Watching child to go to work

not too sure what board to bit this on. dh said the reason we're waiting to have a child is we don't know who could watch him/her. my parents live in florida. his parents said they wouldn't be able to watch. if you're in a situation like us, who would watch your child

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daycare

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Daycare. The closest relatives live in NJ.

We did our research on daycares. Recommendations, visiting them, etc...

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definately daycare... they are ok- just do your research

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I know so many women on the parenting board who are very happy with their daycare centers. There are also a lot of pros with daycare centers, over having a family member watch the child in the home.

Yes, of course, they are expensive, but your child gets to socialize with other babies/children from the beginning, and many of them are also very academic, with things like circle time, arts & crafts, outdoor play, projects, songs fingerplays, and so your child almost gets a headstart on preschool.

There are different types of daycares. There are "family daycares" which are in someone's home, but licensed by the state so there are many regulations. They can only have about 6 kids there, and I think that's with a helper. There are small daycare centers and larger ones. There is a website that Barb posted a while back where you can search daycare centers by your zipcode, and check to see if they have had any violations and what those violations are. Let me know if you want me to look it up and post it for you.

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Gail we are in the same boat as you. One of the reasons we are waiting is we just do not have anyone to watch our child. He or she will have to go to day care but it is just so expensive so right now we just have to wait.

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I'm leaving my job. It's the only option as DH and I have rotating shifts and no family. I hope to pick up hours here and there at my second job waitressing when I can.

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If we waited until we had someone watch our child, or if we waited until we can afford to have a child, we never, ever would have had a child in the 1st place.

I looked at daycares extensively, and even after making my decision for daycare - which will be full time - I still visit and look at it.

but the truth is, going into this, we knew the baby would go to daycare at around 6 wks. I'm lucky I banked 2 wks of sick pay from last yr so we can get 8 wks before daycare, but its so unrealistic to be a SAHM for most women....

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Hell I live in England and my whole family live on LI. If I waited for family to watch my children, we would be childless forever!!! I had 13 months off for my maternity leave and now my son is in a daycare situation.

I can not rave enough about sending your child to daycare. The socialization is fantastic, they learn so quickly to do things just by watching other children, their eating and sleeping habits improve (pretty much) within days and its FUN!! In my opinion, my child would never have so much to do with a grandparent at home, or even with a childminder situation. I was deadset against sending my children to daycare, but you know what...once the kid was born and I saw how much he enjoyed being around other kids...it was a great decision for us.

Don't knock it until you have tried it!!

Message edited 2/11/2007 4:24:58 AM.

Re: Watching child to go to work

Daycare here. I have no family here, other than my sister who lives with me and works full time. The rest of my family lives in MI. I don't have any other options.

This site is a good place to start to see if the center you are looking at is licensed, had any violations, etc.

http://www.ocfs.state.ny.us/ccfs_facilitysearch/

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We are in a similar situation with both sets of families out of state. In Sept when I go back to work DD will be going to an at home Daycare by my job. It cam highly recommended. We asked around in order to find it. Ask the people at your job where they take their kids. Maybe they have a good recommendation.

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Both my kids are/were in daycare full time. Keep in mind while most people think of daycare as a temporary expense - aftercare & before school programs can run a lot of $$$ too.

Having a family member was an option we could have worked out but one we didn't want.

I agree that you're never fully finacially prepared to have a baby but exploring the options before you TTC is a smart move!

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Family is not an option for us because we don't have anyone nearby. We will be ok till Jan of 08, then we will either use a day care or a baby sitter- there is someone in my neighborhood who was recommended to me and I am going to look into that.

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Here is the link to search daycares by zipcode.

Checking for Daycares

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daycare which we are starting to research

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I will be going back to work after the baby is born (and I exhaust all of my leave). We don't have family to watch our daughter so that left us with daycare.

We did a lot of research and a lot of visits to various places.

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I would not have anyone to watch my kids either. The whole family is nearby but we would not exactly have anyone volunteer and if we did, there would be major strings attached. Your DH would get used to the idea of daycare. Maybe he could visit a center or talk to more people who use daycare.

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we will be using daycare as well, at least for this child. as my career advances i hope to have a flexible enough schedule to keep my children at home. but that's several years down the road - for now, i feel comfortable with day care.