I would say the pregnancy thing would be a deal breaker for me. 2 weeks is unrealistic sounding to me. What if she needs a c-section?
Anyway, I am in Rhode Island. My son is in half-day kindergarten and I pay $180 week for after school care. He arrives there at 11 and can stay as late as 6. I don’t have to pay that much; there are much cheaper options available in my town. I like this center though. He has many activities open to him: sports, cooking, art, woodworking, theater, dance. There are parties with DJ’s about once a month. There’s a heated pool which they swim in everyday in the summer. There is homework club when he’s older so the time I spend with him won’t be spent fighting about homework. And it will be about 3/4 the price next year because he’ll be there fewer hours.
[QUOTE=Caricci]
I would say the pregnancy thing would be a deal breaker for me. 2 weeks is unrealistic sounding to me. What if she needs a c-section?
[QUOTE]
My thoughts, exactly. I wasn’t supposed to life anything heavier than the newborn for 2 weeks after an uncomplicated birth; I’m sure it’s far longer than that for a C-section. I feel rotten for ruling her out because she’s pregnant, but if she won’t be able to meet the childcare needs that I have, so be it. I can’t take 2+ weeks off work three months after starting a new job.
I’m not a parent, but I used to visit five home-daycare providers and a couple of daycare centers as part of my position with NH Reads. $70-90/child was the going rate of the providers who said what they charged, which was significantly cheaper than the typical daycare center.
If I had to send a child to daycare, I’d probably opt to send him/her to a person’s home as long as I found someone with decent references, because after seeing both centers and home daycare providers in action, I’d feel that the child was getting more attention in a small group, nevermind their rates are more reasonable. YMMV. On the other hand I’m also probably biased because I had two wonderful home daycare providers as a child myself, and can remember the time I spent at a daycare center as being unpleasant.