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As a parent of two young kids in daycare, this feels very disconnected from reality. The most glaring issue is the discussion of childcare providers as though

by dap 4y ago

As a parent of two young kids in daycare, this feels very disconnected from reality. The most glaring issue is the discussion of childcare providers as though they're totally fungible. Now, I have no idea how representative my experience is, but the parents I know are interested in things like: cost, location, holidays/time off (lots of places near me take 5-6 weeks off per year -- that's kind of a big deal for people who work full time), hours provided, whether food is provided, what the environment is like, policies around when sorta-sick kids can attend, the experience of the providers/teachers, being able to send siblings to the same place, parent community, safety record...I could go on. Some of these are luxuries, but many affect one's ability to work a full-time job (which is the point of daycare for a lot of people). My experience is that places that tick all these boxes have waitlists. Many other places don't. Despite there being lots of places with availability, parents around here still feel like it's hard to find daycare. (There are other fallacies here, too -- like the idea that some centralized broker is an efficient solution. Monopolies efficient? And if you have a competitive market for the brokers, that seems to undermine a lot of the benefit, or at least make this idea much more complicated.)

bknight1983 4y ago
There’s also the debate around a corporate daycare (Bright Horizons, Goddard, Primrose) and at home daycare. I was a child of at home daycare by one woman who is literally my second mother (was present for all the big moments and was there emotionally for me). It also means it was a single point of failure; if Penny was sick, on vacation, then my parents were SOL. A more corporate daycare gives you the reliable daycare but at the cost of your child being a number.

by dap 4y ago

bknight1983 4y ago

There’s also the debate around a corporate daycare (Bright Horizons, Goddard, Primrose) and at home daycare. I was a child of at home daycare by one woman who is literally my second mother (was present for all the big moments and was there emotionally for me). It also means it was a single point of failure; if Penny was sick, on vacation, then my parents were SOL. A more corporate daycare gives you the reliable daycare but at the cost of your child being a number.