Re: Childcare Considerations
Here is our daycare experience :) may or may not help your question.
we didn't want out son going to a regular daycare that would be cramped with kids so we started looking and hoped to get something through some reliable sources' reference and we found one pakistani lady, with a licensed daycare, her charges were no less than a regular daycare. She seemed very polite and clean, and was highly recommended by my inlaws' very close friend in mississauga. My son cried like hell when he went there and she started complaining about him not taking naps without creating a fuss etc. I was like ok may be it takes 2-3 weeks atleast to get used to a new environment. Then I started noticing that his bag used to come all messed up...he used to come home messy, this is after a week, and he used to be very cranky after coming home :( AND THEN by the end of first week/early second week he would start crying as soon as I would turn in her street and throw up after as soon as we would enter her house :( he was 13months I dont think he was making it all up :( I used to cry after dropping him off, then we started looking for alternative because we didn't think he was liking it there.
Before we made our final decision, we had a talk with her, she told us it is hard to cook with my son crying in the back ground, that was the last thing we needed, to change the daycare. We had a talk with her before we put our son there and mentioned all these activities indoor/outdoor she does with kids, but in those 2 weeks my son was there had not done any because she 'didnt find time'. Mind you the cooking referred to above is not for kids, we used to send food with kids, it was her own home cooking..
We found someone through familyday, that was also a homebased daycare, she had 2 full time and 2 part time kids. SHe was a grandmother and looked kind of cold with thick nufi accent (sorry no offence :)) but kids were very comfortable around her whenever kids were taking to her she gave them undivided attention but also told them when they have something to say then they should come and say excuse me etc she had the routine and menu set for the whole week so the parents wouldn't be guessing where my child would be or what he/she might be doing, we were desperate so we thought we would give her a try and within a week she turned out to be AMAZING and very very organized...
My son used to come home clean, her things all organized if I needed to send any of his supplies she used to send me note atleast 4-5 days in advance, used to wash my son after every pee/pop he was there for a year and never had a rash, she was just thing amazing woamn whose 'job' during those hours when kids were there to take care of them and not do her own chores, she used to take breaks in between when kids were napping but still be with them..my son was the fussiest sleeper, but he used to just lay down and not make a fuss when other kid was napping, she trained him nicely in so many ways...her space for kids used to be clean, toys used to be clean, and she used to take kids out every single day unless it was too hot or cold. After about couple of months when I used to go to pick him up he would cling to her which was a big surprise for us. We told her that we don't eat pork (because she used cook for kids too) she had my sons dishes clearly marked, I mean she did whatever in her knowledge and strength to make my sons time there as comfortable and productive as possible.
So I think when parents go to interview care taker you should see how she/he is interacting with kids, ask whatever questions you may have and try to talk to references if possible. Family day does their own reference checks...
I wouldn't send my kids to a commercial daycare doesn't matter how clean, nicely done, expensive it might be...this is just my opinion...hope yo find a very good babysitter/daycare for your child.
What part of GTA are yo in SGC??