XP - Daycare Question\Advice Needed - LONG

Hopefully, Ill be joining you ladies on this board soon...I'm due next Wednesday

This is going to be long girls....I need some advice.

DH and I do not have to do daycare or get a babysitter until Sept. I will be going back to work when DH is finished with the school year for the summer. at the point we do need a daycare or babysitter. I would drop off the baby at 6:30/7am and DH would pick-up the baby by 4pm.

Right now we are planning on having a babysitter that will watch the baby at my parents house. She is a close friend of my family and I trust her completely. However, she lives in Brooklyn and by Sept. DH & I will be living in S. Setauket and my parents will be living in Centereach. It pays for her to come out because we're paying her almost the same amount as we would for daycare and it's off the books. She'd be making much more than she does now even with the travel cost.

Ok that being said, DH is a teacher and he'll have certain days/weeks off and then the whole summer off. We rather he take care of the baby when he's off and even the few holiday's and vacation days I can take off I know I'll want to have the baby with me. This would save us in daycare\babysitting costs. However, if we go with the family friend it doesn't pay for her to come out if it isn't full-time. Also, my parents would have to watch the baby for an housr or two in the morning until she comes out and my dad would have to pick her up and drop her off at Ronkonkoma everyday since she doesn't drive. Which in my opinion my be a lot for two 70+ year old.

I'm starting to look into daycare and was wondering if any of them have options where we can pay for the time we use them and not pay for the time we don't. I called one and they only offer full-time enrollment from Sept-Sept. regrdless of whether we use them or not for a particular week or time frame.

Do you girls know of any daycare's that work that way??

Teachers...what are you doing for daycare?

Should I just have the babysitter regardless and just pay the entire year? It might be better if we have another to have a babysitter rather than a daycare??

I'm sooo confused as to what to do...I feel like I didn't think this out properly and now I am.

Thank you for reading this novel. TIA for any advice/help.

Re: XP - Daycare Question\Advice Needed - LONG

My daycare you pay wheather you are there or not. It's frustrating but I understand it.. sort of.. LOL.

So Im assuming the babysitter you have will still charge you for the time you don't use her? is that where the issue is coming in?ETA: if Im reading correctly..b/c youd be taking so many days off it wouldn't be considered FT?

Message edited 4/8/2010 3:05:45 PM.

Re: XP - Daycare Question\Advice Needed - LONG

My daycare you pay whether you are there are not however I do believe if you are not sending your child for the summer (if you are a teacher & will be home), they keep you on a list to save your post for the fall so you don't have to pay for the summer.

I'm not a teacher so don't do it, so I'm not really sure of the details or how it works.

With full year enrollment, we do get two weeks of not paying for "vacation" (meaning we can go on vacation and not have to pay for two weeks that she is not at daycare - not just two free weeks).

ETA: As far as your babysitter situation, my biggest concern would be that she's coming all the way from Brooklyn ...

Message edited 4/8/2010 3:10:57 PM.

Re: XP - Daycare Question\Advice Needed - LONG

Re: XP - Daycare Question\Advice Needed - LONG

From what I have heard, it seems most places make you pay the full amount whether the child goes that day or not.

You may want to try checking out smaller, in-home type daycares. The one DS goes to is very small. It's run out of a woman's home and she is the only provider (there is a limit set by the state of how many children she is allowed.) We only pay when DS goes in. We usually bring him 4 days (MIL watches him on Fridays) but if he's sick or we have a snow day or something, we don't have to pay for that day.

Of course there are trade-offs - it's not as structured and right now anyway, there are no other kids his age (though he loves to watch the bigger kids and they love making him laugh) and if the provider is sick, well, I'm SOOL. But, so far it's been working well for us.

Good luck!

Re: XP - Daycare Question\Advice Needed - LONG

I'd look into a home based daycare or a live-in au-pair.

Re: XP - Daycare Question\Advice Needed - LONG

Thank you ladies!!