Daycare - Help please!!

[WDWorBUST]

Okay my mom usually watches dd 2 1/2. But last week she fell and broke her leg and there is no way she can watch Sammi for probably close to 6 weeks (if not longer). Here it is summer and I have to find child care. I'm leaning towards a center because she does love to play with other children and never has the chance now. But I just don't know. She's never even stayed with another sitter besides family. I don't know that I have any other options though. I guess the next question is I have no idea how much it's going to cost me even. We're in Oklahoma - can anyone tell me how much to expect it to cost me for a 2 1/2 year old?? I do pay my mom but not the going rate - thankfully for us. And even more importantly am I going to be able to find a quality center this time of year for short term (hopefully???)
Thanks for any and all help!

 

[AllyCatTapia]

I'm in Michigan. FUll time toddler rate is about 130/week in a center.

I highly reccommend a center and wouldn't even CONSIDER putting my child in a home. Centers have trained, certified lead teachers and administrators...home daycares are generally other moms. They are cheaper though, but...watch out- you get what you pay for.

 

[Nanu57v]

In PA we have licensed in-home caregivers who are also trained, so I wouldn't have a problem putting my child there, but for a 2.5 year old I'd recommend a center for the activities and socialization. Our toddler rate is 90 a week for full time, but I live in the middle of nowhere. In an urban area that would be at least $130. Your other problem will be only getting care for six weeks..There are often registration fees and activities fees you will be paying which for a whole year of care is no big deal but for only 6 weeks might be hefty in comparison.

 

[WDWorBUST]

I won't even consider a home unless it's someone I know or someone who comes HIGHLY recommended from someone I know- and I have been racking my brain all weekend and have thought of no one yet. And I know there are licensed home centers but under the circumstances I think I will be more comfortable with a center. I have been so blessed to have my mom watch her - and my dad was always her back up since he owns his own business he can just take off on the rare occasion mom is sick or what have you. Of course I had just taken 6/5-6/11 off because they took vacation - fortunately I have enough vacation that we pick a week and they pick a week and then I still have a week to take in onesies and twosies - but I can't take another week off so soon. My boss will work with me where I can bring her to work with me as needed this next week - but I can't do that for 6 weeks. My dad is going to have to take this next week off because mom can't even take care of herself yet - but it would be a stretch for him to take care of them both. And he can't be away from his work for 6 weeks. So the totally unexpected has happened. On one hand I truly think that a daycare situation will be good for her. Especially since it's short term. And I know tons of children go to daycare and thrive. I have just been spoiled to her being with my mom. So this week I will be visiting a couple of centers close to my work that I have heard good things about and go from there. I just really wasn't ready for this.

 

[kat3668]

I think a center would be the best situatiion for you however,
just be cautious when enrolling your child in a daycare program.. As a toddler teacher for the past 14 years I have found many parents who just drop thier child off in a totally strange situation,, You do'nt know how many screaming and hysterical toddlers I have dealt with over the years. If at all possible try to visit the center for a few afternoons or AMs for an hour at a time so that your child may become familiar with the center , teachers etc... It is so hard to establish an positive, trusting relationship with a child who is angry and confused. I know as a parent this is extremely hard to do but even a few times is better than none... Maybe when your Mom is feeling better you can still have her attend 1 or 2 morning so she can maintain friendships with her peers... Hope everything works out for you if you have an ???s feel free to pm me...

 

[emma'smom]

For short term, in the summer, a center just might be easiest. We live in Ohio and pay about 125.00 per week (25.00 a day) for dd16 months (and its about the same until they turn 3). Since it is summer, you may find that there are more spaces available as some folks take the summers off and/or go part time since they may have to make other arrangements for older (schoolage) siblings. Our daycare center usually has extra space in the summer. Also, they like to do all of their hiring early to get the best teachers available. They bring them on in the summer to get them ready for the fall routine. This means there are often "extra" teachers around who will reduce the teacher/student ratio.

 

[kkevcamsmom]

I do home daycare and for a short term I would recommend a center. Mostly but cause in a home (well in mine, it's very small, only 2 kids plus my 2 little ones, the teenager takes care of herself), kids get attached very quickly and it's hard on them to adjust to someone new just to have them leave in a little while.

I don't have anything bad to say about centers, some are awesome, some are not.

Somethings to look for though are (and this goes for home or center):

Adult to child ratio

Drop by (you should be welcome to drop by at anytime without calling ahead)

Cookie cutter kids, the teachers/provider should know each kid is different and some need more/less help and guidance.

How clean are the kids, center/home.

How well do the kids responde to the teacher/provider

How well does the teacher/provider responde to the kids.

Ask to see the license or registration from the state, make sure you see the original not a copy(here in Iowa we have to have ours displayed in plan view), make sure it's up to date.

If you have more questions I could help you, please feel free to PM me.

Good Luck!

Lori

PS: I forgot to add I charge $135.00 a week for full time infant to 4 yrs of age. You may be tempted by places that charge less then the others but please keep in mind, you get what you pay for. Don't expect $140.00 a week care from someone charging $75.00 a week. Also go with your gut, if you don't feel it's right or your child seems scared then don't leave her there.

 

[scouthawkk]

I think I need to move out by some of you. DS 3.5 just changed centers (his old one closed). We now are down to (and yes, I did say "down" to) $218/week! But that is in D.C. They can "get away with it" because there is such a great demand, and not much in the way of quality care.

We have had to find alternate daycare for ds twice now (not including the occasional "teacher work day" or sick day-that's what grandpa is for). The first was when State of Maryland shut down his program for lack of proper ratio. We literally had 3 days notice on that one (the center knew they were closing for over 2 months, but decided not to tell us until just before it happened). That is how we ended up at his second center. DH walked in, asked if they had any openings, and told them the situation. He started the next day. They transitioned another kid to the next room a month early to make room for ds in the emergency situation. If I had time to look around, it probably wouldn't have been our first choice, but once there, he seemed to thrive, and enjoyed all the learning and playing. Then we got word this spring that they were closing on June 16th. It was a venture between the federal government and private coroporations so that lower income federal employees could have good child care. Half the slots were for Federal workers, half were for non federal, that paid full rates. The program was nice, and the teachers really cared about the kids. But they lost a bunch of grants that were needed to keep them open. At least this time we had some notice. We found three centers that we liked, they ranged in price from $210 a week to $345 a week. We picked the one he is at because we liked the facility, it is clean, has good security, and it is close to where DH works (in case of an emergency and D.C. has to evacuate like for 9/11, he can run up the street, get him, and head out). And his class is culturely diverse, which I think is very important because society is not full of people just like him. We also liked the teachers, and the program they use for teaching. But most important, when ds went to visit a couple of times, the teachers were warm and inviting, as were the kids he would be with. His first full week he was there, he went to the zoo, to two museums and learned to play frizbee (sp?). He had a blast! And he was actually looking forward to going back today. Which was another thing we noticed when we were looking at the center to begin with. The kids all seemed to want to be there!

 

[WDWorBUST]

Thanks everyone!! I think I have found a center for her to go to. It's at a private Christian School where my boss's daughter attends and they both love it. They have an opening and are even willing to work with me and prorate the registration fee. They also know that it will most likely be short-term (6 weeks or so) and are okay with that and usually request a two week notice but the director told me that if I could give them a week when it was time that would be fine (hopefully I can easily give them two weeks) We're going to go look at it this afternoon and make a decision tonight. Oh and as an added bonus it's perfectly located between my DH's office and mine and we already carpool.

I am planning on using this week for transition and if we decide to go this route - but how long would you suggest staying? An hour or so and leave her for maybe a morning a couple of days and then a couple of days leave her the whole day after I stay with her for an hour or so? What's ideal? She is pretty laid back but like I said before she has never stayed with anyone other than family. I'm actually hoping that maybe she can even stay in part-time once mom is better to give my mom a break.

Thanks Again!!
Amanda

 

[kkevcamsmom]

I am planning on using this week for transition and if we decide to go this route - but how long would you suggest staying? An hour or so and leave her for maybe a morning a couple of days and then a couple of days leave her the whole day after I stay with her for an hour or so? What's ideal? She is pretty laid back but like I said before she has never stayed with anyone other than family. I'm actually hoping that maybe she can even stay in part-time once mom is better to give my mom a break.

Thanks Again!!
Amanda

I would drop her off for an hour or two, a few times to transition her, but not have you stay for more than 10 mins. Trust me it makes it harder on the child (and the parents sometimes). Be happy and give her hugs, never sneak out. She may cry, but it will be ok. Most kids will cry for a few minutes then are playing happily by the time you are getting out of the parking lot.

I am glad you found somewhere. Good luck!!!

Lori

 

[ShannonN]

I know it's a hard decision to make. I have been a preschool teacher for 8 years. I taught for 4 years stayed home with my DS for 4 yrs and then went back to teaching when he started preschool. All my family lives 3 hours away so I was never able to leave DS with anyone. Those 4 yrs at home were the best!! He is an only child and when he started preschool he loved the interaction with the other children. I worked with him a lot at home but there nothing like the experience of playing and interactiong with other children. He is 7 now and still loves school! I think your DD will do fine. Sometimes it harder on the parents than it is on the children, we try and shelter them as much as we can. I would just wait and see how she reacts to you leaving as to how much time I would stay. From experience, sometimes in preschool we'll have children screaming and crying for their parents not to leave then the minute the walk out the door they are playing and having a great time. If you start out staying for a long period of time she may get the idea that you will be doing this everyday, then when you can't stay as long it could be hard for her to adjust. I would start out leaving her for a morning a couple of days see how she is then work up to the whole day. It may take her some time to adjust or she may just love it from the start and want to stay. You'll just have to try and see. No one knows your baby better than you do so just go with what you think is best.

 

[WDWorBUST]

Well Sammi is all enrolled in daycare. She starts tomorrow. I think I will stay with her 10-15 minutes and then pick her up after lunch tomorrow and then Wednesday pick her up about 3pm and then let her go all day Thursday and Friday. She loved the center. We went out on the playground and she just started to play with all the other kids. She never even looked around for me or dh. I do think it will be harder on me than her. I truly think it will be a good experience for her. Thanks for all the help.

 

[sameyeyam]

Now be prepared for the fact that she may like Daycare so much she doesn't want to go back to Grandma's!

Not that Grandma isn't wonderful, but imagine a whole center full of kids her age to play with, fun things to do, activities, arts, etc... Might make Grandma's seem a little boring.

 

[mom2my3kids]

Okay my mom usually watches dd 2 1/2. But last week she fell and broke her leg and there is no way she can watch Sammi for probably close to 6 weeks (if not longer). Here it is summer and I have to find child care. I'm leaning towards a center because she does love to play with other children and never has the chance now. But I just don't know. She's never even stayed with another sitter besides family. I don't know that I have any other options though. I guess the next question is I have no idea how much it's going to cost me even. We're in Oklahoma - can anyone tell me how much to expect it to cost me for a 2 1/2 year old?? I do pay my mom but not the going rate - thankfully for us. And even more importantly am I going to be able to find a quality center this time of year for short term (hopefully???)
Thanks for any and all help!

I could of written the same post, my son will be 3 very soon and I have to find a daycare for him when school starts. I only need 2-3 days as I only work part time. My mom has watched all of my children but she just turned 70 and its very hard on her so when the older two go back to school he will go to daycare. I have all summer to look and investigate, I have a couple in mind but its so hard leaving them with someone you don't know. Good luck I hope you find the right daycare for your daughter.

 

[crisi]

I pay $200 week per child for relatively cheap "schoolagers" in Minnesota. All you in cheap daycare states should consider yourselves lucky.

I do have them in a "corporate" center - home daycare or a "small business/church" center would be cheaper. But I like the corporate center because I really haven't had to worry about them taking vacations, etc., and I don't want a church center since we practice a less common religion and I don't need my kids getting more confused than they are.

 

[kaw1218]

I pay $200 week per child for relatively cheap "schoolagers" in Minnesota. All you in cheap daycare states should consider yourselves lucky.

I was thinking the same thing..... around here most places charge $140-$180 a week and that is for an older child of 7.

 

[welovedis]

Just wanted to say good luck. Don't know if you were aware but there is an online site for Oklahoma child care searches:
http://www.okdhs.org/childcarefind/

It is sponsored by the Oklahoma Dept of Human Services.

I run a small daycare center which attached to my home and our rate for full-time is $150/week. We are one of the least expensive centers in our area.

 

[barkley]

boy howdy, around here part time toddler care is next to impossible to find (and no one will let someone do a short term placement, they don't want to take the chance that a perm/ft placement might not be able to be accommodated).

when ds was in toddler care (over 5 years ago) we paid close to $600 per month (and we provided EVERYTHING-food, diapers, wipes, tissues...). but one of the big things that drove the price up was that toddler care in our state is bundled with infant care for teacher/child ratios. so any child potty trained or not that falls under toddler age ranges ends up in the higher cost placements. i think the place ds went to now charges $850 per month and does'nt take any part-time placements. the "fast food" (chain) childcare center around the corner from us takes potty trained from 3 up, but drop-in or part time is charged hourly at $12 per hour! we had a student at ds's school whose afterschool childcare fell thru mid year, his mom ended up using the place around the corner-can you imagine? over $750 per month for just a few hours per day and minimum day fridays.

 

[nicolemomof4cuties]

Hey guys! I run a licensed in-home daycare out of my house. We are located in Indiana. I do not understand why some people are saying that in-home daycare is such a bad thing. Yes, I started my daycare because I could not afford child care for my 4 children-but I am very experienced in childcare. I have worked in child care centers since I was 17 years old. I LOVE children! I LOVE my job! I am not uneducated. I am currently going to to college to acquire my Childhood Development Associates and am making straight A's. I am able to have up to 12 children in my home with the assistance of my husband. Currently we have 11 children in our care. My husband goes to all of the trainings and certifications that I do. (Annual CPR, 1st Aid, Universal Precautions, Food Program trainings, and specialized trainings) He is the 2nd oldest of 12 children in his family and is WONDERFUL with children. He is also attending college for Business Management and has a 4.0 GPA (He is not uneducated either) and has talked about also obtaining a Childhood Development Associates himself. When I worked at a center there were soooo many children that you could not really get to know them. Everything was very rote and quite rushed. We treat our daycare children like they are family and in all honesty their parents treat us as if we were family also. I do know that their are people in this world that run daycare out of their home that are not good people and let their TV babysit the children (Their are also parents that do this) but I am not one of those daycares. I have a hard time obtaining new clients in our mid-size town because I charge $100.00 a week regardless of age and people think that is too expensive because there are unlicensed and unregistered daycares that only charge $75.00. Now that is what is sad and frightening to me. It seems to me that in todays society that people are willing to spend more money and time on their dogs than on their children. On the other side their are parents in our town that have heard horror stories about home daycare (most likely the $75.00 a week ones) and will spend $200.00 a week for a center. I think that parents should shop around to see what is best for their family. All of my daycare parents looked at almost every daycare in town (home and center) and chose to come to mine. So I know that I must be doing something right. I am sorry if I offended anyone but I feel like people are so down on in-home daycares and I just want them to know that not all of us are worthless.
Nicole
Husband to reuben
Mom to
Keitaaron 7
Xeyana 5
Chloe 4
Colin 2

 

[WDWorBUST]

Yikes!! I definitely consider myself lucky with some of those rates. However I do think that the cost of daycare directly correlates with the incomes and is probably pretty close to the same percentage in all areas. (Of course going off averages etc). And the short-term was the part that concerned me too. I actually ended up with the last spot in that class with someone else walking in behind me interested in it. And they had just accepted twins before me so I barely got in. The other places I had called were full.

Nicole - I think you took offense at suggestions for my particular situation. I think the concern was that I needed daycare on very short notice and don't have time to investigate a lot of home daycares. Not to mention I only need care short-term. I don't doubt that I could have found a home daycare that I liked and a person I trusted but it could have taken me a couple of weeks and to be honest that's about a third of the time I need care. Also...you can bet if I'm going to have to make a quick decision I would much rather go with a center where there are a lot of teachers than trust that the one or two people in a home are what they appear. I don't doubt that you and your husband are great child-care providers and I think it's great that the children have both a male and female caregiver - however it wasn't that long ago in a little town in NE Oklahoma had the exact setup you're talking about and the man was molesting the children. Now I know that most people are good and that isn't the norm - however if I'm going to have to make a quick decision to put my potty-traing dd in childcare I will put her in the lowest risk situation I can. There are good and bad daycares everywhere. There are good and bad daycare workers everywhere. I had to make a very quick decision not to mention find care on short notice - for my situation a center was better. Congratulations on a successful business and doing something that you love.