Where I live, childcare is pretty limited.
OPTION 1: There are a few people who do group child care in their homes. Mostly, they're pretty high-quality when it comes to how they treat the kids (the one I'm looking at in particular), but like everything else here, it doesn't *look* spectacular. Let me clarify. Houses here are small and expensive, so there tend to be more people in smaller houses than elsewhere in the US. As a result, a house that also hosts group child care is... REALLY crowded and a little messy (not dirty, just, you know, toy clutter in a fairly small place). BUT, the woman who provides the care is wonderful... she has art supplies, multi-age toys (great for DS who tends to trend a little "old" when it comes to what he's interested in, toy-wise), and provides fairly nutritional lunches (not exactly what I'd serve, but close enough... and I trust her to respect my wishes and feed/not feed stuff as asked). The kids seem to be pretty actively occupied most of the time, and DS is a serious people-person. One-on-one time is limited because there are more kids, but the provider LOVES kids in generally and is as attentive as possible. One coworker with a kid DS's age takes her son to him and says she's great.
OPTION 2: My other option is a stay-at-home mom with a kid six months younger than DS. She loves DS (cared for him last year), and at her house it's just DS and her daughter. Their house is visually much more appealing (lots of open space), and he receives a whole lot of one-on-one attention. BUT... she has the TV on all. the. stinkin. time. It's not something I could negotiate... she says she's bored and lonely and just turns it on for background noise (but doesn't like the one local radio station). I also question some of the nutritional choices she makes for her DD (letting her have sips of soda, sweet tea, etc., and letting her eat candy), and because she's a friend of ours, I don't feel as comfortable dictating stuff as I would in a strict parent-provider relationship. She also doesn't have many toys that DS finds entertaining (her DD is younger), so he ends up playing with their phone a lot.
The cost per day (half-day, actually, and only a few days a week because the job DH is hoping to get is a part-time, flexible scheduling kind of gig) is exactly the same.
Which would you choose?
OPTION 1: There are a few people who do group child care in their homes. Mostly, they're pretty high-quality when it comes to how they treat the kids (the one I'm looking at in particular), but like everything else here, it doesn't *look* spectacular. Let me clarify. Houses here are small and expensive, so there tend to be more people in smaller houses than elsewhere in the US. As a result, a house that also hosts group child care is... REALLY crowded and a little messy (not dirty, just, you know, toy clutter in a fairly small place). BUT, the woman who provides the care is wonderful... she has art supplies, multi-age toys (great for DS who tends to trend a little "old" when it comes to what he's interested in, toy-wise), and provides fairly nutritional lunches (not exactly what I'd serve, but close enough... and I trust her to respect my wishes and feed/not feed stuff as asked). The kids seem to be pretty actively occupied most of the time, and DS is a serious people-person. One-on-one time is limited because there are more kids, but the provider LOVES kids in generally and is as attentive as possible. One coworker with a kid DS's age takes her son to him and says she's great.
OPTION 2: My other option is a stay-at-home mom with a kid six months younger than DS. She loves DS (cared for him last year), and at her house it's just DS and her daughter. Their house is visually much more appealing (lots of open space), and he receives a whole lot of one-on-one attention. BUT... she has the TV on all. the. stinkin. time. It's not something I could negotiate... she says she's bored and lonely and just turns it on for background noise (but doesn't like the one local radio station). I also question some of the nutritional choices she makes for her DD (letting her have sips of soda, sweet tea, etc., and letting her eat candy), and because she's a friend of ours, I don't feel as comfortable dictating stuff as I would in a strict parent-provider relationship. She also doesn't have many toys that DS finds entertaining (her DD is younger), so he ends up playing with their phone a lot.
The cost per day (half-day, actually, and only a few days a week because the job DH is hoping to get is a part-time, flexible scheduling kind of gig) is exactly the same.
Which would you choose?
The adults are wonderful, loving, creative people, and there is always ALWAYS something interesting going on, but never chaos (I don't understand how this is even possible, but I have learned to just accept it, LOL). So based on my experience, I'd say #1 sounds great!
