By: Pauline Hackemann

When I started working full time, when my son was 6 months old and my daughter 3. I had been at home before that juggling my successful art career, when I got a tenure track Professor position. The nearby daycare center seemed great. It was clean and they had a room for each age. It cost about 5.50 per hour for babies and $4 for older kids. Coming form the East coast these prices seamed very reasonable to my husband and I and after having doctor’s records faxed to them, we registered our children. They have a system whereby you sign your child in at the front desk and then out again when you collect it.

We later on switched to an in home daycare for half the week and below I have listed the pros and of in home versus institutional daycare (i.e. a place with many many children, more than 50).

DayCare Center/Preschools

PROS

• Great staff, often well trained in child care and psychology. Ours even had students form the local college stop by to help out.
• Variety of activities, such as singing (they will learn those nursery rhymes you forgot the words to!), sensory play (tubs with sand, pasta, rocks to feel and explore), emotional education (toddlers learn about different feelings and what they mean), ABC’s and counting, reading and little TV, drawing, painting, finger painting
• Your child will learn more and be better prepared for school – being in a large room with 15 other kids makes the transition to Kindergarten MUCH MUCH easier.
• Children get used to a variety of other adults at the daycare center/pre-school. They are not scared and anxious when you leave them there.
• Children become more social and make many friends
• They learn good manners and practice good hygiene – hand washing etc.
  But even though our center seems very clean, I suppose with such a large place, certain things cannot be avoided – organizational and cleanliness are only two areas, but there are more.
• You are only charged for when your child is present, if you go on vacation or your child is at home sick, you will not be charged for such time.
• Generally the daycare services are very reliable - nearly always open and not reliant on the health of any one person to determine whether they can take kids or not.
• They went outside daily for at least 2 hours in their own private fenced in playground and then for a walk in the community (holding on to a long rope), or were walked in strollers – a good emphasis on exercise and fresh air.

CONS

• Possibility of junk/low quality/unfresh food – some daycare centers hook into the public school system’s food, which in many American towns is dire – chicken nuggets, canned spaghetti, cookies and chocolate milk are possible – vegetable are often canned.
• GERMS!! Your child will most likely get one cold after another and so will you – in our experience this was the tipping point. I never get more than one cold a year, if that and as soon as they started daycare I got one cold after the other leading to 4 doctor’s visits for chronic sinusitis, ear infection, eye infection, it lasted 6 months until we simply took them out of daycare into an in-home daycare (no sickness after that!!)
• It takes a longer time to drop off your child before work – by the time I have parked in the parking lot, walked in, signed the kids in, walked to each room and taken off al their jackets and boots and am back in my car, about 10 minutes have gone by.
• There is an excessive amount of paper work at ours – every day we received abot 3 – 4 pieces of paper – some were cute with kids art – others consisted of notices and rules, forms of some kind or other – and when you’re busy your bag and car can quickly become a depository for these. Not all daycare centers are like this (I hope) but ours seems reluctant to e-mail and is very rigid. For example they get upset if you do not label every single piece of clothing belonging to your child, or if you have your child bring a toy, or if they forget their gloves in the winter. Other times they have Pajama day or or “green shirt’ day and we love this – but sometimes we forget and then its embarrassing.
• We had to also sign a release to allow them to put sunscreen on our children and bring one tube of it in (labeled) for each child.
• Daycare centers may close on school snow days (but your work place will be open!) or for example on December 23rd.
• Because of their size and to protect other kids, they have (good) rigid rules about fevers and medicine. If your child has a fever, he must go home and you MUST leave work to pick him/her up or have a relative do so,
• Your child can’t go back for 24 ours after the fever has passed.
• They will not give a child Tylenol or any other medicine for insurance reasons
• They may find it hard to accommodate you bringing food for your child – for example gluten free food or simply fresh veggies to eat or organic milk or soy milk.

IN HOME DAYCARE

Before we moved to the Midwest, I had no idea in- home daycare existed or what it was. After paying $1,200 a month for our kids to go to the daycare center where our children kept getting terrible colds that were even worse in our bodies, we started wondering. If the median income in our town was so low, i.e. many people make less than 30,000 here – how on earth could they have kids in daycare? When my husband’s cousin came to dinner with their 3 kids we asked them where they went – she said – an in-home daycare. This seemed very bizarre to me and even slightly creepy – a stranger would look after my child in her house? I liked the idea that my children had many care givers at the center, and would subsequently not get too attached to one single person (and usurp me, the real Mum!)

I read up about them and found out that those with more than 6 children must register (this may vary by state) and that it is quite common and a way for Mum’s with many kids to make money by simply having other people’s kids come, too.
We saw a notice on the street round the corner form our house and called and made an appointment. I had read up online about what to look for (for example, cleanliness, many highchairs, toy room that was organized, labeled bins for each child’s diapers etc., clean bathroom and accessible potty etc., as well as to ask about discipline, food and potty training and naps). We liked the house, which had a large playroom and was extremely tidy and well organized. The women, who was in her mid twenties had 3 of her own children, 2 there and one in school She used time outs and was into regular synchronized naps for all ages (great). She also was a sometimes cynic like me and so this was refreshing in the Midwest. We signed a one page contract and that was the last piece of paper I saw for a long time and we liked that!

PROS

• Less paperwork than a daycare, although initial immunization report etc may be required.
• CHEAPER! She charged $2.50/hr + $1 extra for the baby. This meant it cost $3.50 an hour for both of them as opposed to $9.50 at the daycare center. Horay – I could keep more of what I made.
• Fast drop off. There’s no parking to look for or contend with – I stop at the curb, walk a few feet, open the door and leave my darlings inside dressed and the daycare lady takes their shoes etc off if I am in a hurry.
• She is flexible with times and is often open on snowdays, as she is at home! This is a GREAT convenience if you live in a state where there are many.
• The absolute biggest bonus however is that we stopped getting so sick. The same thing happened to two couple friends of mine – we asked on couple who had been sick all the time once “so, did you get immune to those daycare center germs yet, you seem well?” They replied “No, we took her out of there and now we’re fine!”. The doctor may tell you that your body will get used to it or that it will pass in time, but after 9 moths of it, we simply gave up, as it impacted our work. The in-home daycares usually only have about 5-9 kids in them and they simply do not get so sick all the time, it a simple numbers fact – 98 versus 9.
• I was also able to give her packets of gluten free pasta and soy milk for my son, or organic milk for my daughter which she kept in the fridge.
• I never had to label clothes or sunscreen – she did it for us
• If a child is sick she would give the medicine on schedule
• If a child had a fever she would call to let me know but put him/her to bed with Tylenol until I finished my work – just as she would with her own kids – no problem at all

CONS

• Less activities and trained educational staff/attention. While our in home daycare occasionally had them do arts and crafts projects, the large bins of pasta, sand and rocks, the large library of books and finger painting? Not a chance. They did play in the garden sometimes or got out the sprinkler, they did not go outside as often or do special activities, learn the alphabet or come home singing new songs.
• They did not go outside as often or go for walks, but stayed inside a lot
• The TV was often on in the background, even though my kids ignored it and played
• Sometimes my kids would come home saying strange things they had learned form other kids or the daycare lady (we never found out who) – we really did not like this
• They also suddenly started doing things like climbing on coffee tables – we did not know why but when I saw one of her kids standing on it to dance, I realized where they had picked this up!!
• We never had this problem, but I heard that in some places, strangers would visit the in-home daycare house. Definitely make sure that no strangers, especially men or teenagers visit the in-home daycare. I would definitely have felt uncomfortable with that! Also make sure that no trips are taken without your knowledge.
• Most in home daycare contracts stipulate payment of services regardless - so if your child is at home sick or you take them on vacation you must pay for the child care as if the child were present.
• If the child care giver is sick, goes on vacation, or must be away for some reason the day care is closed. This can come at an inconvenient time and require you to have alternate options for day care for these days (relatives, friends, alternate daycare, etc.)

IN the end you MUST build trust with the provider – but she is also a Mum and has her own children there, so you are in the same boat in many ways. I am no longer working and have my son in the daycare/pre-school now for 2 days a week, and at home the rest. The language thing really did it, but I began getting sick again 2 weeks ago and remembered why – that daycare center and it’s germs…my daughter is in Kindergarten now. My daughter is still friends with the lady’s daughter and we have play dates now.

In conclusion, just like with any decision, your choices will depend on your needs and limitations. Finances may restrict you, and so may locations of the respective care centers. We hit the balance well when we had them in the daycare center 3 mornings, I had them 2 mornings and all afternoons (afternoon naps, too, why pay $9.50/hr for them to sleep?) at the in-home center – but they are close to each other and that may not be an option for everyone. I will never forget being close to tears in the doctor’s office saying I simply could not bare to be sick anymore, wondering if maybe I had some horrible disease, because I got one cold after the other for months on end – this to me will stand out in my mind as the worst, and so will some of the language my daughter brought home from the in-home place ! The good news is, that whatever you do (and staying at home with them may be best), they all eventually go to school and grow.
 

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