recommmend a daycare

I plan to send my daughter to daycare in two weeks.She will be 17 months
soon.Could someone recommend any good daycare in west lafayette or lafayette
area?
Thanks a lot,

Rhonda...

Hi Liya...

Where I live, we have a free parents newspaper that usually has day
care reviews by the parents in the community. Every day care allows you

to just drop in to visit and see the center. This is nice because they
can't put up a front, you are unexpected as a guest. Just make sure you

go before 11:30 (they are finishing up lunch and getting ready for nap)

and after 2:30 ( waking up from nap). I strongly recommend you visiting

a lot of day care centers. What works for one person may not suit you.

Good LucK!!

Banty...

Most areas have a daycare resource/referral agency. Two of these (in different
locations) were of tremendous value to me. They will have daycare centers and
family daycare provider registered with them and they are kept aware of
openings. Look for that in your phone book. if someone in your immediate
family has a corporate employer, they may also have contracted with such an
agency.

Given the short timeframe you have, you'll really need this resource. Do the
best you can now, then keep looking if things don't work out.

Donna Metler...

Uh, I hate to tell you this, but with a 1 yr old, you usually have to get on
the waiting list quite a while in advance to get your child into anywhere
good. It would be hard to even find a placement for an older child with only
2 weeks notice.

Mary_Gordon...

Mary responds:
I agree Donna - I'm in Toronto, and the good places have very long
lists for small kids. I've had friends who literally put their names on
lists for the desirable places when they found out they were pregnant -
LOL! My company run daycare is really superior quality, and they take
lots of toddlers but a very restricted number of babies/kiddos under 18
months (probably because they need a much higher staff ratio and the
diaper issue). A lot of places only take specific ages.

Plus, even if there were no waiting lists, you've left yourself a very
short amount of time to shop for the right place. You should talk to as
many local moms as you can and find out what is out there, with
whatever pluses or minuses in terms of location, the philosophy, rules
and regs, hours etc. and start checking them out. You need to have a
clear idea of what you need in terms of hours, pick up rules, what to
do if baby is under the weather, diet, whatever you might need or feel
is important.

My work daycare, for example, had a very, very strict pick up time that
was relatively early, and charged so much a minute for late pick ups -
and believe me, between me and hubbie, some days it was a major
scramble. They also had very strict (understandably so) rules about
sick children - and as we all know, when kids start daycare they get
every germ going. It was a bigger problem than average for us, since
the kid we sent there was a major puker. As a preschooler he'd puke if
he got too excited, if he jumped around too much - basically if you
looked at him sideways (i.e. if you drove him 4 blocks in a car, good
odds he'd puke). So, I was constantly getting calls to come take him
home, and I'd have to leave work even if he wasn't actually
sick/ill/suffering from anything other than his normal hair trigger
stomach.

We have three kids, so our oldest was the only one who was in a
commercial daycare. We found other alternatives over the years that
were more flexible and cost effective for us as a family (i.e. we had
in-house care with a nanny a for a long time).

I think you really do have to do your homework and really define your
needs/wants based on your circumstances so you find the right fit.
Don't make any assumptions - you have to go check them out. Get on the
phone and find out about waiting lists.