Good Vs Bad Daycares

When I first decided to put Jacob in daycare, I was told to look for a daycare that is full and hard to get into. I was told to beware of daycares that had dropping enrollment and were easy to get into. The daycare I have been using fell into the first category a year ago. We were very happy. I felt like the teachers were willing to work with me and parents were generally happy. Something changed last summer and all of a sudden the waiting lists disappeared. They began laying off teachers and the teachers began looking much more stressed. I tried to talk to the director today about my concerns and she refused to discuss them with me. This included my concerns from last week as well as her refusal to give foster families the same sibling discounts as other families. She has a lot of excuses for this but the end result is that we are treated differently because we are a foster family.

I stopped at 2 daycares that we had toured previously. Both daycares stated they had room but cautioned that the spaces tend to fill up very quickly. They both received rave reviews from parents that I know and are highly recommended. They are also both slightly more expensive but well worth it if they have high quality programs and good educational programs.

I stopped by the second one we toured last week and dropped off the enrollment paperwork. They had room for both boys Thursday afternoon. By today, they had several families stop in and tour and one family put down a deposit to hold a spot. The person at the front desk wasn't sure they had room for M and only have one available spot for Jacob. I left the paperwork and deposit and he stated he would call me tomorrow after talking to the enrollment person. I am really hoping that there is one more spot for M and that we can get in there. If not, I'll call the other center tomorrow and stop there after work. I hope they still have room. I'm willing to put the kids in 2 different centers if I have to but I don't want to. At least it is another sign that they are a good center and not losing enrollment despite it being a bad economy (which is the excuse the other center is giving me).