https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sun, 10 May 2026 21:04:07 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/talk-to-me-about-in-home-daycares#post-2368763 Tue, 24 Nov 2015 20:24:44 +0000 Raindrop 2368763@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@gingerbebe: Haha so weird today I'm dealing with setting my expectations. I think this and a lot of problems boil down to expectations. Any who, good luck! I think in the end everything will work out. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/talk-to-me-about-in-home-daycares#post-2368733 Tue, 24 Nov 2015 19:47:17 +0000 gingerbebe 2368733@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MrsSRS: thanks for that, it does help. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/talk-to-me-about-in-home-daycares#post-2368732 Tue, 24 Nov 2015 19:46:55 +0000 gingerbebe 2368732@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Raindrop: I guess that's what it is - that it's so sudden and that I have to find someone so fast during the worst time of year. But it's not like it's a bad option - it's a GREAT option that at a different time or circumstance I would have felt better about. Our friends had recommended this place when we were pregnant and we declined to visit bc I was taking a yearlong maternity leave and my mom was so gung-ho to nanny. So I'm not UNCOMFORTABLE with them it's just not how I pictured our care situation to be - until at least preschool. </p> <p>@pregnantbee: The dad is fluent in English but the mom speaks mostly Spanish so it's great he will be exposed to a 3rd foreign language (he gets Korean at home). Plus the mom is Chilean and she is SUPER effusive and affectionate and just lavish with complements and love and cuddles. One kid drew a picture for her and she was gasping and going QUE LINNNNDO - so cute. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/talk-to-me-about-in-home-daycares#post-2368717 Tue, 24 Nov 2015 19:22:30 +0000 MrsSRS 2368717@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>If it helps, I watched a few little ones for a year and my house just looks like a house. I mean, it is baby proofed, and I had pack n plays in the guest room, but other than that it was just my home. We played in the living room, did sensory stuff in the kitchen, danced in the den, ate at the dining room table, and romped outside. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/talk-to-me-about-in-home-daycares#post-2368677 Tue, 24 Nov 2015 18:34:27 +0000 Raindrop 2368677@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I thought I read what you wrote pretty thoroughly but I don't know if you have any other options? Would you just try harder to get a nanny through care.com?</p> <p>8 months sounds like a long time to be okay with something you are not okay with.</p> <p>I will say for me personally what you said about the place sounds lovely. I mean it's recommended by people you trust with the same parenting style as you, who used the service and liked it a lot. What more can you ask for?</p> <p>I will say it totally sucks that your child care is falling through so abruptly and you have to make this choice fairly quickly which I think adds on to the uncertain feeling you are getting over all this. </p> <p>Can you just take a step back and look at it more objectively? I mean it sounds like you are trying but you still have a feeling that’s bothering you.</p> <p>Okay again if it were me I would totally go for the in house day care for 8 months and be okay with it. It does sound pretty nice! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/talk-to-me-about-in-home-daycares#post-2368664 Tue, 24 Nov 2015 18:13:55 +0000 pregnantbee 2368664@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We used an in-home daycare from 4 months to a little over 3 years old and still use them for drop-in care when school closings conflict with work. We LOVED it. Lots of personal attention and much cozier and more relaxed than a facility. Ours happened to speak Spanish 100% of the time, so we loved that.</p> <p>Things to think about:</p> <p>- be sure there's no tv<br /> - look at what they prepare for the kids to eat<br /> - do they know sleep "rules" like putting down on back, no blankets, etc.<br /> - are they certified by the state?<br /> - if the place is run-down and loved, but clean, that's important<br /> - sounds like it is in a safe neighborhood and is childproofed<br /> - could you feel the love from the caregivers?</p> <p>You still need to go with your gut or you won't feel comfortable leaving your child there, but what you wrote sounds reasonable to me about what an in-home daycare feels like.</p> <p>On the flip side, it took me a long time to get used to the large preschool we're now in! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/talk-to-me-about-in-home-daycares#post-2368627 Tue, 24 Nov 2015 17:41:41 +0000 gingerbebe 2368627@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@josina: It was a weird week to visit - typically the home has babies and toddlers, because most kids leave for preschool at 3 years old, and then they have some school age children who come for aftercare from school from 3:30-5:30pm, which I guess the 21 year old watches more often than the parents. But because it was the week of Thanksgiving, most of the regular babies/toddlers weren't there and so they had open slots to take the school age kids who's parents couldn't skip work because the school district in this town took the entire week off. Typically its not such a huge age difference. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/talk-to-me-about-in-home-daycares#post-2368624 Tue, 24 Nov 2015 17:36:50 +0000 snowjewelz 2368624@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Well, you said there are crazy wait-list for centers, so as long as they have the legit certifications, policies in place that you are comfortable with, I think it will be fine! </p> <p>We seriously considered an in-home as well, but I had the freedom to choose between that an a center, and I ultimately chose a center b/c I liked that there is a chain of command if anything were to become an issue; that there is a nurse on staff; that they have clear policies/procedures for everything under the sun. I was so torn b/c the in-home was so flexible and cheap, but in the end I found that I'd worry more with DD in the in-home. Like you said, I think it was lovely, but ultimately I just felt more comfortable with a center. But if you really have no choice, I think this is a pretty good choice too. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/talk-to-me-about-in-home-daycares#post-2368621 Tue, 24 Nov 2015 17:31:23 +0000 josina 2368621@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>It sounds like a really great place. The only concern is the child to adult ratio since you said there were a lot of kids, and that includes the drop ins for holidays, etc. As long as everything is baby proofed, fenced in, etc. I don't think you have anything to worry about. Consider it a home away from home for your lo, just not as nice as yours. :)</p> <p>We use in-home daycare and love it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/talk-to-me-about-in-home-daycares#post-2368617 Tue, 24 Nov 2015 17:30:15 +0000 littlejoy 2368617@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I had dreams about a lovely in-home daycare too ... Sadly, after visiting the one I thought would be perfect, I realized it wasn't the right fit for us.</p> <p>It was something about the kids/play area being in someone's living space. It all felt weird to me. I got a bad vibe (even though the person was awesome). </p> <p>Luckily, we found the PERFECT little school for LO later that week. It's actually in a house, but no one lives there. It's just a school. Maybe that's the balance I needed? </p> <p>I say to trust your gut. That's the most important!! I hope you find what you're looking for! </p> <p>As far as what I was looking for, I was concerned about: fencing, animals on site, pools, everything baby proofed (electronics &amp; all furniture secured to walls, too), who would be around my kid, what other parents had to say, where the kids sleep, and general cleanliness. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/talk-to-me-about-in-home-daycares#post-2368607 Tue, 24 Nov 2015 17:24:32 +0000 gingerbebe 2368607@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Sorry for this novel. Hear me out.</p> <p>DS is about to turn 15 months.</p> <p>So its a long story, but our childcare arrangement (my mother watching DS at our home) abruptly changed to where I suddenly need a new childcare provider for my son as of January. While I would ideally find a nanny for my son, the chance that I could find someone I trust enough to watch my son in my home and run adequate background checks and interviews on between 2 major holidays is pretty much impossible because everyone I have a personal reference for is booked and I would be starting with strangers on Care.com.</p> <p>Every center-based daycare I could find on around us has waitlists through 2017 and people pay lots of money to sit on these waitlists while their babies are in utero. </p> <p>Out of sheer luck (frankly, miraculously) our good friends heard their old in-home daycare provider had an infant slot opening up in December and let us know just because these slots are hard to come by and the owner would hold a slot for a direct referral from a family they know. Our friends are wealthy professionals (meaning cost is not an issue for them with regards to childcare) who are about 10 years older than us and have 2 kids who are school age and they are the friends whom we have the most similarities to with regards to parenting philosophy. We trust them implicitly and they could not recommend their in-home provider enough, who watched their eldest from 6 months until preschool. In fact, they still use them for drop-in and back-up care for school holidays that conflict with their work schedules. Their kids were there this week when we visited.</p> <p>Its a married couple that run it, along with their 21 year old daughter who is in training to become fully certified, and they have been in business for 15 years. Zero complaints, violations, or any kind of citation in all the years they have been licensed (we checked). The daughter also provides babysitting services on nights and weekends, so it would be an added benefit to find a trusted babysitter too. </p> <p>Sounds perfect right? Well, we went to go visit the home yesterday and while my husband felt totally fine with the place, I was surprised how I reacted. I realized after we left that my only experience with daycares my whole life had been church-based nurseries and preschools, so I had this very narrow idea of what a daycare should look and feel like. So I was sorta shocked when I walked in and realized - DUH - that it was a daycare set up in someone's house. It wasn't dirty or unsafe or anything and all the kids looked happy and healthy and the yard was big and fenced in and all that. It just didn't look as bright (i.e. fluorescent light filled) and charming like a school. It was a play area (with PLENTY of toys) in an enclosed in a dining room, 6 pack n plays in a small bedroom, and kids playing in the backyard. Obviously because these people had children running through the house all day long, nothing they owned in the house was nice or new, so there was some tinge of the place feeling slightly worn.</p> <p>I came home and texted my friend who's loved her in-home daycare and talked to another coworker who used an in-home daycare with her kid and they all assured me that's just how an in-home daycare feels. That what you need to focus on is the caretakers and not the LOOKS of the place - and the couple WAS wonderful and loving. Both girls told me they chose in-homes over centers because they would get more loving and personal care and that they were super happy with them.</p> <p>We DID get our son on the waitlist for a 2's program (he would turn 2 next September and the current list is through June 2016) at a church near us and it very much to a T fits the "idea" of what a daycare/preschool should look/feel like to me. They have a crazy intense infant waitlist through January 2017 so we went ahead and signed up for that waitlist for LO2, who is due next May (I wouldn't return to work until January 2017 anyway) because I guess they try to bend over backwards to help families with siblings already at the school. So basically, if DS gets into that program, he will be in the in-home daycare for a whopping 8 months and we'll have an established relationship with a provider we could use for back-up or drop-off care in the future.</p> <p>So I guess what I'm trying to say is: Tell me to get over it. Tell me I'm being stupid and paranoid and that this in-home care sounds fine, that they DO look like a slightly rundown house (because it IS a slightly rundown house). The house is located in a small, very bourgie college town filled with highly educated wealthy professional parents who can afford good childcare, the house itself is on a safe, cul-de-sac that backs to a large park, and again, the caretakers are really nice. </p> <p>On the other hand, are there any tips or red flags I should look for with regards to an in-home daycare? I really don't have any other option at this point, which is probably why I feel so panicked, but I don't want to ignore anything important. The caretakers are fully licensed and certified, know all their first aid stuff, they've modified their home so the living quarters are separated from the rest of the house, there's hard fencing around the property, the house looks decently babyproofed, etc. </p>