Made a child care decision

After much thought and contemplation, Papa Bear and I have made a child care provider decision. It is such a relief. It was a tough one but we feel really good about our choice. Papa Bear and I decided we wanted Baby Bear to be in a home day care rather than a center day care. We felt most comfortable with that arrangement. We were deciding between a licensed large family home day care and a smaller home day care. Today, we decided to go with the smaller home day care setting.

After getting great references for both providers. The small home day care references felt the day care provider was like a member of the family. We really liked that for our little one. A curriculum was not as important to us at this stage, rather being well cared for and loved was most important and that was the sense we got from the references we received. I got nothing but rave reviews.

Another plus was her understanding of the nuances of my work situation. I work at a college that does not have all the same holidays as schools or other universities and she provides care on those days, which other providers do not. Meaning that with the other provider, we would have had to make separate arrangements for care on holidays that I do not get off and we would still have to pay for care on holidays. Our child care provider works on all the days that my college works, she does so because her husband also works on that same schedule and the parents of the other children she cares for are also from the college.

Flexibility was another key aspect for our family. Grandma Bear and Lola Bear will each take a day to care for Baby Bear during the week. Although we will have set days to provide consistency, if there is a case in which one of them are sick or we need to switch days around for some reason, she is very flexible and willing to work with us. The other provider provided no flexibility or option to move days around. We would be contracted for certain days and we would have to pay even if we did not need care for those days. Another plus, is that our child care provider is half the cost as the other provider, not the deciding factor but really helpful for us and our budget.

I feel so much better knowing that we have made a decision and that we both feel comfortable with the care that Baby Bear will be receiving when she is not with us. It is going to be hard on me leaving my Baby Bear, but it definitely helps having made a decision that we feel good with.