Friday, July 24, 2009

Home Care vrs. Daycare?

Dustin and I have been struggling with the decision to enroll the baby into a daycare center when I go back to work, or to trust her care to a woman doing childcare in her home. Luckily, I plan to take the full 12 weeks of maternity leave.

Daycare Center
Pluses:
+Government mandated and restricted
+1 mile away from house
+Online streaming of infant room that we could log onto and watch at any time
Minus':
-$150 a week
-have to pay every week including summers and holidays even when the baby isn't there
-not happy with medication mandates
-all types of extra fee's here and there
-4 infants to 1 adult (8 babies in the room)

Homecare
Pluses:
+This woman was a parapro at Dustin's school
+1 mile away from Dustin's school
+3 babies to 1 adult
+$125 a week
+do not have to pay for holidays or summer break
+will follow our schedule for the baby
Minus':
-will transport all the kids to a preschool to drop off a 3 year old in her care 2/3 a week
-will need to buy another car seat for this
-she doesn't have all the equipment she needs yet
-will keep 3 babies, a 3 year old, and a 4 year old
-her children are in high school, so she needs to read up on all the new safety procedures, etc.

I know that whatever decision we make, I will probably be completely stressed out about it. It's going to be hard to leave her anywhere :(

Another update- Baby girl is still measuring a bit small. The doctors want to continue to monitor her progress to make sure she continues to grow at a normal rate and that her growth doesn't slow down at all. Other than that one concern, she is a very healthy little baby girl. I think she's just going to be a little peanut :) We will continue to monitor her progress and try not to worry. She isn't even here yet, and she is already stressing me and Dustin out. I guess she is just trying to prepare us for parenthood :) She is already such a special little girl!

2 comments:

  1. I responded to this post with a very lengthy comment. It got messed up when I tried to post it. I will share my thoughts next time I see you.

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  2. I'm a fan of day care myself. I like the fact it is mandated, and usually they start teaching children things like colors, letters etc. You can't always promise thatthis random woman will do that. Plus, your little munchkin will grow up with children her own age, and not those who are 3 and 4 years older.

    But then again, I don't have kids.. what do I know ;)

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