ok, i KNOW there are SOME moms who read this. probably not many because i'm the shittiest blogger alive, but help a sista out, if you will.
tom and i are visiting a daycare on thursday and i wanna know... EVERYTHING.
as in, what stood out for YOU in the daycare you decided to go with? what did you hate? what did you ask? did you have to LOVE the teachers? what was the teacher to infant ratio (if your kid went as an infant. mine will be 3 months when it (hahaah it) goes.)?
anything that you thought you wouldn't give a tiny rat's ass about but did? vice versa? any sort of help would be appreciated.
though i must admit, this place would have to be ON FIRE for us not to use it, since it's on-site at my work and we get a huge discount.
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9 comments:
If it's onsite at work, I totally agree, it WOULD have to be on fire. That is a huge advantage to be able to stop in any time and be right there.
It's so tough with visiting the infant rooms, because I like our daycare SO MUCH MORE now that Ava's a toddler than I did when she was an infant. The infant rooms are just so...DEPRESSING. I don't know. It's hard not to be turned off/panicked by a roomful of crying babies, even though that's totally normal.
I guess I would care about staff turnover, and also how miserable the staff LOOKS. That is huge.
Hey,
We can chat about this, as there is far too much to write here when I talk to you practically every day. I have to tell you that the biggest selling point for me was the number of recs from people I really respect. But of course I had to see it for myself, and I think I looked at 5, total. Three were so OUT, and I liked 2 a LOT. I picked the Kindercare in the end over the other one because of (1)recs (2)location (even though the other one was in Cromwell, it was waaaaay on the other side of town and (3) meals included. But there is definitely a vibe in each place you visit - you'll see. We'll talk. :) -B
This is owned by KC, too, so meals are included. Which rocks. Several people from work (obvs) use and recommend it, so that's all very promising. I also love the location (and THE PRICE!), so I'm looking for "vibe" type stuff.
Like WHAT would make me turn from THAT kinda deal? Teachers smoking crack RIGHT IN FRONT of the babies?
I used to work in the infant room of a daycare. The ratio in that room was 4 infants to 1 adult, which was the maximum allowed by that state at that time (this was, like, more than 10 years ago). Tess is right that an infant room can look depressing even if it's good: with 8 babies (we had 2 adults), 1 or 2 are nearly ALWAYS crying or fussing, even if everything's good. And sometimes all 8 go off at once!
I think an onsite daycare would be REALLY REALLY GREAT, because then they HAVE to be good, knowing parents could appear at any moment.
I think this it the first time I've commented! Remember, this is coming from a nurse:
1) Do they use gloves to change diapers?
2) How do they handle a really fussy baby (or difficult toddler)? Time outs? Can they bring in an extra teacher if the baby need 1:1 care?
3) Make sure it's a locked facility and that you have to buzz to get in. Also make sure they don't prop doors open. We saw one daycare do that!
4) High ceilings and windows made it for me. The smaller places seemed claustrophobic.
5) What is their cleaning policy? How do they sterilize the toys and how often?
6) Will you be bringing the baby to the daycare even if you are staying home that day? Is it worth that drive?
Hope this helps! I agree that you will definitely get a vibe immediately. GO WITH YOUR GUT!
Yeah, smoking crack is usually a bad sign. No, I think that it can be a feeling or something concrete, you know? Like the place I saw a BABY in a CRIB with a BLANKET OVER ITS HEAD. Um, WTF? She said the kid "liked it." Hmmm.
Also? I went to a place that I swear used to be a bowling alley. Atmosphere? Not good. Not a flarking window in the joint. And there were tvs all over the place. I'm not paying them a million bajillion dollas to stick him in front of the tv. Or to bowl with him.
Thanks, Janny! Those are great! The only one I can answer now is 6... The chances that the baby would go on a day that I would be home are pretty slim, since I'm supposed to be there 5 days a week, but if that does come up, Tom works 10 minutes from the daycare, so he can bring the baby.
Since we are both way up there all day every day, having a daycare near home doesn't really make sense for us.
Hi. First time poster... :)
I love and agree with all of January's comments.
Another "selling point" for me was a daycare that provided a daily sheet. We would get a paper everyday with the time and # of bottles our daughter drank, the time/# of BM diaper changes, and (as she got older and wasn't sleeping ALL day,) the times she napped. As she got even older this tracking sheet also included what foods (and how much) she ate during lunch.
SO helpful to be able to know when she "picked" at dinner that she had eaten a large meal that day. And helpful to know if she hadn't pooped in awhile, that she actually DID poop at school. LOL.
The things we worry about as Moms!
Congrats to you! :)
Yay! I love new posters!!
Thanks for your comments! We had our tour and loved the daycare. I'll post about it this afternoon.
Thank you ALL!
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