The Tour--Day One

Today, my husband and I began our tour of child care facilities. We were actually only supposed to have one tour, but wound up having two due to an address/telephone number mix-up. Not sure whose at fault. At any rate, we were able to get a good idea of the differences in child care offerings.

Child care center #1--(The one we didn't have an appointment for, but the director showed us around anyway. ) The word to the wise, if your center uses certified teachers and they follow the school district's schedule, don't take tours during school breaks. The Center's teachers are off when school's out. The children in all the age groups were engaged while we were there and the staff was very helpful and friendly. But the fact that they follow the district's schedule is actually a con for me. Their days conflict with my days and that would leave me scrambling for care. Another negative is that they accept children beginning at three months. If we get a newborn that would require me to take that amount of time off from work. Not an option, especially if this is a temporary situation. However, the assistant director was very nice and was able to answer my questions thoroughly. Bonus: They accept the full subsidy! Don't know if that fact would outweigh the cons, but it was definitely a great thing to know!

Child care center #2--(The real appointment!) I was very impressed with this center from the time I hit the driveway. I liked the fact that you had to be buzzed in and you had to sign your child in via computer into a system. Safety is important! The areas where the children would be were clearly identified. It promoted independence and a joy of learning. As an educator, this is paramount. They had binders full of record keeping material everywhere and it was organized!!!! If you can't already tell, I really liked this one. Bonus: They accept children as early as six weeks!!!!! The hours are totally convenient for us and the staff was very attentive to the children. The only con is that this one, unfortunately doesn't accept the full subsidy, which of course means the balance would come out of our pockets! Quite honestly, it would be worth paying the difference.

We have two more tours tomorrow...I'm looking forward to the adventure.

Thanks for reading!