Please help! In home daycare or center daycare??

My current daycare situtation has changed suddenly and I need to put my son in daycare asap. I do not have much time to think about it and am lost! He has been with family while i worked since he was 4 months old ( he is a little over 2 now).
I have 2 places that i like that have immediate availability. 1 is an in home daycare at someone's home and the other is at a daycare center. Can anyone give me pros or cons to one vs the other? I really have no idea which way to go! The in home is much cheaper but I really want to do what is best for him. Any help would be appreciated!!!!

Re: Please help! In home daycare or center daycare??

Well, i;ve never used a center but all my nieces and nephews have. I currently use an in-home daycare. My personal opinion on a chain daycare center, i don;t like it! We went to the one my nieces and nephews go to and when they took us out on the play ground, all of the teachers were sitting around playing with their phones while the kids were on the playground. I did not like that. My nieces and nephews were always getting hurt and now i knew why! There was a daycare center, that's not a chain, that we saw that i LOVED. But it was too expensive to have 2 babies in there. So we went to an in home daycare to check it out and immediately fell in love with it. The women that run it were super nice. All the kids that were there loved them and they loved the kids. My twins have been going there for almost a year now and they have learned so much. When we walk in, in the mornings, their eyes light up and they get so excited. I personally would choose an in-home daycare over a daycare center. But that is JMO. Good luck with your decision!!!

Re: Please help! In home daycare or center daycare??

Thank you! That helps!

Re: Please help! In home daycare or center daycare??

I have no experience with this at all!

Next week my daugher will be taken care of at someone's house. She is actually a friend of my husbands (and now mine. lol) that we will pay to care for our daughter. The benefit I think of it is that there is more flexibility with time. If I'm running late she won't freak out or if I need to go in to work super early for whatever reason she can be more flexible.

My aunt watched kids in her home for years. She loved all the kids she watched and treated them like her own kids. They really became part of the family and most of them still stay in touch with her and still call her "Aunt Betty".

Re: Please help! In home daycare or center daycare??

IMHO I think you can't go wrong either way if you like both of the places.

My nephew goes to a center and loves it. I know my sister loves the facility, the teachers, the director, etc..I know he thrives there.

My DS goes in-home (state certified) and we love it for a few reasons. It's intimate, she has a great monthly programs that they do from the start at any age, the food she makes herself (the state loved her menu so much that gave her money towards it), I really like his teachers. DS is happy when I drop him off and doesn't want to leave somedays when I pick him up (which while breaks my heart lol, makes me happy too). Because it is so intimate, I feel he gets better attention and they can really follow my schedule. Although now at 2, he doesn't have a schedule. But my DD will soon be going there and I'm more comfortable with her going to a smaller place rather then a center BUT that's just my comfort level.

Plus the centers around me for part time were $$$$$$$ . In-home I found to be more affordable for part time.

Re: Please help! In home daycare or center daycare??

I have done both and I will never do an in home daycare again. I love the center that my son is at and he has learned so much.

I was happy that my son started his daycare experience in someone's home. i was naive (because the person was recommended to me) and trusted her completely. She was not certified, so no one was checking up on her. She was having trouble getting my son to take naps so she tied him up with his hands inside his sleepsack so he couldn't climb out of his pack and play. Thank God she was so freakin' dumb that she actually told me what she did and showed me the shoelace she used to tie up his sleepsack. needless to say, we never returned there after that.

Now would that happen at all in home daycares? no of course not. but without the checks and balances of having vistiations from the state, non licensed in home daycares can get away with alot!

Re: Please help! In home daycare or center daycare??

I think either could work for you if you find the right fit with your personality/lifestyle. That being said, my DD is at an inhome daycare PT. It works for us because: friends of ours used this sitter before and we knew we could trust her; she is flexible and we do not pay for extra time or when we do not send our DD; she provides all food/drinks; I love her personally and so does my DD.

Now, next year when my DD is almost 3, she will go PT to the sitter and PT to nursery school because the one thing she is missing at this inhome is a structured learning environment. So I will send her to nursery school to fill that void. If your child were in a daycare setting, this need would most likely be met as many daycares are structured and educational.

HTH.

Re: Please help! In home daycare or center daycare??

oops

Message edited 1/28/2012 1:49:45 PM.