The Great Day Care Search

Yesterday, my husband and I took a half day off work to look around at our day care options. We went to just four places:

The Place That's Buying Our Place: We decided that we liked it. We liked the director. We liked the fact that the children start a real educational curriculum at 18 months. We liked that they promote to a new class based on developmental stages rather than solely on age. Obviously, we like the location(s) because we can either stay in our current location or go to their main location, which is actually more convenient to our house and for our commutes. We like the fact that they are committed to trying to make it a smooth transition for the babies that are already at [the day care center that is closing]. The pricing was reasonable. They have good security measures in place and the ability to view via Internet. My husband thought that there were too many kids in a classroom but, I pointed out that is why they are expanding to two locations. The Director indicated that the classroom would have 8 kids to two teachers which is absolutely the best that we can expect at this age (12-17 months)

Big Franchise Center in the Ritzy Neighborhood: We weren’t impressed. The teachers seemed young and not very experienced. There wasn’t anything BAD per se but, being underimpressed and the location being a bit less convenient and the price being higher all combined for a no sale. Plus, the kids looked dirty – couldn’t decide if that was a parent thing or a caregiver thing – regardless, we have been spoiled by the fact that Jayla is actually clean…at least by the time we pick her up.

Our Current School at Their Other Location: The location just weighed too heavily. It just isn’t convenient for us. However, the Director told us that the plan was to move Ms. J over there and let her keep our babies for as long as possible, which is obviously a plus. They have great resources over there and Jayla could obviously learn a lot there between now and Kindergarten.

Big Franchise Center (same as above) on Our Side of the Freeway: We like the personnel, though they were extremely ghetto but played "professionalism" very well. I noticed that it was rather chaotic. There did not seem to be much organized play going on. It could have just been the time of day that we were visiting. However, I did not like what I saw in the 6-12 month classroom at all. The babies weren’t being stimulated. They were all sucking pacifiers and swinging in swings. All of the toys in the classroom were sitting neatly on the shelves at 3:00 in the afternoon! In the 12-18 month classroom (which is where the enrollment manager told me she would have a spot for Jayla in August), the kids were kinda just playing on their own. The teachers just didn’t seem engaged with them. My husband agreed when I pointed that out once we left. We also didn’t like that they promote solely based on age.

So, we both independently came to the same conclusion for our first option: To let Jayla stay in the current location and transition into The Place That's Buying Our Place. That’s where we’re leaning…though nothing is set in stone.