Daycare Vs. In-home Childcare

Jessica,

I have been a registered in home daycare provider for over 16 years now. I have poured my heart and soul into the children I have kept and I am offended by the comments I heard on here. You all have no idea about inhome childcare until you have walked in those shoes. Jessica, if you would like for me to call you about my business, I'd be glad to share with you the joy of in home childcare.

L.

I would go with In-home childcare, with out a doubt. But, you have to be very picky. My husband and I visited over 20 places (centers and in-homes) before we picked ours and my children LOVE it. The ratios at centers are outragous, and if you want your little one to get any one-on-one attention, or learn anything, they are not going to do it in a center. For a 3's class, you generally have 2 teachers (most of the time) and 30 children. That is state regulation. There is just no way that any two people can meet the needs both emotionally and educationally of 30 children. My advice is to find an in-home center that only keep 1 age range. For example our provider only keeps 2-5, and she does a full pre-k curriculum. That way all of her attention is focused on meeting the needs of that age group, and the children are socializing with others close to them. I would definitely ask any provider about their experience, references, and policies and procedures. You also want to find out what all they offer. Are they actually providing curriculum and functioning like a preschool? Or just babysitting your child? If you are anywhere near Virginia and 75 in McKinney let me know, I have a wonderful provider!!

I used three in home providers and three centers. For a baby - up to about 2 - I recommend an IHP. After that, I recommend a good center. If you're shopping for your daughter, I'd want to know the policies on medication, discipline, termination, and the educational philosophy. One is not necessarily better than another - but you want to make sure it aligns with yours.

The success rate for the providers I used was 1/3. In each group, one was WONDERFUL, one was HORRIBLE, and one wasn't good.

I recommend searching TXDPRS's site, looking at the reports, and checking for violations. Then go to the place (IH or Center) and talk to the provider, talk to some of the parents. Look at the outside play equipment, the dining facilities, watch the interaction.

S.

Jessica,
My name is A. and I am an in-home childcare provider. I believe that it is ALL based on the teacher. You may not like the thought of a daycare center, however, the teacher you REALLY want is there, then I say go for it. However, I went back to in-home care because of the struggles with too many children and not enough adults. I just do not care for the center based care, however, there are some GREAT teachers out there. If you are looking for either I would say ask lots of questions. Ask what their qualifications are, do they have a degree, or are they accredited? Give them an example of a situation and ask what would be done discipline wise to remedy that situation. Make sure that the ratios are within reason and look around to check the environment for safety and supervision issues. Ask about curriculum, at 3 yrs. your daughter should start to know colors, shapes, weather, and begin numbers. Is there a second language?
One of the reasons that I prefer in-home is because there is such a big turn over in centers. With in-home you have the same teacher for years. Rather than 1 year at a time, if your lucky. It is ultimately your choice which way to go, just ask alot of questions! If you have any questions or would like to talk just email me. My website is www.ambersangels.net

My kids have been day-care center kids since they were infants.
I would not consider an in-home daycare at all. Period.

Other than the state there is no one to check up on them. How do you know what goes on during the day? At a daycare center there is always someone looking over everyone's shoulder. How can they teach my 4 year old anything when they're taking care of infants and toddlers too? And if they have infants and toddlers, what are they doing with them while they spend time with the pre-schoolers? Seems like someone is inevitably going to lose out.

As far as individual care in a daycare - my kids have ALWAYS felt loved. My 4 year old recently moved up to a new class and we have to go to her old class twice a week (dd's request) so she can hug her favorite tacher. We've had a couple of bad teachers here and there, but the beauty of a daycare is that we addressed the issues with management and they were solved; we didn't have to put our kids through the trauma of moving them to a whole new place.

Learning - my 4 year old is learning sight words and can write her name, my name, dads name, brothers name, and a few other words. My 6 year old is in the private kindergarten program at the daycare. He's reading 1st & 2nd grade chapter books, as are 3-4 other kids in his class. He's also doing addition, subtraction, and science.

Sorry if I sound defensive, but I am so tired of hearing that I'm letting other people raise my kids by putting them in a daycare; or that they aren't getting appropriate attention in a daycare. My kids have always been in daycare - and they are thriving!! It completely depends on the daycare facility you choose. Do your homework, visit unannounced, talk to current parents. If you do all that and are convinced it's a great place, it probably is!

I am not a big fan of in home daycare's at all. Even the ones that are licensed just don't get checked often enough and although I am SURE that there are some wonderful in home day care provider out there, I can tell you from my own experience and the expereinces of people that I know, they are few and far between. A neighbor of mine does in home child care and I can tell you that it is chaos. At least in a daycare setting all of the children are around the same age. In a in home daycare setting they aren't usually and the older children typically have no structure and the younger ones aren't learning as much as they would otherwise. Most daycare's now teach sign language to the little ones and they are doing nothing but taking care of the children - there are no phones, TV's, or chores to distract them. You have to worry about what to do if your childcare provider gets ill or has an appointment of some sort. I would never let someone take my children in their car, so it is not a workable solution in my mind. When my oldest was about 18 months old I had a neighbor watch him for 4 hours two days a week like mother's day out and I stopped quickly after I realized that it really was nothing but chaos and he really needed structure and proper socialization. Now we are in MDO 2 days a week at a local church and we LOVE it. It is structured and I never have to worry about the care he is receiving. He is in class with kids his age and he loves it! Good luck...I know that these decisions are difficult.

I also think the best place for a child is in the home with mom, I have been blessed enough to be able to do that. However, I worked in childcare for 5 years, and would not hesitate to put my daughter in an ACCREDITED child care center, if I had to and I did when she was an infant. All childcare centers have to be licensed but not accredited. If a child care center is accredited, this means the center has gone over and beyond the state standards and is following state and the associations standards. This usually means, lower ratios, better teacher education, and more child centered. I am WAHM, I keep two other children in my home. So I know both sides, and they both can be wonderful, and they both can be horrible. It's all about the teacher/caregiver. As someone else said in another comment, you must trust your mommy gut no matter what care you decide to go with. I could give you many more tips on child care centers, and what to ask for when or if you start looking if you are interested.

I'm confused when people say that in home care gets insepected less often than centers. If you go the dfps website, you'll see that's simply not true (unless you're sending your child to a registered or listed in home place). My son's previous LICENSED in home center is inspected at the same frequency as his preschool.

My son's in home center taught him sign language, the babies had their own space completely separate from the walkers/young toddlers (it's a husband/wife combo with a PT assistant), they don't keep toddlers past the age of 3, their house is spotless clean and MUCH quieter than a center, the toddlers had a great educational curriculum, etc, etc, etc.

The high quality, licensed in home providers (in my opinion) provide better, more consistent care for infants and young toddlers. You don't have to worry about turnover, you don't have to worry about telling the morning person a particular thing and then wonder if they're going to tell the afternoon person, etc, etc. If you pick THE RIGHT in home center, your infant won't be in the same space as a 4 year old. If you pick THE RIGHT in home center, you won't have all the complaints that people here have against in home places.

Once a toddler reaches 2.5-3, I think a high quality preschool is better. When my son was at his in home center, he was the oldest and only one potty training. Moving him to preschool sped up potty training and helped him learn more from the older 2s and 3s in his class.

The most important part of this equation is HIGH QUALITY. There are cruddy in home places and there are cruddy centers. You get what you put into it. So, if you don't research and visit and do ALL your homework, of course you're going to find yourself at a bad place, whether it's in home or at a center.

I had my son in an in-home daycare setting for a while before he turned 1, and it worked for me at the time. My problem was that her hours didn't work well with my work schedule. Especially living in this city with all the traffic. You never knew what time you were gonna get home. He was the youngest one at the time. She did too educational stuff with them, but not that much. She just mainly babysat all day. Once I moved him to a regular daycare, where they had more of a schedule and did more activities, he came home doing sign language after the first week. I think once children reach the age of 1, it's best to have them in an environment where there is more structure and learning activities. That's not to say that there are in-home child care people that do do educational things, just my experience wasn't so at all.
Good luck in your search....it's not a fun one.

Well, first of all, I am one of those do what feels right for your family type people. That said, I will share what my personal opinion is. I firmly believe that the very best place is in their home with mom. However, it would seem to me that the next best thing is good in home care. WHY?? Well, because it is the next closest option to home. It is not natural for 30 3 year olds to be in one square room for everything from eating to sleeping. As an in home provider, we do things like you would at home. They eat in the kitchen, sleep in the bedrooms etc. And it is also not natural for children not to have older and younger children to learn from. As for structure, what would mom do?? A little bit of everything. We have set times for certain things, and the flexibility to go with the flow. To go outside when the weather is amazing for as long as we want. To have a picnic if we want, or to take a nap earlier than normal if someone seems extra tired. I do preschool type work with that age group when my little ones are napping, or playing alone..which is VERY natural and needed. Kids really need to learn how to be with out friends, and feel satisfaction on their own. They have years to be in school, so allowing them the freedom to be little kids without so much "education" (meaning flash cards, workbooks and teacher created arts and crafts) seems, again, to be the natural flow of things. I dont meant to sound like I am bashing day care, but I really just dont get it. It is great that kids read early (mine did too, before kindergarten which is where they still teach it), but is it at the expense of life experience? Do they get to help make cookies, or learn how to be an example to the younger ones?? 2 of my kids have learned to ride their bikes without training wheels on my street (with parents approval of course), and have learned how to behave better in places outside of the home, like the park, the play place etc. It is the HARDEST decision to make, I am sure, and it obviously takes time to find the right fit. I hope that my reasons for doing what I do make sense with out sounding preachy...this is a soap box topic for me for so many reasons, but I wish you the best of luck finding the perfect fit!! ~A.~

My son has been with an in-home provider for the past 18 mo but we had to put him in daycare recently because she stopped keeping children. My son loves daycare and I have had zero problems with the one I am in. Personally, you need to do what is best for your family but I think that in-home chilcare is hard to deal with. If I had known then what I know now I would have put him in daycare from the start. It has been alot less stressful on me.

I haven't read all the responses, so I apologize if this is a repeat. In my opinion, in home child care is ideal for babies and young toddlers. It allows them a home type environment where the schedule is more adaptable to them, and not quite so rigid. They can eat when they're hungry, nap when their tired, not on a prescribed schedule. They also have smaller numbers of kids to compete for attention and I think the love and care is a lot more hands on which is best for a baby I think. I think daycares are good for older children like an older 2 or older. I worked in a daycare through high school and college, and I know the kinds of things I've seen and the inadequate people I've seen working in them. (mind you, this was 10 years ago). I think the social interaction and large groups of children are better for their social skills, and they are much more adaptable at that age for schedules. Plus, if something isn't right, they have the verbal skills to come home and tell you. My son went to a private babysitter from when he was 6 months to 3 years when I quit work after #2 was born. SHe was not a licensed provider. Her daughter was in my first grade class when I was pregnant with my first. She only had my son and her daughter who was about 7 months older than my son. That's my experience with in home childcare.

I had the same feelings with my first child, so for 10 months, she stayed with a family member that kept two other children in her home. Then, I was forced to find a day care for her and after two wrong one's I finally found the perfect one. The questions I found I needed to ask were: Are they appropriately staffed?, How do they discipline?, ect. And I checked out the facility to make sure it was up to my standards and met with the teachers to see if it would be a good relationship for everyone. Good Luck!

Hi Jessica--I just want you to know that contrary to another post, you are not causing truama to your child by moving her to a different child care situation. And just like several of the other posts said, it depends on the care itself--do your research and don't let other people's defensiveness about their own situations make you feel bad about a decision that might work for you. I think all kids are different and since your child is 3 yrs old, she can tell you if she is unhappy or if anything out of the ordinary happens----in either type place. Good Luck with your decision and just go with your gut. YOU are her mommy and you will feel it when you are faced with the right situation.

I was torn also when I had my child on this same question!

Here's my thoughts:
Daycare-larger, more rules, stricter at times (depends on the daycare), more kids in the classrooms

In Home daycare-smaller, more relaxed (depends on the person), smaller group of kids.

We chose at first a home daycare that we used very part time when I worked. We chose a lady from doing research from the Texas Dept of Protective and Regulatory Services website and visiting their home and interviewing them. She lives close to us, so that was a plus. We still use her, however not as much as we use to. She can be expensive for short periods of time and for drop-in type care (spur of the moment). She has family that helps her with her daycare (her Mom and daughter mainly). We use her in the evenings and sometimes on the weekends also. She doesn't charge you if you are late. I pay her on my own if I am late, cause I think that is fair, however she doesn't say anything about me paying more cause I am late.

Bigger Daycares/Church Drop-In/Parent's/Mother's Day Out Programs- We've only used one big daycare with a foster child that we had 2 years ago. It went okay, our agency paid for the camp week stay there. They did a variety of activities and took the kids to some of the musuems, which was nice. They had small buses to transport the kids, which was nice. I got information on their prices and they were normally very expensive. They did charge if you were late also. They had big rooms and the toys and equipment were nice, clean and the rooms were organized.

We use our church mostly now, cause we know the staff and some of the kids. Our church is actually cheaper than the in home daycare lady we use occasionally. Our church has fundraisers to help upgrade the playground and that's fun to help out in that way. They still have rules and guidelines also, like the bigger daycares. Our preschool and Parent's Day Out program are accredited (the preschool part), which is great that they passed the accredidation standards. We do one day a week with the Parent's Day Out program and then drop-in care 2 days a week and then if I need more care I use the in-home daycare lady.

I'll email again about questions to ask later, it is early in the morning and I need to get ready to leave. Hope this helps.