For those of you that have kids in some sort of Child care. What did you look for to pick your place? How often does your child go. What type of place is it home care or public?
Thanks
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good for kids
3 comments:
By home care do you mean having someone come to your house or do you mean that the daycare is in someones house? I would be hesitant to leave my child in a daycare situation where there is only one provider. My mom did daycare in our home until I moved out, and she was great, but there are too many bad stories out there and I think that the provider is more responsible for their actions when there is another adult witnessing how they treat the kids. Someone coming to your house would provide more individual attention, while daycare centers typically have a scheduled day that allows the kids to play together, do crafts, and have some kind of learning time(my mom also did all of these things in her in-home daycare). It is good for kids to learn to play with other kids. They both have their bonuses.
I don't have kids in childcare, but those are a few of my thoughts. :)
Thank you Kristi. My mom also use to have a childcare out of our home. I grew up with lots of playmates. I think thats part of the problem with my sister and I. Sadly that is a story for a different time.
I lean more to the group setting. Not 100% sure yet no real rush since I am not working at the moment. I just want to get an idea of what is out there and other people like.
well, i kept each baby in family home care for the first few months, meaning, juggling from gma to aunties depending on the day of the week, january-june for wrenna, and then april-june for noah. then i was home for the summer since i was a teacher.
back to school time for wrenna, she was 10 mos and i was convinced i wanted home care. then i visited a few home care centers and thought, eww... i mean, i'm sure there are some great ones out there but not in podunk mt angel oregon, kwim?
then i called the oregon ccis, which will take your preferences and generate a list of providers near you. on the list was the child care at the nursing center in mt. angel, which i'd heard about during my pg with wrenna, but forgotten about.
i went there not expecting much, but i was bedazzled by the simplicity of the place, the fact that they didn't have cookie-cutter setups from the lakeshore catalog, that they used all kinds of trash and recyclables to make treasures....and also that the infant teacher was in her 11th year...usually centers have a LOT of turnover.
so i entered wrenna there and never looked back. noah did the family juggle as an infant but started at the center at 10 months as well.
eventually, when domestic violence ended my marriage and i decided i needed to be with my kids, i quit teaching public school and took an open preschool teaching position at the center. that was a unique and difficult-at-times experience, but i wouldn't trade the years i got to have with my kids near me. so many good memories, and i made some great friends in the other teachers there. almost everyone there by that time had put in at least a decade and again, that is unheard of in childcare, so it was like a wonderful family.
incidentally, that infant room teacher finally quit after SEVENTEEN straight years and 3 pg's and breastfeeding periods with her own kids there, because her dh got a job across the state....she misses it and would go back if they were here.
i know this is going on forever but i'm trying to say, when you find the right place, you will KNOW. the 'family' at pbnc in mt angel has been with me through all wrenna's hardships and diagnoses and they still love her to pieces, even when she rightfully has earned her own drowning several times over LOL
now...when i moved over here last may, i panicked a little because there were no centers anywhere near as wonderful as what i'd just left....so i ended up looking for home care. the centers i did look at were AWFUL and the bus scheduling with public school wouldn't have worked for any of the decent ones. so i started combing thru the home cares, again with the help of ccis, who generated a list for me again.
we found 'gma' gwen, who is just like my parents about 30 years ago, her farm is just like it was when i was a kid....my kids are getting all the nature and ag experiences i did and for me it's just been the best thing ever. i mean, who would expect in two near-perfect childcare experiences in the same lifetime? i don't know if i'm just lucky or what, i know i'm not talented at a lot of things, but i guess sniffing out a decent childcare might be one of my finer points, i guess.
the home care at gwen's provides all the pieces the center care was 'missing' due to the constraints of a center, which had conversely provided a lot of things that may be missing from gwen's care in the home simply because of the different setup and dynamic.
anyway, look around, like i said, you will KNOW. gwen's probably wouldn't have been a safe or appropriate place for wrenna when she was younger but it's perfect for her now, kwim?
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