So I’ve got a bun in the oven (woohoo!) and I’ve been told by several friends who are parents that we need to start shopping for daycare way before the munchkin arrives. Of course we’re asking for opinions from those same friends on the daycares they used, but we was hoping to do some online research as well. Does anyone know of any kind of daycare search engine or ratings sites? Or just any tips on shopping for daycare?
Congratulations! I don’t know if they have this service where you live, but see if your county government provides child care listings. We just called and said, “We’re interested in licensed day cares in these particular zip codes.” They sent us a list of all of the licensed facilities (both in-home and centers) in those areas. We decided not to check out anywhere with less than a 4-star rating or anywhere with a misspelling in the name (Katie’s Kiddie Korner–you’re out), which helped us narrow things down considerably.
Child Care Aware is one site you might want to check out. Child Care Services Association is North Carolina-focused, but has good general information on selecting a daycare. The North Carolina Division of Child Development has checklists of questions to ask when you visit places, geared towards both in-home daycares and centers. I found those extremely helpful, since they contained some questions it would never have occured to me to ask.
I’d visit several places with your checklist of questions and see how you like the vibe of each one. What works for other families might not work for you. One of the places my husband and I visited was a highly recommended, 5-star facility, but when we visited, we just didn’t care for it. It was fine, and I know kids that thrive there, but we just didn’t like it as much as the smaller, in-home place our daughter will start at in August.
Thanks! The Child Care Aware site led me to mdchildcare.org, a daycare search and info page for Maryland (we live in Baltimore). Turns out there’s someone who runs a daycare out of her house a few blocks from our house! If they have decent references and we get a good vibe from them, that would be very convenient.