Of course, I will find a liquid / solid dilemma in everything, including day care choice. Here it is:
Day care #1 is the solid type. Employees have been there for 14, 15, 16 years. Kids who go there are from families that have lived here for at least a couple of generations. The activities tend more towards “let’s learn about the history of St. Louis” than towards “and now let’s talk about the history of Nepal.” The same formula and diapers are provided for everybody. Parents receive hand-written reports. Parents enter the facilities using a punch-in code. Kids rarely go outside because the day care is located by the highway in a treeless space. The environment is homey, and the teachers are relaxed.
Day care #2 is the liquid type. Employees don’t stay for longer than a couple of years. There are more activities about Nepal than about St. Louis. Parents are asked to bring their own formula and diapers for infants because everybody is different and needs to be accommodated. Parents receive reports by email. Parents enter the facilities using a palm print. Kids go outside a lot and tend to their own herb gardens and vegetable patches. There is a cabbage-growing contest for pre-schoolers. There is organic milk and yoga lessons. The environment is more professional, and the teachers don’t lounge.
Hmm, solid or liquid? What will I choose?
P.S. The food is equally atrocious in both places.
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But you haven’t mentioned the most important thing: where did the kids seem more happy and relaxed?
\ Kids rarely go outside because the day care is located by the highway in a treeless space.
Do you mean they stay in a flat / villa all day? Without even a small fenced space / garden?
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The kids at day care #2 had just come in from playing with sprinklers outside, so of course they were very happy. But that’s situational. Kids looked happy at both places. I didn’t even see anybody cry at either place. And I spent 1,5 hours in both.
The first day care has a playground but you honestly don’t want to be there in the kind of weather we are having. The slides and swings in that playground can give one second-degree burns, I’m sure.
The second day care is lucky to be situated in a wooded area, so there is a lot of shade.
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The second day care sounds better, but if it is so good, why don’t those professional employees “stay for longer than a couple of years”? You may answer “the liquid type,” but it’s not an answer. This thing looked most suspicious to me. If somebody is a professional, why not stay working at such a wonderful place? Something is not right here.
Also, I disagree with:
\ Parents are asked to bring their own formula and diapers for infants because everybody is different and needs to be accommodated.
My bet is that the true reason is saving money for the day care.
Btw, do they charge similar rates?
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The workers at the first place are older women. They have families, children. At the second place, the workers are younger. They are more likely to go to graduate school, get married and move away, etc. Nobody under the age of 60 wants to stay working anywhere. N, for instance, thinks something is wrong with him that he’s not actively looking for a new job. Even though the current job is great.
Of course, the way the day care explains it is different. They say the high turnover is due to them having very high standards but it’s clearly a self-serving statement.
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Is it more important that you have continuity in employees (#1) or that Klara has access to the outdoors (#2)?
The first day care has a playground but you honestly don’t want to be there in the kind of weather we are having. The slides and swings in that playground can give one second-degree burns, I’m sure.
Wait, the slides are metal in the first daycare’s playground? At any rate she’d be there almost year round.
Daycare #1 might be better if you want flexibility in who picks up Klara.
I suspect more of your peers might have children at daycare #2, if at all.
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They both sound like excellent options! I would probably go with Day Care #2; but I’d recommend investigating a little why the employees don’t stick around for more than two years.
An option is to try to talk to one of the parents? Show up when they are dropping off/picking up kids?
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Cost of the liquid care?
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They both cost exactly the same.
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I think it’s good for kids to be outside and doing projects outside. I’ve used a few different daycares. Personally, I think the ones with the longer staying employees can be a lot more complacent. Providing your own food and diapers also gives you some control over what goes into and onto your kid’s body. My kids have very sensitive skin, so I would want to provide diapers and wipes to avoid rashes.
I also went with my gut feeling about some places. The best daycare I ever had was an in-home place and the lady was amazing. She just made us all feel good. I miss her. That was back in California.
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When we lived on the east coast, we had some great experiences with in-home daycare, but there don’t seem to be as many providers here in the midwest, and the ones w found were kind of scary.
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I went with the “solid” option here for my toddler. Underneath the liquidity of the “liquid” option there seemed to be a lot of regimentation designed to support the fiction that toddlers were getting meaningful instruction in Nepal and organic gardening. Solidity seemed to afford more emotional amplitude, more room for teacher to be responsive to the needs of children and make real connections with them without having to cater to the aspirations of parents.
Eventually a spaced opened up for us in my institution’s own childhood development lab/state-of-the-art daycare space. It was MUCH more convenient for us, so we moved our kid there, and I was chuffed to discover that their practices had more in common with the Solid place than the Liquid one.
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It’s true, there does seem to be a lot of deliberate busyness in this second day care. They are trying very hard to look hip and relevant. It’s more for the parents than for the kids.
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I think having nice, shaded outdoor space is increasingly important as children get older (ie ~2 and upwards) and need to run around to burn off energy and have fun (not to mention that running around is important for preventing constipation in toddlers). I think there are a lot of psychological benefits to access to a pleasant outdoor “nature-y” space too. But I am biased because I go a bit crazy myself if I am cooped up indoors for too long! Our daycare had to keep the kids indoors all last week because of air quality issues from local wildfires, and I could clearly see that the children and teachers were more frazzled by the end of the day. As for activities, I doubt you need me to tell you that a child doesn’t particularly care if the activity is about Nepal or St Louis, yoga or yogurt, as long as the activities are varied and engaging. I would however be concerned by rapid staff turnover – children need stability (as well as kindness and patience) at the young ages. Oh, I’d also look to see if either place has any kind of music program: a wonderful music teacher comes in once a week to each class at my children’s daycare and both my children (3 yrs and 10 mo) love this!
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I agree completely about the importance of greenery and being outside. I believe that all kids need is to run outside all day long. I try to spend at least 3 hours a day outside with Klara.
And the location of Daycare 2 is so beautiful. We’ve lived it for years.
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I used to work in a daycare long ago.
And to me, nice outdoor space is crucial. Kids just really need that outside time. I think it trumps just about anything else. Well loving and kind instructors/safety are most important. But outdoor space is just behind that. 🙂
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It’s also away from the highway and the air smells completely different. It smells of pine. . .
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It sounds like Daycare 2 is winning. 🙂
The fact there is high employee turnover is really not great. When we started at the current place, turnover was rare, but now it’s very frequent with the new director who I just think is not a nice person. OTOH, daycare workers really are paid like shit, so many don’t do it for years, but rather transition to better jobs like with the school district.
Did you check about staff credentials? At the daycare we are at, younger staff all have a degree in early childhood education.
I will say that in terms of emotional warmth, older women have been (in my experience) infinitely better than younger ones. Honestly, many of the younger employees don’t really seem like they like the kids very much at all (which always makes me wonder about those early education degrees and why people get them); and I have seen several who are openly disgusted and roll their eyes at the idea of changing diapers and wiping bottoms.
But greenery FTW! And if the kids are busy and happy, it will be okay.
Besides, it’s not like you are signing a blood oath. Try and see. You could even do the first one for the first couple of years, and then move to the second one once Klara is older enough to want to run and peers become paramount.
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My idea is that while she’s too young to really be thinking about the great outdoors then probably option 1 and then when she hits the walking around stage re-evaluate.
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