The daycare decision: Home vs. centre

Posted in: Blog: Life with Lucy & Alice, daycare, the outside world

There are currently 11 responses

1. On July 31st, 2007 at 7:47 am, DoodlesMom said:

   We had a few reasons for going with a home versus a daycare centre:

   1) “Sterile” environment – home care kids get more love. I’ve heard stories of centre kids having their butts changed while the worker was wearing gloves … it’s a baby’s butt, sheesh. I’ve also heard that centre workers are not allowed to hug the kids (might just be a rumour).

   2) price – centres tend to be outrageously expensive. a home daycare tends to be more reasonable and if you’re a little short – please who gets rich being on EI? – sometimes your home care person will give you an extra day to pay.

   3) Carly’s reason about getting to know one person versus several is ours too. I have a relationship with my caregiver, a great one. I wouldn’t trade her for the world.

   4) Flexibility – home care tends to be more lenient with pick up times if you’re running late. Centres tend to charge you $X after 6:00 per minute whereas a home based one usually will keep your kids for free. Mine doesn’t charge overtime because my drop off changes some days as I run late for whatever reason and some days I leave early so I would pick up (the then 1) kid early – it all works out in the wash.

   5) Continuity – having one person day in and day out is like having, as Carly puts it, a faux mommy. Although I do object sometimes being called “Terri” instead of Mommy lol.

   on the con side – if your worker is sick or simply wants a day off, you’re stuck. In a centre, I believe they’re open all year except stat/civic holidays. You end up using your own vacation time when you didn’t necessarily expect to use it. Luckily my sitter only takes off about 2 days during the year and between Christmas and New Year’s (I’m off then too anyway).

   The runaway winner for us was home care.

   ’nuff said.

2. On July 31st, 2007 at 8:56 am, Carly said:

   Caregiver sickness is definitely an issue, thankfully one we’ve yet to come across.

   On the flip side, when Lucy had Roseola, she was not allowed to go to Debbie’s, even though she was well past the contagious period. Someone commented here that when their son had it, the centre he attends knew enough about it that it was no problem for him to go.

   There are trade-offs, that’s for sure…

3. On July 31st, 2007 at 9:03 am, Tara said:

   Our first choice is home care & second choice would be a centre. I like the idea of home care because it is more personal, were there is one person opposed to five. It is far less expensive & we feel the flexibility would be much better. But in order for me to leave Jaxson with someone they have to be amazing & meet all our standards (no pool, fenced yard, no driving with him in the car, no tv, educational activites, healthy snacks & preferably no pets). Also if we were to put him in someones house I would like other kids his age. I am on a list for a place called London Childrens Connection. They offer in home daycares that they monitor like a centre. I am keeping my fingers crossed I will find someone through them, its the best of both worlds.
   The reason we are considering a centre is because we have found 2 top notch ones in London that we are impressed with (although their rate is very pricey!!) All our standards for in home care would be met & since he would be in an infant room there would be kids his age. So unless I can find that one perfect person to take care of my baby and I can go to work comfortable he is in good hands we will choose a centre. Any advice on how to go about finding that perfect in home care person would be greatly appreciated because it is our #1 choice.
   Thanks Carly, you listed some things I wasn’t aware of, which is why its always nice to get other peoples opinions.

   p.s. we started sign language with Jaxson this week, I will let you know how it goes

4. On July 31st, 2007 at 9:36 am, DoodlesMom said:

   Tara: best advice I can give is to go with your gut. You will know when you meet the right person. I phone interviewed two home care people. The first lady gave me the creeps over the phone and I could tell she was just doing it “for something to do”. She had a kid at home and I think she was just looking for company for her child. The next (and final) lady and I bonded over the phone. I ended up telling her things I wouldn’t normally tell people in the first five minutes of a phone call. Then we met and I could see how she interacted with my baby. They got along like fire on wood. Three and a half years later, she’s about to take care of my second baby.

   Follow your heart and you’ll be fine. It’s one of the scariest things you’ll have to do for your child.

   Good luck

5. On July 31st, 2007 at 10:01 am, Kathi said:

   Ideally, I would prefer a home daycare for Jacob for the reasons Carly mentioned, but I have only found one that I liked after looking at about 15, and the one we liked is full. Most of the home daycares I visited were set up in basements–with very few windows, and they were disorganized or dirty or both…..many of the providers didn’t speak enough English to communicate with me. They just weren’t places I felt comfortable leaving my son for 8 hours a day.
   So we’re going with a center starting in September. This place is really great-it is clean, organized, full of light, and they have a very low teacher turnover rate. There are 8 kids in each age group and the caregiver-child ratio is 1:3. They have really fun activities and a great play area outside. They have catered lunches! It is more expensive than a home daycare, but not much more. The other great thing about this center is that it is right next door to my office so I can pop in anytime, which they encourage. This place is a cooperative, meaning that all parents have to volunteer at least 3 hours per quarter, and any additional volunteering gets you a reduction in tuition. I’m hoping the transition goes smoothly-we’ll see.

6. On July 31st, 2007 at 11:21 am, mrsgryphon said:

   We chose a home daycare over a centre for many of the same reasons as Carly, but also because there are only a couple of centres in our town and they have huge waiting lists. Home daycare was really the only option. It worked out well for the first 2 months when it was just my daughter and her son… then she started adding more kids (all of whom were older than my daughter by a couple of years, and all boys!) and things were happening that I wasn’t comfortable with (kids on trampolines, left outside, playing in the front yard by the street, taking kids in the stroller to run errands!!) Things went downhill rapidly, and we pulled Bean from her care. Since then, I’ve been trading childcare with friends, and one of my good girlfriends takes her for a couple of mornings a week. I only work part-time, so I’m able to play with the schedule and be flexible with my friends’ schedules, too!

   My experience with home daycare taught me to really trust my instincts and to ASK for help when you need it – my friends have been amazingly supportive and give my daughter great care when she is with them. The one-on-one interactions with friends her own age has been wonderful for her, and she gets so excited when we get to their houses (much more than she ever did at the dayhome).

7. On July 31st, 2007 at 1:19 pm, Catherine said:

   Our son is in a Daycare Center. We looked at both home Daycare and Daycare Center’s, but we found that we were very happy with the Daycare we found in Oshawa. Most of the Home Daycare’s requested 5 sick days paid per year, 3 weeks vacation per year, and were very strict on pick up and drop off times. The one Dayhome would charge me $1 for every minute I was late after 6pm. I also found that most Day homes charged the same for my son as we are being charged at the Daycare Center once he reached 18 months. When it came down to it, I visited a number of places and I found that I liked the non-profit Day Care Center better then any other Day Care Center’s or Dayhomes. The teachers are all ECE, all have CPR/First Aid and have P.A Days for additional training and upgrading. All the toys are replaced every 6 months to a year, and cleaned weekly. They have parent nights and I always have a chance to talk to his teacher and find out how his day has gone. My Son started in the Infant room with 4 Teachers/9 Babies and is now in the Toddler Room with 20 Full/Part Time toddlers to 5 teachers. In the toddler room they are divided into 3 age groups, so he has a teacher to his age group and is always with the same toddler’s. I also like the fact that if a Teacher is sick or on Vacation it does not affect me at all. Neither myself or my husband need to take the day off work.

   I also like that they will allow me to change my son over to part time in January (we are expecting again in Dec) and by doing that he will keep his spot for when I return to work and it will me that the new baby will have a spot to.

   I just found that the Daycare center worked better for our needs and my son’s needs. He loves it at Daycare and will not even say good-bye or give me a hug in the morning, as he runs and and plays with all the kids.

8. On July 31st, 2007 at 3:32 pm, Colleen said:

   We are about 5-6 months away from putting Brady in daycare. We have considered using Wee-Watch providers versus a local daycare centre. At this point, we are going to send our son to a daycare centre. We have had our name on a couple of lists since he was about 8 weeks old. Friends who are looking at daycare centres have had their children on waiting lists since before the children were born!

   We have found a daycare centre that is owned by a former neighbour of my in-laws, who have their younger children at the daycare centre. Which, is a testament to the caregivers employed there. The owners trust them with their own kids!

   I felt comfortable with the daycare centre because of the training each staff needs – the staff working with the infants are all ECE trained with CPR/First aid and at least 2 years experience working with infants.

   I also was pleased with the cleanliness and layout of this particular daycare centre, as compared to a basement, or small room at someone’s house.

   Other Advantages

   -Secure website with webcam for parents showing screenshots

   -Control over who is interacting with children. I have heard horror stories of homecares where there are “friends” or “family” hanging out at the home all day that are criminals

   -The ratio is 1:3 for infants, and 1:5 for pre-toddlers, which I believe is the same as a homecare setting.

   -I too find it difficult to take time off if my daycare worker was ill and it would leave me in a lurch if they cancelled in the morning if they were sick. My back-up if our son is sick at daycare is grandparents right now.

   This isn’t to say we wouldn’t consider a homecare. We may still look for someone close to our house, especially if/when we have another child. Two in daycare may be a little too pricey! It will be a big decision no matter what!

9. On July 31st, 2007 at 9:43 pm, Deb said:

   I would never put my children in a home daycare.
   We have both children in a ctr and have had since they were infants.
   The more sets of eyes on the adults around my children the better.
   They get tons of love and hugs from all the staff.
   Each staff brings a different personality and gift to the children; and know them all by name.
   The numbers are very monitored regarding child/staff ratio, and ministry inspections are frequent.
   They have the best educational trips and events.
   Last week my son got to milk a cow in the gym of his school……he was thrilled and won’t stop talking about it. Then he made a tie die shirt.
   Everyday in the summer they have “camp” and each day is a new educational topic; like milking a cow, going on a trip to the zoo, and having a Caribanna Parade. The ctr I have my children in has an indoor gym, for the hot/rainy/snowy days.
   I like that they have a schedule, it is flexible…but my children do much better on a routine, plus it gets them ready for big kid school.
   The illness is worse in a ctr, however when my children start school they will have a better immune system. I would rather them miss daycare with an illness then school days later on.
   Ok, so I guess it’s obvious that I love ctr’s….I can only say great things about the two ctr’s the kids have been in.
   I did a lot of research into daycare, as we all do. I did visit ctr’s that I would never put my children in, for various reasons.
   It is very expensive, but worth it. They are so excited to go and talk my ear off all the way home about what things they did that day.
   I want my kids to get as much social interaction as possible, with many different types of people.
   As for the “glove thing”, I think that’s the best, I’m a hygiene freak I like knowing that the hands they make food with are as clean as possible. I don’t think the children care so long as they get a fresh clean diaper.
   There are pros and cons for every different family and child. You have to do what you feel is best for your children and respect other people’s decisions.

10. On July 31st, 2007 at 10:25 pm, Colleen said:

    Carly, you sure have stirred up some discussion with this topic!

11. On August 2nd, 2007 at 12:48 am, Poppy said:

    I chose to BE the daycare provider opposed to putting my children in home daycare or a daycare center after I gave birth to child #3. I have 4 grown children now but I am still in the daycare business.

    I took a hiatus when my youngest was a junior in high school and went to work outside of my home. After 3 yrs. I was sought out by a family I had provided daycare for before my hiatus when they were expecting their 2nd child. It didn’t take much to convince me to give up my job and return to the daycare business because quite frankly I missed it. Trust me I made a lot more $ working outside of my home but for me there’s nothing like providing TLC for a little one while his/her parents are unable. Money isn’t everything…at least in my eyes.

    I cared for that child for 3 yrs. until they moved out of the area and then my granddaughter was born and I have cared for her now almost 3 yrs. I recently began watching the infant daughter of a neighbor. Addison is now 6 months.

    I’d like to say that I am CPR certified and have attended several First Aid classes over the years.

    I was once licensed through my counties DCFS department as a Title XX childcare provider. I held that license for 15 yrs.I had to attend a 16 wk. childhood development class before I was licensed and also had to attend a 2 wk. refresher course each year. I also had to have a background check done on myself and my husband. (Which I would have no problem doing and have done if someone asked) During the time I was licensed I was subject to random spot checks by the county. I let that license lapse when I went outside the home to work.

    I keep a clean home but I do have a cat. The kids love her and for the most part she is off sleeping somewhere as cats are wont to do so there is very little interaction.

    I have a large backyard and have lots of outdoor toys for them to play with. I also have a spare bedroom set up as a playroom.I keep the toys clean and often add to them as new things become available and catch my eye. I should own stock in Toys R Us.

    I do have a routine and stick to it for the most part, but one has to be flexible when caring for small children. I also do not believe in “TV babysitting”. I never did it with my own children, I certainly would not do it with others.

    I never have more than 3 children at any one time and prefer that they are all approximately the same age so that they can be playmates and friends.

    I do take the children out. We drive into town and go for walks (I have a double stroller), we go to the park to play, I take them to the local zoo, library for children’s story hour, etc. I would refuse to work for anyone who did not allow me to do these outside activities. How boring would that be if we were trapped within the same 4 walls day after day after day? No thanks. I am a careful driver, have never had a ticket nor been in an accident. Of course accidents happen…just as easily to the parents as they could with me. I feel I have to be extra observant and careful because I am responsible for small children.

    I do take one week of vacation a year but I give at least 4 months notice and do not charge for that time. Many other home daycare providers do and pretty much all daycare centers do. I do not charge if I need to take a day off but I always try to give my parents two weeks to find alternative care or they are welcome to call my back up. Of course emergencies happen…just as they happen to others so there is no guarantee that I can always give that 2 wk notice. I do charge whether the child is at my home or not unless I am given at least 2 wks. notice of their absence. I think that’s only fair since I am here and ready to “work”.

    I will provide care for a sick child as long as that child is not ill with something contagious, vomiting, having diarrhea or carrying a temp over 100 degrees. Runny noses and coughs are common with little ones and I know how to use a kleenex, wash hands and scrub toys to remove germs. Any child with any of the above listed maladies needs to be home with their parents.

    Sorry this is so long…I could add much, much more but I’ll refrain. For every horror story I hear about home daycare I can tell one about parents I have encountered over the years. Parents who have given me checks that bounced. Parents that have moved with no notice, owing me money. Parents who are late picking up their child because they stopped by the grocery, ran into the bank, post office, drug store, stopped to get gas, get the car washed, etc. Parents who decide to take the day off but neglect to call me so I’m sitting around waiting. Parents who take the day off from work and don’t tell me…that’s usually the day Bobby or Sally get sick and I try to reach them at work but they aren’t there. So on and so forth.

    Entrusting your child to anyone…be it home daycare or a center is one of the hardest thing a parent is faced with. I don’t envy any parent that decision. I think that’s why it’s always been important to me to be the best daycare provider I an possibly be and to be doing this for the right reasons. Too many daycare providers do it for “easy” money and it shows because they don’t put much time and effort into the “job”. I don’t think of it as a job and like I said it sure isn’t the $ (making way less than minimum wage, having no medical benefits or retirement fund, paying taxes on the paltry sum to boot is not how anyone gets rich)I do it because I genuinely love children and as I said up there…I enjoy it.

    Everyone has to do what feels right to them. Neither choice is better than the other…it’s just what feels right to you.

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