New to the Area with Question

I am in the same position. It took us so long to actually get pregnant, and we definately were shocked at the prices of daycare! Most places we have called are charging $325-$400 per week, and it might make more sense for a nanny-share or in-home daycare situation? We live in Lakeview and haven't even been lucky enough to get a listing of local in-home places yet...and I'm due in 10 weeks!!!! Might be an idea to put a posting on craigslist???
Good luck!

where are you located? Maybe I could do it. I am a mom and I live in the Lincolnwood area...

It sounds like a good price. I have been a family daycare provider for 17 years and many people have complianed about the cost, but keep in mind we are trying to make a living and help provide for our families also. I believe the average pay for a daycare teacher is around $10.00 a hour.
As for the hours, one reason I changed my hours and decided to close at five was so I could spend more time with my children. Many times parents would be late, which would mean I was working from 7:oo in the morning until 6:30. It left very little time for my children. Some parents have one parent drop off and the other parent pick up so they are able to be here by 5:00.
Good luck,
Cheryl

It gets (a little) cheaper as they get older...

but I agree, it's ridiculous!

I was paying nearly $1000 a month to have my son at Kindercare -- because they close at 6 and I had to hire a babysitter to pick him up and watch him until I get home at 6:20pm. Now my sister watches him full time, and even that is costing me $600/month!

Jennifer, Cook County can provide a list of licensed centers and home daycares, with prices - ###-###-####. Also, the West Suburban Home Daycare Association can give you a list of local home daycares. ###-###-####) The phone is answered by a volunteer who usually knows the various daycare providers, so you may get someone who can give you the inside scoop on who has a lower-cost daycare.

I also know of a great daycare provider who I think still has some space and who I think is cheaper than my provider, in South Oak Park. She's also pretty flexible (she is our backup daycare, and she and her college-aged daughter have both babysat for my kids for several years now.) If interested, e-mail me - ____@____.com

In my experience, in-home daycares seem to be the lowest-cost option. You might be able to get a two-child discount.

Our daycare cost for my 2yo is pretty reasonable - $200/week for one child full-time. (we had his big brother at the same home daycare, and the prices haven't gone up in 3 years)

On the pickup time, 6:00 is typical or even a little bit late. I have to pick up by 5:30. There are a few centers with longer hours (there's a 24-hour center in Oak Park) but they have long waiting lists.

Since this is a somewhat high-cost area, you may be surprised to find out that you can qualify for various programs. Also, most school districts have free, state-funded pre-k programs that are not income-based.

Good luck, and welcome to the area.

Jennifer - $1000 per month is actually not bad at all. Before I found a nanny share for my 3 month old, all the commercial daycares I called in the city and near north suburbs were charging between $1200-$1600 per month - and they all had waiting lists until fall 2007!

I found my nanny share on craig's list with a local mom who lives just 2 blocks away from me. I was completely freaking out that I'd never find affordable child care!

In addition to Craig's list, I would suggest joining the Northside Parents Network - www.northsideparents.org - if you live in the city.

Also - if your job is flexible at all, you could come in earlier and leave earlier. A lot of moms at my company come into work by 7:30 and leave by 4 or 4:30.

Best of luck!

You can get a listing of all the licensed in-home daycares and centers in a particular zipcode at http://www.daycareaction.org (You may actually have to call them, but the info is on the page.)

$1000 a month for two (well, 1.5) is not that bad. We pay about $700/month for about 20 hours of babysitting a week for our 5 month old. Centers were anywhere from $1100-$1500/month.

I was able to flex my hours to work around my husband's class schedule to make a sitter affordable - I was lucky. If I was not able to do that, I would have gone with a daycare by my work, not home, to make the time she spends there a bit shorter (my commute is not bad, though).

I agree - it's insane. Unfortunately, there's not much to be done about it. If you look on craigslist or sittercity, you'll see that even for a regular sitter you're going to pay $8-$15/hour, which is really a lot. (Since when did babysitting pay double the minimum wage? But then, you think about lowballing your childcare and you don't want to do it!) You might consider looking for a nanny share or finding a daycare close to your work instead of close to your home. Honestly, I have no idea what we're going to do for child care once we have another baby, because just one is breaking the bank!

Jennifer

Where are you located? Unfortunatly, daycare is very expensive and most of them close at 6pm. I haven't seen one that closes any later. I was searching for a while for daycare until I found the pre-school my son now attends. I think it's expensive but he loves it and they are wonderful.