Breaking Up is Hard to Do

So tomorrow, we're breaking up with Charlotte's daycare.  It's not that we've been unhappy, but we haven't exactly been thrilled, you know what I mean?  We're paying almost twice what we were paying at Miss Linda's, but we've been feeling as of late that we haven't been getting much value for this extra cost. 

Charlotte is in the Transition Toddler room, for babies from 8 to about 16 months.  It's a new classroom that started about two months after Charlotte started going to the daycare.  It started out small, with only about four kids, but has since ballooned to 12.  That in of itself is not a bad thing.  Daycares in California are not allowed to have more than a 4 to 1 ratio of babies under the age of two to childcare provider, so there are still the right number of providers in the room.  The problem, however, is that there are now 10 boys and 2 girls, including Charlotte.  It is, in a word, chaotic.  There are new boys every couple weeks or so, and they all have had a very hard time making the transition.  So everytime I'd go to pick up Charlotte or drop her off, there would be a little boy screaming at the top of his lungs (oftentimes, it would be two or three who were screaming).  It felt more like these teachers were babysitting instead of teaching. Not exactly an environment conducive to learning.

And the educational curriculum is precisely why we chose a large, commercial daycare over another in-home care.  I had these grand notions that Charlotte would learn new things every day, and I just haven't seen that.  The things she does learn are from us, the two measly hours we spend with her each weekday before she goes to bed.  The one time I came in early to pick Charlotte up, the teacher was kind of half-assing teaching baby signs.  She was teaching them three signs in quick succession, which really doesn't help babies who are just beginning to learn vocabulary.  And really? Did they really have to teach her strange signs like kangaroo or koala? I mean, maybe those would be helpful in Australia where kangaroos are more like deer that hop, but not in Northern California.  I just don't know what she does all day.

But I think the whole thing really boils down to cost.  We have friends who swear up and down that sending their kids to a particular daycare (not ours) was the best thing they've ever done.  I can't even come to the decision of whether I like our daycare at all.

So the big question was where to find new daycare.  We couldn't choose our friends' daycare because at almost $40 more a week, it was just financially unsustainable (they get a better deal because they go fewer hours, but since I work downtown, it just doesn't work for us).  I looked at another commercial daycare, which is slightly more expensive, and I liked it a lot, but just wasn't sure that's where I wanted to send Charlotte right now. Then I looked up some in-home daycares, called several, but only was able to make appointments at three of them.

One, we ruled out almost immediately.  It was by far the least expensive of the three, but the lady's house was untidy and not clean.  Plus, she cares for three kindergartners before and after school, which means that Charlotte would be on their schedule and not her own.  I just didn't get a good vibe from there at all.  The other two daycares were great, and it was so hard to choose between the two.  One was very experienced, the other just got her childcare license, but was super sweet and had a daughter a couple months older than Charlotte.  Both places, Charlotte seemed completely at ease.  She immediately started playing with toys and wandering around.  This is in stark contrast to our current daycare, where she gets super clingy in the mornings and doesn't want us to leave.  At both of these homes, she seemed to be right at home, which is exactly what you want in an in-home daycare setting. 

We wound up choosing the more experienced lady, mostly because her house is really close to ours, and because her references were so resoundingly positive.  (The parents of the girl closest to Charlotte's age are leaving their daughter with the daycare provider for two weeks while they go on a cruise -- if that isn't having complete trust in someone, I don't know what else is). She currently has one other toddler and four two year olds.  The ratio of girls to boys is much more even, with three girls and two boys. Charlotte will be the fourth girl. And the house is so cozy, yet enormous.  There is an adorable wooden play kitchen that the provider bought from the nearby Waldorf school (where they're totally into wooden toys, but nothing plastic), a ton of bikes and other play things in the large backyard, and a cute dollhouse that Charlotte was instantly attracted to.  She also provides breakfast (a great relief for Chris who feeds Charlotte breakfast most days) and lunch everyday, and she's experienced with food allergies.  Plus, a huge bonus will be the almost $300 we'll save each month!

We're both a little nervous about the transition, but given how comfortable Charlotte seemed there, it should go smoothly.  Now comes the hard part: letting Charlotte's current daycare know that we will no longer require their services.  Her teachers love her, and everyone from the cook to the front desk staff know her name.  But I know we're making the right decision.  Maybe we'll go back there when she's three and ready for preschool.  Luckily we have a long time to decide and many more choices when the time comes.