Found a Daycare

Yes, it seems early, but there are centers with waiting lists stretching into November so this was something I wanted to have taken care of. I took suggestions from co-workers, researched the Ohio 4C website, and narrowed my choices down to five centers in the area where we work. Two of them ended up being WAY out of our budget but I set up tours with the other three. What a freaking adventure that ended up being!

I visited the first center last Monday, and the second I walked in I considered walking right back out and not even staying for the tour. It was loud, the infants were screaming and the older kids were running wild. It was dirty, there was food all over the floor. Granted, it was lunchtime, but that was a whole other issue - they had veggies, fruit, chicken nuggets, and cookies. I saw SO many kids only eating the cookies and throwing out the rest of the food. (I love cookies as much as the next person, but seriously.) The director was nice (even with the missing teeth), but her office was a disaster area. There was garbage all over. She took me to the infant room and the cribs were in bad condition, some of them were the painted metal kind and the paint was peeling away. Hooray for eating paint chips! The big infant room, where the kids are learning to crawl and walk, didn't have any playmats or soft flooring; they were all just crawling around on the dirty linoleum. Their pacifiers were dragging on the ground and they just shoved them back in their mouths. I know they're busy, but seriously. The ratio of kids to staff wasn't that great, either. It just didn't strike me as the type of environment I would want to leave my child in for 8-9 hours a day. No bright colors, limited toys, staff was watching TV in another room. They knew I was coming and it was still dirty. You'd think they'd clean it up for a tour.

I went to the second center on Tuesday. It was better than the first one but still not quite what I was looking for. I was in the hallway between the toddlers and pre-k while I was waiting for the director and the pre-k class was watching TV. The toddlers were supposed to be napping, but one of them wasn't cooperating and the staff member was just screaming at him and dragging him back to his spot by the arm. I didn't appreciate how rough she was with the child. The infant room at this place was much better, the cribs were newer and in obviously good condition, the staff members were all really nice, most of them had been there for more than 5 years and they seemed very competent and caring. I liked the center because it has a lot of open outdoor space and it's not in a corporate setting and the staff members all have a lot of experience in child care. Again though I was concerned about the lack of playmats and the staff to child ratio seemed too high for me (I believe it's at the state maximum). I was also surprised that there weren't more stimulating colors and it just seemed kind of blah to me. Not what I think of when I picture an early childhood learning environment.

The third center was having an open house on Thursday night so we were both able to visit. Thankfully it was exactly what I was looking for. It's a great place, lots of colors, stimulating toys, very attentive staff and a very small ratio, there are 2 infants to each teacher and it's a very small center. There is no time spent in front of the television, the infant and large infant rooms are wall-to-wall soft flooring and playmates, and all of the kids looked happy. It's Montessori-based so they do a lot of reading and once they're a bit older they move into the Montessori classroom. The infant room is closed off from the rest of the center and it’s painted in very relaxing colors with soft lighting. There is “donuts with dad” day once a month and a whole bunch of other fun events that we can look forward to as Baby G gets older. The sanitize the entire center three times a day while the kids nap (using organic solutions!), which puts the other centers who only do it once a week to shame. They also have webcams that parents can sign into so they can keep an eye on what's going on. Perfect for my OCD :) We sent our deposit in the very next day.

So all in all I learned that not all daycare centers are created equal. Some are definitely more equal than others. If we’re laying out that much money for a daycare center my kid sure as hell better not be propped up in front of a TV set watching Maury all day and left to squirm around on a dirty floor.