Explain How Daycare Works Please

Hi L.,
I did both home daycare and then when my daughter was 18 months, I moved her to a commercial facility. I found that I liked the facility better than the home. There was a good teacher / student ratio so I never felt like she didn't get enough attention. Additionally, the facility kept the infants in a separate room from the toddlers. This I loved! Toddlers love babies but they don't always know how to cover their mouths when they cough and sneeze! That was a huge issue at the home daycare because there was no separate room. My daughter caught colds a lot there but it didn't happen when I switched her to the facility.

L.,

There are good and bad to both. I'm a FT working Mom of two boys (3 and 1) and our sons have been in a center since 8 weeks. The first center we didn't like, but the second one we've been at for three years in November and we LOVE it. I mean love it. I won't leave the area if it means leaving our center.

That being said, as much as I trust and love my center...looking back I think the at home daycare may work well for infants as they MAY get more personalized care than the average center. (I'm thinking more of my first center when I think about this. At mine now, I was very happy with the attention/care my son received.)

Once kids get to be a certain age, I like the age-specific and structured environment better. My older son is BIG on scheudles and such and really thrives at the center.

The cost is usually less at a home than in a center. They have waaaay less overhead. When it comes down to it, you have to visit a few centers and homes and go with your gut feeling. If you have a bad feeling - walk away. It's great if you can get a personal recommendation, too (as others have said).

Good luck with your decision. If you have any questions, please feel free to PM me. I'd be happy to tell you some things to look for.

I use to work in daycare centers. There are good ones and bad ones. I would look for a personal recomendation from someone who has used the center for awhile and loves it. I think kids can get better indidivual care and less structured time (which I like for kids) from an in home daycare. But these must be highly checked out. You must get references, and preferably a personal recomendation from someone you know. Because with home daycares you don't have another person there for acountability day by day. Another route is to find a stay at home mom who would be willing to watch yours. I think this is a great option if you must work. You may be surprised with the price of daycare, you might not come away with as much as you think. Factor in the work clothes, convience foods, gas, car, child care, and you might be surprised. One out of the box option would be to sell one car (if you have two). Carpools, dropping you hubby off at work, or staying home without a car may make it possible for you to stay home until your little one is in kindergarten. Also shopping at Aldi and second hand shops may help. I just got my boys 10 pairs or pants and four shirts (all in nice condition) for under $20 at a resale. Email me if you want other advise on stretching the budget. One last thing, if you do decide to go back to work, I know someone in your area that may be open to watching your little one. I worked daycare years ago with her, and have remained good friends with her. In the past she has watched a little one in her home along with her own. I don't know if she would want to now, because her youngest just started preschool. But I could ask if you are interested. She lives in Lisle. Good luck.

Children's Creative Corner in Lisle is WONDERFUL. The staff is friendly and it is family owned and operated.

We have our daughter in a daycare center. Advantages: We don't have to find someone to watch her when the babysitter gets sick, preschool program included, convieniet hours. Disadvantages: Price, 1 to 5 ratio in the toddler room, lots of germs (she constantly has a runny nose)

L.,

You've gotten some great advice... I would echo the fact that there's good and bad to both options. I had my son in home daycare from the time he was 4 months old until about 2.5. It was an older woman, very grandmotherly, just what every mama wants for her little baby, just lots of love and attention! He outgrew that situation at about 20 months, but it took a few months for me to admit that he needed more activity because 'Oma' was so wonderful and had really become a part of our family! He even spent the night there once when we had an overnight date!!!

At that point we wanted to move him to another home daycare because that's all we knew and thought that was best, not so... The place we moved him appeared to be wonderful and for all intents and purposes it was wonderful, it came highly recommended and people said there was always a wait list to get into this particular home daycare. Well it didn't work out for our family because my husband and I both work at home so we have the luxury of lazy mornings and like to spend as much time with our son as we can but this daycare provider wanted him there at a specific time and was not at all flexible. Also, it was NOT cheaper than the daycare center, so that's not a given about home daycares.

We ended up pulling him out of there and putting him at Kindercare (at the time it was called Children's Learning World) in Schaumburg and have been so pleased with that decision. They do NOT have high turnover as a previous poster stated, the director and asst director have been there for over 20 years and most of the teachers have been there 10 years plus!! Yes, kids get sick from being around a lot of other kids, but that just builds up their immune system as was proven by the poster who said their infant got sick a lot but after they moved them to the place where they separate the infants and toddlers, not so much. Well that's probably because their immune system is now stronger. My son hardly ever gets sick now and I'm sure that's because of all those colds he caught in previous years!!

Anyway, this is a very difficult decision for any mama, and if there is any way financially you can work it out to stay home, that's always the best thing, but as others have said, ask a lot of questions, visit the facilities and listen to your gut. Also personal recommendations are always great too! But remember just because a daycare situation was good for one family doesn't mean it's going to be good for yours, decide what your main needs are (like for us it was time flexibility, median cost, and teachers that worked well with a high-spirited little boy) and make your decisions based on that.

L.,

If you call the Dupage county YWCA, they can provide you with a list of daycare centers. They will also give you information. When I went through Kane County, they gave me a great list of questions to ask. The YWCA charges a small fee for this but I found it to be a great help.

My son was in an in home daycare that we loved. My daycare provider, is studing to be a teacher so she taught the kids as well as watched them. I liked the idea of my son being only one of a few kids being taken care of by her rather than one of many at a day care center.

Ask lots of questions to get a feel for the personality of the person who will be watching your child. You will get a good feeling when you find the right person.

Whether you go with home daycare or a corporate center you need to feel good about the place. Home daycares cost less, have the same teacher for your child every day of the week all day long, and have less children. They also have multi-aged groups which can mean your 1 yr old will learn from a 3 yr old how to put on a coat, count to 10 or name colors. The down side of home daycares is that they do close for vacations and sick time so you do need to have a back up plan.

Corporate centers offer longer hours sometimes, and never close except on days when most people don't work any way like Christmas and Thanksgiving. They cost more, have high turnover, and multiple teachers for your child each day. Unless they are an awesome progressive center that cares about best developmental practices, your child will also switch rooms about 4 times by the time they are 24 mos old. Usually they will be in one room till either 9 or 15 mos old, then another room at either 18 or 24 mos old, then in some centers they go to another room at 30 mos old.

In your area I know of Children's Creative Corner - it's by the Green Trails resturant on the corner of Chicago and Naper. I used to work there and my best friend is the 4 yr old lead teacher there, her son went there too, and it's a quality center.

I don't know of any others in your area, but here is a list of sites where home daycares can list their centers...
https://www.care.com/
http://www.4sitters.com/
http://www.daycarematch.com/default.asp
http://www.sitterland.com/
http://www.daycarebear.com/
http://www.daycarefinders.net/
http://www.findcarenow.com/
http://www.childcarehelp.com/index.html
http://www.childcare.net
http://www.mydaycaresearch.com/
http://www.caresquare.com/?gclid=CMuL6Z2kxZUCFQRgswodoFk-iQ
http://www.olx.com/
http://www.mamasource.com
http://www.babysitters4hire.com/
http://www.merchantcircle.com/corporate/
http://www.nationalchildcareconnection.com/index.htm
https://sittercafe.com/index.asp
http://community.babycenter.com/groups/a1068895/looking_f...
http://us.bajohn.com/index.php

Hi L.,
I have a small home daycare in Bolingbrook, which would be about a 10-15 minute drive from Lisle. Going back to work and leaving your precious little girl with strangers can be extremely overwhelming and a little scary. I would like to meet with you if you are interested and we could discuss daycare for Gianna. I have over 20 years of experience with daycare and preschool and have excellent references. You can read some of them here on mamasource: click on "local business reviews", and then click childcare. I am listed as "Mary's Little Lambs Family Daycare". There may also be other daycares in your area listed there. Please feel free to email me with any questions you may have about daycare. I would be glad to help you with this important decision. I find that I have more time to devote to each child than they would get in a big daycare center and the children seem to get sick less often. ( I should know, having worked for a large daycare for a number of years prior to having daycare out of my home.) Good Luck in your search.