14:51 here again - I also agree with 18:09 - near home is great for sick days and telecommute days. i have the ultimate convenience in that my gym is next door to our preschool so on telework days I can drop her off, hit the gym and then head home.

I've always found daycare/preschool near home because I live in VA and work in DC and it's almost impossible to find care in DC, especially if you're not government/ agency.

When I lived in Fairfax, it was harder having her way out there - a few times I raced against the clock to get her, and she was there 10 hours/day. So we moved to Arlington, where she has a 9-hour day and I'm not as rushed to pick her up. what helps: having a couple of people authorized to pick up your child if something goes wrong. (like the day the guy jumped off the platform at Clarendon, killing metro service.)

Home. I don't have worry about transporting my little one worry if the train is going brake down or be stuck in traffic. My husband and I worked it out so that he drops off at 9 and works late and I pick up at 5 and go in early. That way our commute doesn't affect the length of his daycare.

Home. You will get sick and want to send your well baby to daycare then come back home and collapse. Also, near work puts way too much burden on one parent.

Home. We had two kids who were real screamers during commutes. DC 2 used to sleep but started screaming at around 4-5 months. DC 1 screamed since his first car ride and rarely slept in the car! As a new parent, this was VERY stressful for me and I imagine they were stressed too at times. Car riding got easier at around 18 months when they could somewhat chat and enjoyed music.

We prefer a daycare near our home because it was a lot less expensive, and didn't have a list, like the ones near my office did. Our daycare is literally around the corner from our home, so we can walk him over there, and if either of us has a flexible work schedule that day, it's easy to bring him/pick him up. This way he also doesn't have a commute and isn't subjected to a dull bus ride or traffic in the morning - it just seems like it's less stressy for him -and us - that way.

Home. If your office offers telework possibilities, you can't really take advantage of them if your daycare is near work, unless your spouse works in the same area and you choose different telework days.

I prefer closer to home to share pick up and drop off. I have three older kids. For 5 weeks this summer they went to
camp near my office. I found those days exhausting. It was definitely an additional 30-60 minutes a day for me than usual. My 7 yo has tons of friends from his daycare that was near home still.

For me day care near work was much better because I didn't have to stress out about being stuck in traffic and being late for pick up. This only worked because DH also worked fairly close so that he can do drop off and pick up when I travel or work and/or if I'm sick or take a vacation day in the middle of the week. Also when DH travels and I have do drop off and pick up alone, then it's possible to work 8 1/2 hours and do drop off and pick up during the 10 hour window which was not possible when daycare was close to home.

I really like one of the pp who suggested half way between home and work. This would be ideal.

Definitely home. I did not want to sit in traffic with a screaming baby in the back seat. I use the commute time to mentally adjust (mommy mode to work mode and reverse). 9x out of 10, if baby got sick, the call came in the middle of the day - I could be home very quickly to get her (no traffic).

As she got older, we definitely started doing more stuff socially with the other daycare families. That network turned into a huge resource for us as the kids grew up and headed toward school. Wouldn't have worked that way if it hadn't been located near home.

Work. I breastfed a lunch every day for the first year and it made the whole back to work leaving the baby thing a breeze. But we live on Capitol Hill so our commute to downtown is less than 15 minutes. I also agree with folks who have said they sometimes need the extra time to work late.

Home. I can see some advantages of being near work, but the lack of a commute for my kid was my deciding factor.

We went with home, as we don't work in the same area (I work downtown, he works in VA, we live in MD). Home meant that either one of us could pick up or drop off depending on our schedule for that day. And this may sound selfish, but if it was near my work, then I would never be able to go to happy hour.

As my oldest gets ready for kindergarten I'll weigh in that the kids at her daycare who live nearby have friends they know from daycare in their kindergarten class, the few kids whose parents work nearby and live further don't know anyone in their kindergarten class.