How much is reasonable/affordable to pay for daycare and or preschool services?

Question

I live in Channahon, IL and am trying to figure out what is the average cost of child care for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and school age children in this area.

Would you expect to pay more for care in a center vs. a licensed home? Why?

What do you look for when looking for child care? How do you decide which person/place is the right place for your child? If you found daycare that was way cheaper than what you currently pay would you switch? Do you think that cheap daycare equals lower quality of care?

Answer 1

Make sure that you get to spend time visiting the facility and speaking to the care providers.  Talk to other parents in your neighborhood and see what they have been happy with, and don't consider the price to be a good indicator of the quality.

I could just ditto Sandra's answer...  she was right.

Answer 2

if u r a good mother and love ur children ,plz don't leave ur children to anyone bcoz they will miss u a lot and in future u will miss them a lot at ur old age time.but if now u give proper attention to them ,they will also give u proper time.may b u feel bad but this is reality and u have to realize as soon as possible.if u dont want to go to old houses then plz dont leave ur children in daycare.

Answer 3

As for pricing in your area, you may want to visit a few centers or call to get the pricing ranges.  It could be from 350 a month to 850 a month but it depends on the days of the week and hours your child attends.  Generally infants and toddlers will pay more until they are toilet trained.  Also some programs charge more for food, others include the food.  There are many factors that will determine price.

As to the second part of your question about picking a child care, here are some good tips.

*Compile a list of preschool programs in your area. Word of mouth is one of the best ways to find a good preschool program. Ask your friends, neighbors or co-workers where their children go and what kind of experiences they have had.

**Know what you can afford and how long you want your child to be there each day. By knowing how much money you can spend on a preschool program or that you just want a break a couple of days a week, you may be able to significantly shorten your list.

***Visit the school's classrooms and playground. Most schools will give you a tour if you call ahead. If they are reluctant to do so, that should be an indication that you do not want your child to go there.

****Observe the classroom for 20 to 30 minutes and know what to look for. Stand or sit quietly away from the children. Just watch, do not ask the teacher questions or talk to the children. Observe how much of the activity is teacher-directed and see if the children have free time. Look for organization and structure. Watch how the teacher interacts with the children. Is the teacher patient, positive and nurturing? Ask yourself if your child would fit in and have fun in this setting.

****Ask yourself these important questions. Are the classrooms clean and orderly? Is the playground safe? What is the teacher to child ratio? What is the teaching philosophy and is it in line with your parenting style? If you like what you see then you can feel good about your choice and can look forward to the first day of preschool.

You may also want to check into the status of the licensee.  How long have they been licensed?  Have they had violations?  

Most child care centers will ask you to sign a contract and pay a monthly fee.  Ask if there is a "cooling off period" or a probationary period where either party can walk away.  There are day cares that may ask you to leave if they don't feel it's the right atmosphere for your child.  Ask if you can do the same.

Good luck and do a lot of research.  It will pay off in the end.

Answer 4

I am a daycare provider in Vermont. When i started my home daycare i looked at 22 different daycares in this area and came up with my prices that way. I am one of the less paid daycare providers in this town from the looking around that i did 5 years ago.

I just bought a house in Aug. This move would have moved me from one town to the next and made all my parents drive 10 extra miles to drop their children off everyday. When i decided to buy this house i gave my parents 60 days to either find a new daycare, Have me find them a new daycare with one of my friends or come with me. All of my parents came with me and none of them wanted or even thought of changing to someone else. There are many daycares in this area that they could have choose. So i think if you look for childcare in your area and find some high and some low this does not have anything to do with the care that your child gets during the day. I do many things for my daycare children and treat them as if they were my own. I love each and everyone of them and am very sad when i have to send one of them to "The Big School". That is what we call it. LOL. What  I'm trying to say is people are in this for the money or in it for the joy of having these children to teach them and have fun with them. Go with your gut and no matter what you do, Never give up good children care for a cheeper price. Good childcare these days is priceless.

You would pay more for a center to care for your child due to the staff and bills they would have for the building the childcare center would be in. A licensed home would be cheaper then a cennter and would still give you that home like feeling of a registered provider but you may still pay more then someone that is just registered due to again staff, and they do have some of the same rules that us registered providers have but they also have many others that we do not have.

You would have to us your gut and i would hope that you spend as much time with a provider that you have in mind before ever leaving your child with someone they do not know. In my home i have parents come in for no less then three visits and the visits last one hour long. They choose the time and come when they feel is right for them. They can show up here without me knowing they are coming and i let them know this is how i would like them to do it. I want them to know how i am when i know they are coming and when i do not. If they have nothing to hide then they would be fine with this and you will get a good feeling when they say come anytime. They should act no different when you show up without calling or setting a time to meet.

I do not think cheap daycare is lower quality. I am a lower priced dacyare and i am by far low quality. I spend and do a lot for my daycare children.

Answer 5

Center base Day Care always cost more. In home day Care cost less because the children acording to state law is only suppose to play and do arts and craft and go on trip according to the day care.

When it comes to educating your child you cannot put a price on that because, everyone would like to have the best for their child.

In home day care are good because it is smaller and it makes the child feel comfortable because it a home setting. To be honest i would not pay any Day Care money for my child to come and sit down and watch television that they can do at home. I believe that my child should be able to learn songs, nursery rhymes, alaphabet etc.

Most of the time the kindergarten programs are full so if my child have to go into and in home day care I believe that person should take the time to teach my child how to identify the letters and numbers and to trace , color, and also to have age aproriate toys and materials to stimulate my child while am at work.

If you look on Day Care .com their are rates that are provided by each state that each day care should go by and not over charge. Check on your state and you can enter day care rates and it will show you.

Sometimes the cheaper day care may not mean that the program is not good , look around  see if the materials that they have available is age approiate, look for learning materials on the walls, reading , weekly schedule, if they are thought the seasons, the month of the years, days of the week, computer programs, if they go on trips and the places, call and ask if you can sit in the program to see if it is the right one for your child, ask question such as what are your discpline policy, health policy, late policy, emergency policy, child abuse records, their are so many but i believe you can start. I will switch from a program if my child is not being stimulated and if another program is cheaper but can accomdate my needs for my child not all but the main areas for their age .

Answer 6

My only advice would be ....do not assume the more you pay the better the child care is!