Hellobee

If you’ve been following our daycare drama, the most recent issue is the fact that our daycare lost its lease and is closing its doors forever at the end of June. As I noted in that previous post, I contacted about ten center-based daycares in our area and toured most of them. I learned a lot about how different the daycares are and we ultimately narrowed our choices down to three. Most of the other ones that I toured were knocked out either based on the price or location.

Of course, we knew that no daycare was going to check off every box for us and we had to prioritize what we cared about most. That said, in case you’re wondering what an ideal daycare looked like for us it’s the following:

– Cost: Relatively affordable (ideally less than $1,900/month for Panda and less than $1400/month for Lion). We had to stay within our budget and some were nixed immediately.

– Hours: Opens no later than 7 a.m. and closes no earlier than 6 p.m. (we generally drop off around 7:15 and pickup anywhere between 5:15 and 5:45, so it’s nice to have some buffer room) and have space for both kids.

– Location: A perfect daycare would be within walking distance (approximately 1.25 miles) of our home and the metro station (as our current daycare is).

– Curriculum and attention: We would love a daycare with an immersion program, preferably Spanish language immersion. We wanted a daycare that seemed patient and would give our kids some individualized attention, particularly Lion who is a hybrid shy and spirited child. After a lot of research into different curriculum, we really wanted one that was play-based. Although it didn’t even occur to me to ask, I found out that some daycares regularly assign homework, which was a turn-off for us.

– Play space: I liked daycares that had larger playgrounds with an option for indoor play during inclement weather.

– Extracurriculars: We liked daycares that had extra activities, but only if they didn’t have an extra cost; we didn’t mind paying an overall higher price if it was folded into the daycare tuition, but didn’t love the idea that only some kids would be able to enjoy the extra activities and that might stir up jealousy.

– Meals: We had no preference on whether breakfast or lunch was served, but wanted a center that served healthy food, whether that was snacks or meals (i.e., no sugar, low processed foods with a lot of variety in fruits, vegetables, protein and whole grain).

– Size:  We initially had a preference for daycares that were on the smaller side because our current daycare is pretty small (6 infants, 6 toddlers, 20 preschoolers ranging from age 2-5), but all of the daycares were larger than ours. Some were huge, with more than 100 kids, while others were smaller at around 40 students.

– Age groupings: I also had a preference for classrooms that had a smaller age range, either with kids of just two different ages or of the same age. I used to think that I had a preference for the large age range because of the montessori style approach* and benefits of mixed age classrooms, but recently Lion has been picking up some inappropriate language and behavior that the 5-year-old kids have been engaged in, which seemed to be not particularly developmentally appropriate for his age.

Here’s a quick recap of our top three contenders:

Daycare A

Biggest pros: Clear play-based learning environment; children seemed happy and engaged; short drive from our home; relatively small classrooms separated by age; monthly field trips; relatively affordable, could be less of a transition to the elementary school since they are located in the same place; best overall feel.

Biggest cons: Not walkable from our house or the metro; only accepts children age 2 and up; totally unclear if/when there will be a space for Panda after he turns 2 (so we would need to do two pickups/dropoffs for at least seven months, possibly up to fifteen months); follows the county’s school closings rather than the federal government closing schedule (likely to have more inclement weather closings).

Daycare B

Biggest pros: Most convenient of the locations; serves all meals and snacks and appears to have a healthy menu; heavy focus on the individual child; nicest outdoor and indoor play spaces; good extras (some of which are included in the cost), reasonable price; low staff turnover; appears to be the most organized of any center.

Biggest cons: Seemed like the most structured center despite the claim that their curriculum is play-based; largest of the centers with more than 100 students; no spot currently open for Panda and uncertainty as to when a spot would open so two drop offs/pickups would be required for the foreseeable future.

Daycare C

Biggest pros: One of Lion’s classmates currently attends here and her mother has been happy with the transition; excellent support with potty-training; play-based curriculum; individualized attention; has openings for both kids.

Biggest cons: Inconvenient location and would add significant time to our commute; despite being Catholic and the fact that we have considered Catholic elementary school, Mr. Dolphin wasn’t crazy about the religious education; assigns homework; could be expanding too quickly; no natural light in the classrooms because of its placement in the basement; snack menus appear to have a high degree of sugary/processed snacks.

.  .  .  .  .

And the winner is . . . Daycare B!

We decided that Daycare C was too inconvenient from our home and the added commute time wasn’t worth it in the long run. There are days where picking them up now is tight and adding extra time on top of that wasn’t very appealing. We felt that the convenience of having both kids in the same daycare was going to be eaten up by the inconvenience of the location which is in the exact opposite direction of where we work. Additionally, the homework was a big turnoff for us. I’m too much of a perfectionist to not make sure that my child does it, but I didn’t want a two-year-old to worry about having to complete assignments all the time. While there were other things I didn’t love about Daycare C, these were the biggest factors and the positive aspects (like having space for both kids and knowing another child from our current daycare) just weren’t enough to overcome the inconvenient location.

While Daycare A was my favorite of the three and I loved the idea of monthly field trips, I was really worried that spot for Panda wouldn’t open up when he turned two and we’d be doing separate drop offs for more than a year.

Ultimately, convenience was the biggest factor and Daycare B won by a mile in terms of location since it is on the edge of being walkable from our home and is directly across from a metro station. It wouldn’t add too much to our commute, despite being in the wrong direction, and I have more faith in the organization and transparency of this daycare in predicting when there might be an opening for Panda. While we will have to do separate drop-offs for the near future, we’re keeping our fingers crossed for a spot sooner rather than later. This daycare was the mid-point for the three we looked at, but I do think we get the most for our money here because of the catered meals and snacks (which seem pretty healthy) plus the included extra activities. I also liked the director of this center the most, perhaps because she is clearly the most organized, and the low staff turnover was a big positive.

Daycare B had a spot for Lion immediately, which we had to take or risk being in a position of not being able to get a spot when we needed it. We’re nervous about transitioning Lion to his new daycare (next week!) and are crossing our fingers for a spot for Panda soon. I know, based on Lion’s personality, that the transition will be tough. I just keep trying to remind myself that children are resilient.

The kids adore playing at their current daycare and I am so sad to be leaving.

*After writing the previous post, I have been continuing to tour daycares as we try to find a temporary spot for Panda. I visited a montessori school in the area and the prices it listed online were a bit of a stretch for our budget, but I thought we could make it work for Panda. After visiting I absolutely fell in love with it and the entire tour was thinking about forfeiting our deposit at Daycare B and putting both Lion and Panda into this school. I really do love the montessori approach and think it would be the ideal setting for Lion and his personality. Alas, the prices on the montessori school’s website were seriously out of date and the current prices were about 25% higher than our maximum budget for Panda and 45% higher than our maximum budget for Lion.