Ugh...I am tired I have been to 5 different daycare facilities in the past week. I am looking for the perfect place to send my daughter in a few weeks when I go back to work full time. This is the hardest decision I have ever had to make and my husband has really not been that helpful yet (not a surprise). As with most of the baby products that I spent hours researching for her registry there is usually a bad review at some point. I thought I would like the smaller setting daycares better, but yesterday I went to one and the staff was very nice, but then the owner said that I should know that she was a good mother..."especially since she would be raising my little girl...". Ummm, I did not like hearing that...I don't want someone else to raise my child...this breaks my heart. I don't want to miss out on her first time rolling over,crawling, walking, talking...it is so hard.
Then I went to a super huge franchise-style center that boasted about being a learning center NOT a daycare...but all of the learning seemed to cost extra and there were too many children there. They seemed like cattle to me.
Cleanliness is the most important thing for us, with Aidan having issues with her white blood cell count and all, a couple of the local places I didn't even go into after taking a look at the upkeep of the outdoor areas. Yes, it is just only spring now, but you still need to have some curb appeal. I am picturing my baby sitting amongst garbage and overgrown grass and weeds...no thanks.
One place I went to showed me how they did activities with the children...but it really looked like the kids did all of the landscaping and cleaning up of the facilities...I mean, chores are a good concept, but I am not paying to send my daughter to work camp.
There is one place that I think I like...franchise-style...medium sized...clean...they will teach her sign langauge and music and I can watch her on my computer from work...we'll see what the husband thinks. They are all about the same - EXPENSIVE!!
to be continued...
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I wouldn't simply label it as work camp. Activities like that are probably the more important lessons your child can learn - that is interaction and cooperation towards a simple end goal. Achieving the end goal isn't important for the young infants, rather it is the "processes" of achieving of things - such as social interaction skills which is in my opinion the most basic lesson for a a child. For example, by encouraging interaction, cooperation through activities (eating, sleeping, and playing), a child is more aware of the impact that he/she makes on others, just as he/she responds to the behavior of others. Witnessing someone crying or making someone cry and being made known that it was not an acceptable thing to do are classic examples of these valuable experiences that a child is better off learning sooner, rather than later.
ReplyDeleteMy point being that some places encourage playing freely, and others have a comprehensive regime of activities, aand that in my view, the latter seems to be more fruitful for a child's future.
Best wishes, Do