Well, I can't afford a nanny and we are working wit another couple re:a nanny share, but that isn't without problems. The reality is, both of us have to work and I can't afford a solo nanny nor do I really want that for my child since I want them in some sort of community. That said, we applied to three BH facilities, CCLC (which I can't really afford). GAO and commerce kids.
An affordable nanny share would be great if they are pet friendly (save us money on a dog walker!) but like I said, neither option perfect so am trying to be covered on each side.
Except for the PP who said the only good option is staying home...well, since I clearly didn't marry for money I guess I shouldnt have had a kid. Oh well, I assure itll suffer a life of public schools just like both its parents!

I agree that daycares and nannies both have advantages and disadvantages. One thing to consider is that if your nanny is sick, you have to arrange for backup care. If a daycare worker is sick, the center arranges for it, and they usually have regular subs that they use.

I also liked that at a daycare, there are just more eyes and ears. If you pick a bad nanny, she's all alone with your kids. At a center, other workers, staff, and parents are around and observing.

Our daycare gets all the kids outside twice a day, weather permitting, and has its own playground. They also have classes in gymnastics, soccer, Spanish, and sign language that I don't have to organize or pay extra for, as well as special trips to museums and child-appropriate performances at the Smithsonian or local theaters. The teachers are affectionate with the kids, but they definitely have a (flexible) routine and maintain order.

A good daycare center and a good nanny can both be great options. Some of it just depends on your baby. Mine is incredibly friendly and social, so daycare works for her--she loves to be in groups of people. Other babies may like a quieter environment with fewer people around. It also depends on your schedule and what works best for your family. I agree, working on both fronts at the same time is wise, because it can take a while to find good providers either way.

Anonymous wrote:

After touring and researching well reputed childcare facilities, I felt I couldn't put my infant there and we went with the nanny share. My advice to you would be to try that. Here is why I think nanny share is superior:

- someone is exclusively focused on your baby (well, 50% focused)

- more ability to set and follow a good, healthy routine, which I feel is key for young children. I don't think caregivers in a daycare centers would be as focused on making your baby nap on time and eat on time

- more ability to take long walks in good weather - can you imagine what a hassle it is to walk multiple infants? just getting out of the door likely takes a while. Our nanny spent hours outside with the kids.

- warmer, intimate, more affectionate setting.

Except the last point, I think you are wrong about the relative merits of center vs. nanny share. My view is that a well-run infant room is actually much more likely to set and follow a good routine-- otherwise, it would be a madhouse with 9 babies. Experienced infant room teachers get all the kids napping at generally the same time, go for walks 2x/day (do you think the teachers want to be cooped up all day either)?

There are no controls with a nanny; at a center, there is a director and other parents who provide the oversight.

Anonymous wrote:IMO (and experience), people who do not like BH centers are not going to like any center. They are the parents who are not involved in their child's education and YES it is education, at least starting in the toddler rooms. We love our BH, but it takes work. You have to talk to the teachers and the administration and let them know you want a partnership with them to do what is best for your child. You have to take time at the beginning of the day to treat them like people even when you are running late for work. You have to take time at the end of the day to (patiently) wait for them to have a moment to chat with you about your child's day. Our BH had to send out a reminder to parents to please let the teachers know when dropping off or picking up a child from the class. Blows my mind to see some parents literally open the door so their child can walk inside and then close the door. The afternoon pickup is as in-and-out as possible for some and of course you are not going to be happy when you are not putting forth an effort. It is still the parents' job to raise a child and teachers cannot be expected to keep something like potty training consistent when parents do not communicate with the teachers about what is happening at home. ::climbs off soapbox::

Yea your post is so full of crap. I am well involved in my child's center. So much so I notice the teacher does not know how to spell "puzzle." I have told the license inspector the reuirements for checking on children at nap time. Referred the director to her own coporate office when I knew she was giving other parents promises she was not going to be able to keep. The children (not just my kid) in the room show me their toys, stickers, and books when I pick up and drop off. You are trying to justify your McDonalds level care in your cheap little head. Truth of the matter is for best care a parent should be home until 3. You can make playdates, field trips, activities with other kids ...but there is no benefit to group care before that age.

Anonymous wrote:IMO (and experience), people who do not like BH centers are not going to like any center. They are the parents who are not involved in their child's education and YES it is education, at least starting in the toddler rooms. We love our BH, but it takes work. You have to talk to the teachers and the administration and let them know you want a partnership with them to do what is best for your child. You have to take time at the beginning of the day to treat them like people even when you are running late for work. You have to take time at the end of the day to (patiently) wait for them to have a moment to chat with you about your child's day. Our BH had to send out a reminder to parents to please let the teachers know when dropping off or picking up a child from the class. Blows my mind to see some parents literally open the door so their child can walk inside and then close the door. The afternoon pickup is as in-and-out as possible for some and of course you are not going to be happy when you are not putting forth an effort. It is still the parents' job to raise a child and teachers cannot be expected to keep something like potty training consistent when parents do not communicate with the teachers about what is happening at home. ::climbs off soapbox::

Please go see a real center and then compare to BH before you get back upon on your soap box.

Anonymous wrote:I went through much of the same thinking process, except I'm not a fed and my arranged childcare (grandma) got canceled on a short notice, so I was feeling even more strapped.

After touring and researching well reputed childcare facilities, I felt I couldn't put my infant there and we went with the nanny share. My advice to you would be to try that. Here is why I think nanny share is superior:

- someone is exclusively focused on your baby (well, 50% focused)

- more ability to set and follow a good, healthy routine, which I feel is key for young children. I don't think caregivers in a daycare centers would be as focused on making your baby nap on time and eat on time

- more ability to take long walks in good weather - can you imagine what a hassle it is to walk multiple infants? just getting out of the door likely takes a while. Our nanny spent hours outside with the kids.

- warmer, intimate, more affectionate setting.

This doesn't mean there aren't good centers or good people in these centers. I just feel that some arrangements are more conducive to providing good care, and some are less so. In my opinion, and your mileage will vary, a nanny share is a better for for a very young baby.

As someone who spent a lot of time looking at nannies vs daycare and ended up at the BH IRS New Carrollton facility, I don't agree with your assessment. We have twins so the cost of a nanny was much more enticing, as there was less discrepancy between the tuition for two vs the cost of a nanny. Frankly, nannies are better for some and daycares are better for some.

Your idea that daycares can't follow a good routine is completely wrong from our perspective. In our case, the daycare setting is much more set on routine. When you have up to 3:1 (usually 3 kids to 1 teacher or 4-6 for 2 teachers), they have to follow routines much more closely and our facility does that. When they were infants, the teachers pretty much followed a set routine, and all the kids slowly drifted towards similar schedules. The routine was very important for our teachers and we found that our children really appreciated the routine. As toddlers, they have a very fixed schedule, breakfast is the same time, circle time is the same time, they go outside every day (weather permitting) at the same time, etc.

For walks, they have a six seat stroller that works well. Weather permitting, they go out on a walk every day and sit on the ground (they have ground covers for the little ones) or stand up and walk around. They have their own private, self-contained play area and we liked the security of the area so that there was a nice, safe play area for children. Based on the weather they spend quite a lot of time outdoors.

As for warmer and more intimate, we found our room very warm and intimate. They just moved to the toddler room and they still love their teachers from the infant room and they want to stop by their old room every morning on the way to get a hug from their former teachers. It's a very warm community and the teachers all visit the kids in all of the rooms so that my kids are well loved by many teachers that they recognize and like.

Some of the other pros that we've found:
Because it was a facility, they actually had some options that private providers could not match. For example, with three infant rooms and 2 toddler rooms, they had many, many toys/books/resources for infants. And every couple of weeks, they rotated the toys around, so the kids never got bored with the toys. and books. They also had a wide variety of appropriate furniture, etc. They have a variety of children's chairs in different heights as the toddlers grow. They had an assortment of furniture designed to help infants learn to stand, to walk, etc. My kids like the variety of the toys & books and that they changed regularly. There is also a big indoor activity room which is rearranged periodically for different purposes. The kids go in there daily and twice on days when the weather does not permit them to go outdoors. Right now, it has big activity mats and the "theme" is colors, so everything is big bright colors and they spend a lot of time learning their colors while playing on gym mats and with various soft climbable obstacles.

We know a number of other friends with toddler children some in daycare and some in private care settings. As a general rule, the children in daycare are more social, more acclimated to different people (many of the privately cared for children don't want to play or socialize with other children or adults at playdates, for example), and are better behaved. In our daycare center, they help us reinforce rules and teach children lessons especially when it comes to social interactions between children. At a recent playdate, the other toddler parents were surprised when our children followed commands much more readily than the children raised in private settings. The children in our daycare learn to listen to instructions and commands. Our children learn more about social interaction because they are in a group setting and are more acclimated and exposed to groups. Children also learn from other children by experimentation and observation. Children watched in individual or paired child care don't have as much exposure to other children.

We also appreciated that in our daycare, every room has at least one teacher with a background in early childhood education and they were able to introduce a lot of early childhood teaching practices. For example, while we were working on sounds and words and music, we had thought about sign language but hadn't gotten around to looking at good signs to start infants with, and the daycare started teaching them. I do know sign language from many years ago when I worked with a deaf co-worker, and I was surprised when my infant started asking for "milk" with his hands. So then we started incorporating more signs into our communication. We started them on finger foods and were worried about varying the diet and giving them a healthy diet and the daycare started to teach them to use a spoon. Just a few examples off the top of my head.

I agree that there are pros and cons to all child care options, but I don't think that there is a one size fits all situation. Every family needs to find the right fit for themselves and in our case, we found that with the IRS New Carrollton Bright Horizons. It's been a wonderful experience for us so far.

IMO (and experience), people who do not like BH centers are not going to like any center. They are the parents who are not involved in their child's education and YES it is education, at least starting in the toddler rooms. We love our BH, but it takes work. You have to talk to the teachers and the administration and let them know you want a partnership with them to do what is best for your child. You have to take time at the beginning of the day to treat them like people even when you are running late for work. You have to take time at the end of the day to (patiently) wait for them to have a moment to chat with you about your child's day. Our BH had to send out a reminder to parents to please let the teachers know when dropping off or picking up a child from the class. Blows my mind to see some parents literally open the door so their child can walk inside and then close the door. The afternoon pickup is as in-and-out as possible for some and of course you are not going to be happy when you are not putting forth an effort. It is still the parents' job to raise a child and teachers cannot be expected to keep something like potty training consistent when parents do not communicate with the teachers about what is happening at home. ::climbs off soapbox::

we are at Fingerprints Bright Horizons at the Interior Dept and love it. Brand new space, good communication, and loving providers. Strongy recommend that you consider it.

We ended up doing the 3 waitlists and having our child start somewhere else at first. When we were ready to transition him (around a year) I called all of those locations and there were pots at all three within a month or so. Not ideal but I think that parents have to call frequently and be proactive about getting in. It seems like it is easier to get into a toddler class downtown as many of the infants are siblings.

I've bashed it on like two threads....
Anyway, i dislike it because they aren't consistent. I rarely know what's going on in the program. For instance, my daughter OSD being potty trained. I asked for this and her primary caregiver aged to it, end of conversation. Not once did she tell me that i needed to bring five changes of clothes, two pair of does, pullups, and stickers for the reward system. Not once. I found this out through another parent. Things like that happen repeatedly. I find out months later that i was supposed to do x, y and z because communication at the center is horrible. On to of that they have one now teaching, in my opinion. Not every child learns by the hands on approach. My child is one of them. Instead of working with the way she does learn (she watches you do it a couple of tines, then picks it up) they keep trying to force her to do it their way. Not acceptable to me especially since i have had plenty of conversations with them about how she learns best.

I know there are parents that love the irs daycare, but trust me, there are quite a few of us that are a little fed up with them. However, finding daycare in this town isn't easy, so we feel stuck.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would anybody put their kid in a bright horizion?

Because they have a lock on daycare centers in this area and families get brainwashed thinking they are a wonderful company.

They are so clearly horrible I just don't get. To each his own

Um, you've personally evaluated every one?

I am one of the IRS national office boosters where we have rock star toddler teachers and a bunch of kids who are entertaining and whip smart and engaged. Yet it is a bright horizons which is "clearly horrible."

I actually agree that it's horrible. My daughter goes to the irs location and i hate it. I'm trying to pull her out as soon as i can find another location. They have dropped the ball in so many areas that I'm fed up.

R u the one bashing IRS on multiple threads? If so u never seem to state why exactly u hate it so much. If u could provide examples or what specifically is wrong with the place?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would anybody put their kid in a bright horizion?

Because they have a lock on daycare centers in this area and families get brainwashed thinking they are a wonderful company.

They are so clearly horrible I just don't get. To each his own

Um, you've personally evaluated every one?

I am one of the IRS national office boosters where we have rock star toddler teachers and a bunch of kids who are entertaining and whip smart and engaged. Yet it is a bright horizons which is "clearly horrible."

I actually agree that it's horrible. My daughter goes to the irs location and i hate it. I'm trying to pull her out as soon as i can find another location. They have dropped the ball in so many areas that I'm fed up.

Anonymous wrote:I have my doubts about the "3 free " list. I got on 3 lists 3 years ago. Ive heard severl times from my top choice center (which i think is lso the most popular one). But to this day ive never heard from #2 or #3. Good thing we have since found other care, but it annoys me that they just took my money for nothing. This was in arlington.

+1 but DC. Save your receipts I'm sure they will get a class action.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would anybody put their kid in a bright horizion?

Thank you for your super helpful contribution. Now move along, troll.

Not at troll. This area is so tied up in I can pay this crazy amount nobody notices it is crap.
Just sayin'

I went through much of the same thinking process, except I'm not a fed and my arranged childcare (grandma) got canceled on a short notice, so I was feeling even more strapped.

After touring and researching well reputed childcare facilities, I felt I couldn't put my infant there and we went with the nanny share. My advice to you would be to try that. Here is why I think nanny share is superior:

- someone is exclusively focused on your baby (well, 50% focused)

- more ability to set and follow a good, healthy routine, which I feel is key for young children. I don't think caregivers in a daycare centers would be as focused on making your baby nap on time and eat on time

- more ability to take long walks in good weather - can you imagine what a hassle it is to walk multiple infants? just getting out of the door likely takes a while. Our nanny spent hours outside with the kids.

- warmer, intimate, more affectionate setting.

This doesn't mean there aren't good centers or good people in these centers. I just feel that some arrangements are more conducive to providing good care, and some are less so. In my opinion, and your mileage will vary, a nanny share is a better for for a very young baby.

I don't have any kids yet (pregnant), and am working nanny share side, too, but that isn't without it's flaws either unfortunately. I am trying to arrange care both ways to try to avoid zero care.