HELP! - How to Find a Good Daycare?

Hi P.. I just wanted to let you and other Mamas know about the state's website for looking for and checking on the inspection report of daycares and family home daycares that are legal in Texas. The website is: http://www.dfps.state.tx.us/Child_Care/About_Child_Care_L.... You can put your zipcode or town that you are interested in looking for care for, and you will see the daycares and family home daycares that are legal. Registered and licensed homes will have inspections that you can review, and all of the daycares will as well. I have a registered daycare home and I do have an opening. If you are interested in talking to me about your childcare needs, my phone number is 972/727-9808. PICK of North Texas is an association of childcare providers that I am a member of and our website is www.pickofnorthtexas.com. There you will find other listed, registered, and licensed providers that are in the Allen/Plano areas (other surrounding areas too). Best wishes!

I've done both. We are currently back in private home care and I hope we will be fortunate enough to stay right where we are.

That said, you asked for a comparison between the two:

Daycare Pros:
Wider Hours
Continuous Coverage (especially around the holidays)
More available activities
Depending on where you go, possibly more structured curriculum (learning care vs. playcare)

Cons:
More kids
More exposure to germs
Less individualized attention, tougher to communicate
Typically more expensive
Easy to solicit references by talking to parents in the parking lot at beginning/end of day to get a feel for what the place is like.

Private Care
Pros:
Individualized care
Less kids
Less exposure to germs
Depending on the type of provider, structured curriculum
Easier to communicate and establish relationship with sitter
Typically lesss expensive

Cons:
Tend to open later/close earlier
Tend to use more time off aroud holidays
Coverage is a concern in case sitter is sick/needs time off
Have to work a bit harder to vet them out.

I'd certainly check their info out on the TX Dept Family Services website. I always look for violations that are concerning. I would not consider a private sitter unless I knew them well, who isn't a licensed caregiver. First for the regulatory oversight, and second because for a person to go through everything to be licensed shows how serious they are about what they do.

There is a bit of parent radar use as well. I have a rather exhaustive set of interview questions for any prospective sitter/childcare place as well as reference questions and if any alarms go off during that check, all bets are off. Message me and I'll send if you are interested.

At daycares, I always look for cleanliness, do the kids look healthy, how the kids interact with the teachers, whether my gut felt comfortable talking to the teachers/director, and what the parent feedback in the parking lot is.

Same thing with private sitters although I had to rely more on references that the sitter picked out...so I put more weight on my parent radar when interviewing everyone.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

I'm sorry to tell you that you probably just have to look on the internet, and call around. YOu can also try some local publications that are usually available at the Ped office, like DFW Kids Directory.
It really takes you calling, finding out which will fit your time needs and budget, visiting and then deciding.

Our son has been in a wonderful daycare for just over a year now; he is 17 months. My husband and I toured 4 daycares in our area, we live in East Richardson, and we went back to all of them at least 3 times before finalizing.
You really have to go with your gut feeling when deciding on what will best fit your little man. I highly suggest going back for repeat visits unannounced so you can see the real deal. What made us finally go with our choice was the appearance of all the classrooms, ratio, curriculum, personality of the staff, and of course location was always key. We love how involved the teachers are with all the children as well as with us, the lessons they do with them, and the creative art the children make that they use to decorate the walls of the classrooms. Any help you can get with a personal recommendation would be awesome too! Good Luck!