Yikes--quality Kind Care in Saint Paul

Unfortunately I don't have any advice for you. However, I couldn't help but notice your name. I knew an A. at from Church camp when I was young, and have never heard the name since. I was wondering if you were the same A. that went to Clearwater Forest. And, if so, do you remember R.?
If not, sorry to bother you, but A. has always been one of my favorite names.

R.-live in SE Mpls we have an 18 month old daughter

Hi A.,
Depending on how much time you have, you may have to make some different choices. St. Thomas and child care centers of that quality are wonderful but the waiting list is over 450 people long and can take over 3 years to get in. You may want to consider getting on some of the waiting lists for the better centers and then using a nanny or a stay at home mom until your child can get into some of the better daycares. As a teacher, you may have some better options than others. There are some daycares or stay at home moms that prefer to work with children of teachers because they get the summers off. I have even heard of some at home daycares that will only work with teachers. My advice is just keep asking your teacher friends and everyone else you know. My son was in a center that was considered "good" but the ratios were 1:4 for babies which I felt personally uncomfortable with. My friends and I have developed a litmus test for daycares. If when you arrive, children are running up to you or your tour guide to be picked up and demanding attention, chances are the ratios are too high and the children are not getting enough attention. In our current center, the only child that comes running to me when I come in, is my own! We took him out of his first daycare with the high ratios and we found an excellent nanny until we were able to get him into a great child care center with low ratios. Many colleges have websites where college students are looking for nanny posts. You might even use more than one student to cover days when they don't have classes. You can almost always find the best solution by being creative. Good luck and don't give up until you are satisfied. It will make your transition back to work so much better.

I was looking into St. Thomas (the University of) before we had our son. It looked really great and I just spoke with a woman yesterday whose son goes there. She absolutely loves it. We happened to chose a private sitter due to the fact that our family is vegetarian and I worried that a center wouldn't honor our wishes. Good luck. This is the hardest part about being a mommy. It sucks going back to work if you don't want to.

New Horizons Child Care Centers Especially the one in Downtown Saint Paul are great. I used to work for them teaching in there preschool program for 4 years. My children also went there and let me tell you the staff were extremely caring and loving. my daughters has some learning delays and her teachers there were so understanding and helpful in doing what they needed to do to so that she was able to keep up with the other children. I believe they are now NAEYC(national association for the education of young children)accredited which is the gold seal of the child care industry. The one I worked at in in Down town St. Paul right on the corner of Robert and 7th Place

Althea -
I live in the Frogtown/Como area of St. Paul. I've had Deb take care of my kids for about a year and they are now ages 15 months and 28 months. They call her Nana and LOVE her. She does a variety of activities and only really has 2-3 year olds now along with a couple after school kids. Shes strict with her regualations but takes great care of the kids and is quite cheap compared to most depending on how much time you need her per day. We pay $30 for 2 kids per day from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Her number is ###-###-####. She doesn't answer the phone until she hears who is calling if she's busy with the kids so just leave a message. Good luck!
Liz