So... we're looking around for an affordable day care that would be able to take our 3 month old infant in mid-March 2010. Husband works around RTP, I work at UNC. We live in Durham (27704) but we're eventually going to move.

Looking around on my own, but also looking for suggestions.

7/18/2009 11:54:20 PM

ahem

message_topic.aspx?topic=562493

[Edited on July 19, 2009 at 12:00 AM. Reason : I'LL STRAP THAT JOKER INTO THE DURRKOTA AND HE CAN HELP ME HAUL TWWERS' SHIT]

7/19/2009 12:00:15 AM

have you looked into FPG at unc? supposed to be great

or chapel hill cooperative

i am in the early childhood program at unc and i know several of our girls interned at both sites

[Edited on July 19, 2009 at 12:08 AM. Reason : ]

7/19/2009 12:06:58 AM

the day care through UNC is great (5 stars), but also nearly $1300/month. if we can find less expensive day care (without compromising in the quality of care), we really need to.

7/19/2009 12:24:44 AM

it's going to be hard to find quality infant care for much less than that, which is INSANE

i'll ask around and get back to you if i find anything promising

[Edited on July 19, 2009 at 12:42 AM. Reason : ]

7/19/2009 12:40:20 AM

thanks!
i sent them an email about available space/etc. i foresee a lot of emails.

7/19/2009 1:19:42 AM

Quote :

"it's going to be hard to find quality infant care for much less than that, which is INSANE"

i agree. i looked into five star rated places and while they looked nice on the outside, they were filled with shit on the inside. i would NOT recommend kids r kids, usually independently owned, but the people running the day to day operations are dumbasses.

7/19/2009 1:28:24 AM

soooo....... neither of you are willing to quit your job for a couple years?

7/19/2009 2:30:30 AM

don't be afraid of 4 star places, typically the difference is due to the number of workers who hold a 4 year degree, which makes it a lot more expensive.

So I'm pretty happy with the 4 star we use that's under $900/month. My sister's kids are at the UNC daycare and she likes it a lot.

7/19/2009 8:10:21 AM

my mom license child care centers and 3 and 4 stars are not bad. a lot of it has to do with the education of the staff, which is important but there are some great caregivers with no degree at all. you should definitely go in and look around the place and talk to the director and peek in the classrooms.

7/19/2009 9:21:57 AM

As an experienced caregiver, this is just my opinion.

From a financial perspective, it is going to be cheaper for you to look into hiring an individual to care for your child. Ideally, you find someone that you can trust (be it a friend or someone with excellent references) with a young child of their own. There are a lot of young mothers who want to stay at home with their children, but still bring in some income. Generally, they work for less than a private nanny because they're taking care of their own child and they're less than a daycare center.

Daycare vs. individual care is a decision that you have to make for yourselves. There are a lot of pros and cons to be weighed on either side. If you want to know more about the pros and cons, there's plenty of information out there on the internet or I can give you my own insider's perspective (as a mom and caregiver).

Also, pick up a free Carolina Parent at the grocery store. There are lots of advertisements for childcare centers and nanny services.

7/19/2009 10:11:46 AM

the facility wouldn't HAVE to be 5 stars. the one at UNC just happens to be so.

neither of us can afford to quit our job for a couple years. both of us would make more than child care would cost, and we couldn't live happily (or possibly be able to live at all) on just his income.

i'm also not opposed to in-house care. i'd probably prefer it! but i'm also aware that we may then have to pay their health insurance (i know it depends on the nanny), and pay taxes for employing them. and honestly, i'm not sure how to do that. i'm a finances noob. AND once again i wouldn't know who to look into as a potential hire, so once again i'd have to ask for suggestions.

7/19/2009 10:42:10 AM

financially they would be a private contractor and would be responsible for their own taxes

7/19/2009 10:47:49 AM

Quote :

"i would NOT recommend kids r kids, usually independently owned, but the people running the day to day operations are dumbasses."

I don't know what you're talking about.

we've had our kid at Kids R Kids for the last year, and we've been extremely happy with Kids R kids. Generally I notice that you bitch and whine about the most petty shit, so i'm just going to assume that this is more of that from you.

To answer the OP, daycare is just retarded expensive. even if you go the cheapo route like la petit or kindercare, you're still out a grand a month, and they do the minimum required by law and nothing more. but you probably want to get on a waiting list now.. we were on a list for a year before we got in, and had to send her to growing child for the first few months.

[Edited on July 19, 2009 at 11:13 AM. Reason : asdf]

7/19/2009 11:11:24 AM

Nannies are *not* independent contractors. They are considered your employee. Unless they are a student or have some other primary employer.

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Taxes/P43440.asp

I operated as "self-employed" because I had multiple clients and provided services other than basic childcare. Your typical nanny does not operate as I did.

Lauren & MJ, if you move, I may be available to work in March of 2010.

[Edited on July 19, 2009 at 12:24 PM. Reason : .]

7/19/2009 12:17:20 PM

7/19/2009 1:00:25 PM

Is crate training out of the question?

7/19/2009 1:48:47 PM

my good friend filed an ss-8 and was determined to be an independent contractor, so maybe its not as clear cut as i thought but its not always the opposite

7/19/2009 2:26:47 PM

Quote :

"Lauren & MJ, if you move, I may be available to work in March of 2010. "

closest we would move would be raleigh, lol. move back!

7/19/2009 11:34:42 PM

Quote :

"Generally I notice that you bitch and whine about the most petty shit, so i'm just going to assume that this is more of that from you."

Hey I'm petty, what can I say? Actually there is a difference and I should have been more specific. Kids R Kids Morrisville is great. Yes, that's right, I'm not bitching and whining about that one. The one located in RTP is SHIT, which is odd, considering that they are part-owned by the same people.

It's interesting that you said that La Petite is a bare minimum joint. I had my son there before we switched to Kids R Kids RTP and he was so happy and the teachers cared a lot. While the facilities were not the absolute best, the staff was excellent (I can only speak for his teachers and the administration).

As for Kids R Kids RTP, I cannot tell you the amount of times I've had to bring things to the teachers attention, that should have been taken care of or noticed earlier. The last straw was when my child was injured by a classmate (non-life threatening laceration) and they did the bare minimum (how are you going to call me and tell me it's not important). I might be relaxed about everything else, but the safety/health of my child is paramount.

On the advice of a coworker, I promptly moved him to the Morrisville location and it's been smooth sailing ever since.

I'm rather laid back and I try not to meddle if I don't have to, but the amount of incompetence I've witnessed at the RTP location, even after the ownership change, has been shocking. Why reopen if it's going to be the same thing all over again.

Bobby, since you work at Cisco, you most likely (I'm assuming) take your child to the Morrisville location, so you know what good is. Trust me when I say I know what bad is.

[Edited on July 20, 2009 at 2:02 AM. Reason : d]

7/20/2009 1:58:24 AM

Affordable childcare is an oxymoron.

7/20/2009 8:50:41 AM

^^

true true, I don't think i meant to come across as much of a dick as i did in my response, but it definitely reads that way (my bad).

We do go to the morrisville location, so hence the good experience. We checked out two la petit locations, one off of leesville, and one off of (i think) page road, and did not like the fact that in the infant rooms the baby/teacher ratio was the 5:1 state minimum. same with kindercare.

7/20/2009 9:19:27 AM

Quote :

"closest we would move would be raleigh, lol. move back!"

Girl, I am just barely in Garner. I'm starting on my 4th year with the same family in Cary and the youngest is about to age out on me and start school. If you move closer than Durham, I'd be willing to at least be back up childcare.

And you will need back up childcare.

7/20/2009 7:02:07 PM

I worked at the Kid R Kids in Cary for about a year

i worked with the three year old class so i can't really vouch for the infant care, however if there is any parallel to how we were required to dress, act, conduct class...then they would be great

7/20/2009 10:07:02 PM

have you thought about getting a nanny? They can clean and cook while you are at work

7/20/2009 11:51:04 PM

a nanny is WAY less affordable than a day care.

7/21/2009 12:32:10 AM

Everyone I know gets their parents to do it and/or the wife quits and becomes housewife.

If your wife is some low-paying job like a teacher, then its probably worth it from a simple cost standpoint to have her quit her job and just do tutoring or something on the side. Not to mention that people seem to like raising their kids.

Actually, I know a guy whose wife just become a housewife and she was making around 100k. The husband makes the same, too, so the probably figured that the marginal value of that other 100k was not worth raising the kid for a few years.

[Edited on July 21, 2009 at 12:56 AM. Reason : .]

7/21/2009 12:52:35 AM

Quote :

"To answer the OP, daycare is just retarded expensive. even if you go the cheapo route like la petit or kindercare, you're still out a grand a month, and they do the minimum required by law and nothing more. but you probably want to get on a waiting list now.. we were on a list for a year before we got in, and had to send her to growing child for the first few months."

we've been considering growing child, but the way you put this makes it sound like it's something you did only b/c it was like a last resort... i've heard nothing but good things about growing child, why do you not like them?

7/21/2009 6:08:42 AM

oh yeah i made it sound like it was a bad joint didn't I? We didn't have any problems with growing child itself. The problem was that it was several miles away from our house in the opposite direction from work, so it was a miserable commute. And that was when gas was over $4 a gallon.

7/21/2009 7:34:44 AM

Two that I recommend:

Hope Valley Preschool
1600 W Nc Highway 54
Durham, NC 27707-5512
(919) 493-0326

5 stars. Excellent staff and facility. I have many friends and coworkers who bring their children here and they rave about it. My toddler is on the waiting list. You have to get on the waiting list ASAP for infant and toddler care.




A New Generation Learning Center.
8400 Falls of Neuse Rd
Raleigh, NC 27615-3510
(919) 841-9187

Where my daughter was going. Great staff. Less expensive than^. We personally know the director and felt very comfortable leaving her there when she was an infant until a month ago. Only reason we're going to switch to ^ is because ^ is closer to my work.

7/21/2009 11:04:42 AM

This is close, but not close enough for you likely. With that said, I am a huge supporter of The Goddard School in Cary off Maynard (West Cary). Nancy in the infant room is incredible, she was/is a Nurse so she is awesome for medical advice and she has the energy of me and my wife combined. The place is not cheap, by any means, but the care our girl gets I do not think could be matched any where.

I have heard the next room is not as great and we have plans to move to prim rose at 1 year+.

7/21/2009 4:42:08 PM