Reply to "Education Center" versus Daycare for an Infant

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Reply to ""Education Center" versus Daycare for an Infant - Your thoughts?"

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[quote=Anonymous]OP here. This is really great feedback.

To the poster who asked if they have availability - yes, they do.

To clarify on the Spanish-speaking aspect, the owner/director of the day care does speak English and she also is there with the kids but, when I went to visit, the caregivers were only interacting with the kids in Spanish. And, when I call, if the owner doesn't answer the phone, the caregivers can only seem to communicate to ask me to call back at X time with the owner is available.  However, I've recently received feedback from another parent that communication can be difficult at this particular place, especially if you pick up your child and the owner is not there and the daily reports were not received daily.  Sigh - this search and decision is exhausting!

While the day care is in a home (well, 2 homes, she is opening a new extension a few houses down), she is licensed and says her employees have all gone through all required certifications, etc.

[quote]I'm surprised that the center provides diapers? That's unheard of. [/quote]  Yeah, their whole message is, "all you bring is your baby."  (and breast milk and a change of clothes - lol)  they will even provide FORMULA if you use it! (I'm guessing this is a new thing they are doing because another poster mentioned they didn't do it before.  But, then again, I think their prices have gone up.)

[quote]Based on your pros and cons, I'd do the in-home then evaluate at 2-3, like I plan on doing. The short walk and cost savings is huge, and finding a preschool spot is much easier than finding an infant spot. A good, loving in-home is the best of both worlds (nanny and daycare), so if you feel confident you've found a good one, then I'd do that.

+1 to this. If you like the in-home, put her in there for a year or two, and drop the difference in costs into a 529. If you find it's not a good fit, or you just want to put the kid into an "education center" as a transition to something more structured before you get to school, you'll have 5-10k socked away for college and the price should actually be lower then at the big center (newborn vs. walking vs. potty-trained, etc.)[/quote]

I've been considering this idea, too.  The extra $450 per month is just SO significant.

[quote]The other issue I had with home providers is random people who are not vetted in the home. I used to do child care licensing site visits. Often there were family members like a husband, partner or adult child at home. For me, those people not being vetted and going through a background check makes me leery. At school, that process has occurred. I'm a social worker and unfortunately have a lot of personal experience that makes me very cautious.[/quote] -- this is a very good point to take into consideration - thank you.

[quote]- 3 blocks from home (I work from my home office); I can easily walk there [i] This is a huge pro[/i] [/quote]  I AGREE!  Since I work from home or sometimes travel for work (tech sales), I rarely have to get in my car and drive some where during the morning/day. The idea of just strapping him into the stroller and walking each day sounds really nice!  Technically, I could walk a mile and back to the other place, but, if I'm honest with myself, I highly doubt I would do that often!

[quote]- They provide healthy snacks and diapers Packing a lunch is a PITA, but again, my daycare supposedly provides meals, but I pack a lunch anyways. 
- Kids stay on site for play time on their own playground See, I see this as a con. I would prefer for them to get out and see new things, instead of the same playground every day. 
- A webcam in the room for parents to check in and see the infants A webcam and daily log are really nice. Does the in-home not provide daily reports at all? 
- An app where they enter EVERYTHING your kids does throughout the day and you get emails/alerts 
- Have things like parent/teacher conferences I check in every day at pickup. Not sure what else we'd talk about in a formal conference, but maybe that's more relevant for older kids[/quote] 
These are good points, too. The in-home place says the provide daily reports but I'm not sure how regular they are.  As for the parent-teacher conferences, I have no experience with this but a friend of mine in Texas (where "education center"-type day care is MUCH less expensive) had one for her 22 month old recently. They had her show Mom how she knew all her shapes (including a rhombus?!), months of the year, days of the week, numbers/letters, baby animals to adult animals.  My friend was blown away.  She was like, "yeah, we teach her at home but a rhombus??".  She gives a lot of credit to the day care.  So, this is where I start to think, "Gosh, do i just need to suck it up and fork up the $400+ a month so my child can learn what a rhombus is and what you call a baby camel??" I'm kidding, of course, but this is still such a difficult decision!  That being said, this friend has the sentiment that your child just needs love and attention for the first year and not necessarily a curriculum like others have mentioned.[/quote]

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