by: jannalabarriePosted on:

A step-by-step approach to searching for and finding the right daycare

I remember how overwhelming it was when I first started searching for daycares for my infant son. I was into my third trimester (too late to start searching), it was my first child, and I didn’t really know much about the daycare landscape in my city. I made a lot of assumptions that turned out to be painfully wrong (for instance, that it wouldn’t be that hard to find a daycare). 

The online search alone was the first indicator that things weren’t as easy as I had thought. I was met with tons of options, different types of daycares, varying hours, and contrasting teaching philosophies. With such limited knowledge about daycare, how was I supposed to even start to narrow this down? 

If you haven’t begun searching for daycares yet, or if you have and are already feeling stressed out, take a step back and read through this post. It’ll give you a strategic, step-by-step approach that can help make the process a little less stressful.

Step 1: Decide between childcare options 

Before starting the searching for daycare, you should decide which type of childcare best suits your family’s needs and available resources. Here’s a brief overview of the different types of childcare that is most often used by working moms. 

Home-based daycare

Home-based daycares are those operated out of a childcare provider’s home or private residence. Home daycares typically have smaller groups of children and a more intimate environment with one or two providers, but they are less structured than center-based daycares. 

Center-based daycare

Center-based daycares are like schools. Class sizes are bigger, and there is usually a set routine and teaching plan. Centers usually have more structure than home daycares and are more highly regulated for compliance and safety, but they may provide less individualized attention. 

Nanny or nanny-share 

A nanny is a licensed childcare provider that comes to your home to look after your kids and help with household chores. Hiring a full-time nanny can be quite pricey, but your child will get a lot of individualized and personal attention. With nanny-sharing, two or more families share one nanny and split the cost to provide care for multiple children.

Au-pair

An au-pair is a young adult from a foreign country who provides childcare and household services in exchange for room and board, cultural immersion, and a small stipend.

Relative or in-home care

You might have relatives or immediate family members nearby that can look after your kids while you’re at work. This is a cost-effective option, but it might lack the structure and teaching plan of a licensed daycare. 

Community or faith-based care

Local community or faith-based institutions may offer reduced-rate childcare options for members. These licensed programs incorporate community or religious values into their learning curriculums and day-to-day activities.

Not sure which one you want yet? That’s okay, keep weighing your options. You might even decide to do relative or in-home care for a few months and then switch to daycare, or get a nanny for the first three years and then do daycare. Think carefully, but don’t take too long! Many daycare waitlists, especially at centers, are notoriously long (as in months to years long).

Step 2: Prioritize what’s most important to you

Every family has their own needs, priorities, and available resources. You might have a more flexible arrangement that doesn’t enforce strict working hours, so distance from home/work might not matter so much. On the other hand, cost might be the major deciding factor. No one knows your life (and your baby’s life) but you!

Choosing a daycare requires careful consideration of what’s most important to us and our families. If I have to drive 63 minutes away to the highest-quality daycare in my city but I get to work late everyday and am stressed out the rest of the morning, it’s probably not the one for me. Finding the balance between daycare quality and our personal needs is critical for a successful experience. Setting your priorities now will also help you more easily narrow down your search results once you start the process.

I prioritized distance from work, cost, and state quality rating when making a decision for my child.

Step 3: Search for daycares

Assuming you’ve chosen to send your child to either a home-based or center-based daycare, you’ll want to start searching online for daycares in your area. Don’t be too picky at this point – you want to get a feel for all the options available to you based on your family’s priorities. 

There are several ways to search for daycares. 

Search engines: Utilize Google, Bing, and private search engines like Care.com and Winnie.com

State or territory resources: Find your state or territory’s resources for early childcare at https://childcare.gov/

Non-profit organizations: Visit Child Care Aware of America for network and referral information to your state/ territory’s childcare resources; The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) to search childcare facilities accredited by the NAEYC; and the National Associated for Family Child Care to look up individual accredited family childcare providers.  

Local and online parenting groups: Ask for daycare recommendations on Reddit, Facebook, Instagram etc.

If you want to be comprehensive in your search, you’ll want to look into different search methods. There’s going to be a lot of overlap, but you may find different results with each search method. Make a list of all the daycares near you. If you’re not sure if you want to go with a home-based or center-based daycare, write them all down.  

Step 4: Organize your search results 

The organization process is just about compiling your search data into a nice little table so you can compare it later – resist the urge to make decisions at this point. It’s a bit tedious, but it’ll be helpful later on once you start narrowing down your options. There are some things you won’t be able to take notes on until you actually go on tours and contact providers directly, but there’s a lot of information you can get online.  

Consider using some or all of the following headings when organizing your search results:

Daycare type: specify if the daycare is a home-based or center-based daycare 

Cost: the monthly daycare fees for your specific child’s age range

Distance and location: the address and distance from home and/or work

Contact information: the provider’s contact info, phone number, and email address

Hours: the daycare facility’s operating hours and open days

State quality rating: many states (but not all) have quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS) to help us figure out the overall quality of different daycare facilities. 

Teacher engagement and qualifications: Teacher license information (including CPR and first aid), qualifications for administering medications, teacher engagement with students.  

Communication method: how you communicate and keep tabs on your child during the day, whether it’s via text, an app, a video camera etc. 

Teaching philosophy (if any): Montessori versus play-based versus Waldorf etc. 

Playground or outdoor area: size, safety, general appearance

Indoor classrooms: childproofing, safety, general appearance, cleanliness

Security and safety protocols: how you access the buildings/ classrooms, security and measures

Enrichment programs: some daycares have enrichment programs or extracurriculars that children can participate in (usually for an additional fee). Enrichment programs can include things like yoga, robotics, cooking, or a foreign language.

Waitlist add date: so you can keep track of when you added your child’s name to the waitlist

Comments: anything else you notice that stands out, red flags, reviews, your ranking of the facility etc. 

You also want to note any red flags you find when you look further into the daycares you have on your list. If you see something concerning, change the color from green to a different color – like yellow – to differentiate it from the others.

Step 5: Go on tours, add your name to waitlists, and narrow down your list

With your list of daycare options, it’s time to start reaching out directly to facilities. You want to make calls, email directors or providers, add your name to waitlists, and schedule tours to get a true feel of what the day-to-day feel at each facility is like. 

As you probably know, online personas can be very different from real life. Many large center-based daycares have the resources to make impressive websites, but the individual facility might not measure up to your expectations. The opposite could also be true of small home-based daycares. You won’t really know unless you go.

You also want to add your name to daycare waitlists as soon as possible if you are even the slightest bit interested in their facilities. Daycare waitlists can be months to years long, so you want to get your child’s name down sooner rather than later.

As you go through the process of touring and narrowing down your list, you will likely have trouble deciding between daycares based on the information you gather – that’s okay, it will get easier. With more research and time, the right setting will become obvious.

References

Mighdoll, Barbara. “6 Childcare Options for Working Parents.” New Modern Mom, 28 Mar. 2024, newmodernmom.com/blog/childcare-options-for-working-parents/.

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