Just curious...........we aren't sure yet if my wife will be able to stay at home or not. I'm hoping we will be able to keep her at home, but if not.......we are looking into infant daycare options now. If you put your infant in daycare, did you go to a bigger place that had maybe up to a dozen infants? A persons house where your kid was the only one? What did you pick and why did you pick it? If you don't mind sharing.........what did you pay?
We sent our son to a daycare / preschool. There were probably 10 infants in his room. He is now in the preschool section... Time flies. But will soon have another little monster in the infant room this fall. We went with a reputable daycare center. Everything is video taped and you can watch it anytime you want online. Plus we do not have to worry about a lone daycare person getting sick, needing days off or going on vacation etc etc. Not sure what it cost, my wife writes all the checks.
When we looked at what daycare would cost vs what my wife made, it was an easy decision for her to stay at home for the first few years. We didnt ever have money to do anything, but it's pretty hard to put a price on having a mother raise her own babies. If at all possible, make that happen. Being broke only hurts for a while. lol
We put my son into a larger daycare, but my wife works there so she can pop in any time and paly see him. If she didnt work there we would have probably went with an in home daycare. With the daycare my wife works at we get a 50% discount which comes to $102 a week (non employee children is $204 a week). If we would have went to an in home daycare it would have been $100 a week
We are still trying to decide what we are going to do. I'm hoping my wife will be able to take off for 6 months, because I really don't want to put a small infant in daycare, and her new employer has already told her that she could take off for 6 months. After that, we have a friend that just had a baby recently, and she is going to be a SAHM. We have talked to her about possibly being an at-home nanny for our girl. It is kinda a win-win for both of us, as she will make a small monthly income, while still being able to watch her child, and we will have a very trustworthy friend watching our child, in our home, and at a reasonable cost. Plus both girls will be together, so they will both still be able to socialize, which is important. We have also added our name to a small neighborhood daycare around the block as a Plan B, if needed.
We did the small home based day care with only 1 infant, in fact we did it twice with the same daycare lady. We did it this way simply because there are no day care centers where I live. Luckily our day care lady is fantastic with kids and only charges $2.25 per hour and we don't have to pay for her vacations, holidays, sick days and have no minimum weekly charges. (Make sure you ask about this when interviewing day care providers)
We used a private in-home daycare that's close to my wife's work. Not only does it make her feel warm and fuzzy to be close in case she's needed, it makes it easy for drop off and pick up. We interviewed about 1/2 dozen or so people that we found on Craigslist and then checked references on the two we liked the best before deciding. The lady we use has 20+ years of experience, is fully licensed by the State of IL, has CPR training and all references checked out. She is also a fully licensed business and doesn't accept cash under the table, which means we still get to claim the childcare credit when filing our taxes. Bling! Our negotiated contract is for 4 days/week at $35/day. We do pay full price for a couple holidays per year, and then 1/2 price if he's sick or she needs a personal/vacation day. From what I gather the price is very reasonable and so far we've been extremely happy with her.
We have done it all. The best was when we had a live in nanny. No drop off or pick ups,the convenience is second to none.
This. ^^^^ It was a sacrifice, but my wife stayed home until my youngest was 10 (2yrs ago). Best decision we ever made. You don't get those years back.
We actually considered SAHM, but too many people keep telling us that the kids need the social interaction of other kids early in their lives. We eventually bought into it and they both went to daycare.
My mother retired the day my oldest was born basically (for that reason), she has kept both at our house. I was lucky!
Thanks everyone for the thoughts so far, I appreciate it!! Scott - Don't remember if I said it on the other thread or not, but congrats on the new little one. Any idea what it is? I REALLY like the idea of everything video taped. Thinking about trusting someone I don't know really well with my little man is really tough for me, I like this idea a lot and that alone might be worth extra $$$ vs. an under the table type of place. This is our first choice and a very good chance it might be a reality. With that said, if for some reason I don't end up with an expected promotion at work in the very near future we won't be able to quite swing it financially. I just want to plan for the worst case scenario now. Never thought about the licensed business and tax credit thing........how much of an extra tax credit does this provide? Did you find most of the people you interviewed were willing to negotiate on holidays and sick days, etc?
For both of our kids we hired the best nanny you could get...grandma. We owe her a lot for what she has done for us and our family.
We too have tried just about every scenario. My wife was able to take off about 8 months so that was good but being an all out SAHM was not possible. Just a couple of things I'll mention. Beware of McDaycares. Many popular and prominent child care places are just like any other business. A business is trying to maximize profits so in this case that usually means more kids and lower pay for their workers. Not the best combination. These places often thrive on being located well logistically for a large amount of people rather than being the best they are simply located in the best area. Ask questions about employee turnover, kid to caregiver ratio, and read reviews online(take them with a grain of salt though). We found that smaller (often church run) day cares had more consistency as far as employees and lower number of children. The one we used provided a more nurturing enviornment with a big focus on child development not just "baby-sitting" so to speak. If you go with in house day care it is important the person be reliable and also have reliable back-ups or stand ins if they are sick or have other obligations. Also child development is still super important so I would hope they aren't planting the kids in front of Nick Jr. and calling it a day. Justin had some good advice up there about having solid references, licensing, training etc. As far as any day care I recommend showing up unannouced sometimes, might help you get a feel for the enviornment better and at that age your kids can't tell you anything. Just as important as the actual person taking care of the kids are the other kids around your child. Aggressive kids, whiny kids, or just bad kids are not good for socializing(just saying) and they can take up a lot of time for the caregiver. Granted no kid is perfect but if you pop in every now and then and there is constantly some unruly kid then you may want to address that as far as what the care provider is doing about that(probably not as big of an issue with newborns). The price tends to drop once kids are potty trained but I'd guess you'll be anywhere in the ballpark of $175 to $250 per week. Don't know if it's possible but working a different shift could limit the amount of time you need care for your child. Good luck, hope you find a great one it will definitely help you and the wife sleep better.
My wife stays home... I just can't bring myself to trust anyone to care for my children like their own mother will. As far as the money goes it is tight sometimes but we make do. I've had to pass on a few out of state hunting trips etc but hey, that is one small price to pay for a solid piece of mind. IMO I agree with the need for the lil ones to interact with others and develop social skills and for that our kids participate in numerous activities each week(church groups, story time at the local library, play dates, and others) it provides the needed interaction and gives Mommy small sanity breaks LOL
My wife stays home with our son - we are definitely lucky. Our friends with baby the same age have gone the "Mother-In-Law" route. It's definitely a tough choice - in the end you gotta do what works for you.
Luckily.. My wife is a teacher.. Which is perfect for also raising your own kids (as well as those in her class). She was able to stay home the first 6 months.. Which was awesome. After that and 30 interviews later.. She found the current home daycare my daughter has enjoyed for the last 2 years. She's a bit pricey for a home daycare I am told at $40 a day.. But with my schedule I can stay home with her as many as 2 days a week.. My wife gets all kinds of holidays and of course summers off.. So really it's the best of both worlds. I'm actually watching "max and ruby" with my daughter right now. My daughter loves her daycare.. Her friends are there and she loves the owner.. So we couldn't be happier. Just do your homework when you're looking.. My wife got most her references for a daycare from other teachers... They know a lot about this subject. Ask around when you get to that point. As far as taxes.. I believe you can only write off the max which is like $3000 a year.. If your company has a daycare plan (like mine).. Take advantage of it.. In the end it means more money in your pocket.
That 3k might make all the difference between a state licensed daycare center and a cash under the table, none inspected personal home. There are advantages AND pitfalls to either choice. When looking at licensed day cares, ask to see their state inspection records. And I do mean records-not just the last one or the last good one. Make note of any discrepancy the inspector found and see if there is a repeating pattern to these notations. No day care is perfect but you can find those that really care abut their kids. They will be the ones with few dings and VERY few repeat dings.
