We decided on a daycare

[hokiegirl82]

I posted this in the mom-to-be thread, but I wanted to expand on it more.

We visitied a lady on Jan. 19 who lives behind us and across the street (so you can see her house through our backyard) and has an in-home daycare. After our visit with her I was dead set on using her - her weekly rate is good, I liked everything she showed us and told us, it would be convenient for drop off and pick up. Everything seemed good - the only thing I wasn't too excited about were her hours which are 8-5. H would have to drop off every morning since I have to be at work by 7:30, and I would have to do pick up every day since I get off work most days at 4:30 and H almost never gets out of work before 5, usually even 5:30. The lady said if I can be there by 5:15 it's cool, after that it's a $15 late fee. I felt confident that it wouldn't be a problem to get there by 5 most days, but in the back of my mind I was worried I would constantly be stressing about leaving work on time, and wouldn't have much leeway in case I need to stay 15 minutes late.

We visited a daycare center on Thursday afternoon - I went in with the mindset of using the in-home daycare lady, but wanted to tour a daycare center anways to see the difference. The cost is $70 more per week than the in-home, and the location is not as great (but it's still not bad - just have to go home a little bit of a different way but it's still about only 2 miles from the house). We met with the director of the center who had been there for 27 years which I really liked, she gave us a tour, we went into the infant room for awhile and talked with the woman working in there. H and I ended up really really liking everything we saw - I was especially very impressed with the programs they have for older children, especially toddlers and up.

So when we got home we started talking, and I wasn't so sure about the in-home daycare anymore. I kept thinking about it, and I kept coming back to the fact that I was worried I would be constantly stressed about getting out of work on time - I tend to get anxious and stressed about things easily, and I wasn't sure I wanted to add this stress to having a kid. So we talked about the pros and cons of each place, and decided to go with the daycare center. It's more expensive, not as convenient a location, and it'll suck having to bring bottles back and forth every day (the in-home lady said I could bring frozen breast milk each week and she would keep bottles there and wash them so I don't have to deal with that), but we really liked the feeling at the daycare center and my H doesn't want me to stress about pickup times unnecessarily.

It feels nice to have something as big as daycare planned out. Now I just need to start buying stuff for this kid.

[Deleted]

Congrats! that is a huge thing to have checked off the list!

[Amy]

that's great! I'm like you and would feel anxious about the time. I really like centers just because I like all of the regulations and programs (we used sitters for DS' first year and a half so obviously not the same as a true in-home center) - I feel like DS gets a ton out of 'school' (he's in their pre-K program now). I think if you liked it enough to pass on someone THAT CLOSE to you it should tell you you made the right choice

[laurack]

congrats on your decision!

I love having Matilda in a center, it is just much better suited to me and my general concerns. I like the regulations, the schedule, more than one caregiver (i am paranoid) and the fact that there isn't any TV at all.

The cost is of course the biggest downside but we think it is worth it especially now that she is a toddler. She has so much fun playing with all her toddler friends, doing activities all day etc.