US- daycare question

[BabyDragon]

Just a thought.... If you know anything about daycare, since I don't.

Can you 'occassionally' drop your child off at daycare?

And how much does daycare cost?

Thanks!

 

[DragonTamer]

Not that I'm aware of. From my experience the child must be registered and when they are enrolled they must attend a minimum amount of time/week for them to keep your child's spot open. And day care is not cheap. My 7yo spent one day in day care at 12weeks old, it killed me having her there. And my 8 month old won't be in day care if i can help it. My father whom is retired watches him while i work

 

[greenbeans12]

My kid's go to a private daycare that is "up" in price. I do get a half off discount because my Mother is the director. The way the rules are at their daycare is we have two options - 3 day weeks or a full 5 days. You don't get to pick the 3 days, they are Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I paid a 200 dollar registration fee and on holidays when school is out I still have to pay even if my kid's didn't go in. I pay 500 a month per child (1,000 a month in total) but the regular price is 1,000 a month per child.

 

[fieryphoenix]

Some places let you do drop in care, just for the day, no contract required. Price varies widely, depending on how long you leave them, how nice the daycare is and what part of the country your in. Around me it typically runs 50-60 dollars a day. Good luck!

 

[greenbeans12]

Some places let you do drop in care, just for the day, no contract required. Price varies widely, depending on how long you leave them, how nice the daycare is and what part of the country your in. Around me it typically runs 50-60 dollars a day. Good luck!

Yea, that's the typical price where I am at too.

 

[ARuppe716]

My school has a minimum of 2 days a week but you can pick what days you consistently need. They do need you to commit to set days because they have to make sure they are properly staffed and meeting teacher to child ratios. I would be wary of a facility that allows drop ins bc who knows how many kids are there in a given day versus how much staff they have on hand. Maybe try a home daycare where there aren't many children to begin with and you would be the only drop in member?

 

[bluestarlight]

Hi, I think it depends on the state and its licensing rules. Here they do have drop-in care centers or family care places that accept drop ins, and you just pay for the day. Prices do vary widely though.

 

[bluestarlight]

Some places let you do drop in care, just for the day, no contract required. Price varies widely, depending on how long you leave them, how nice the daycare is and what part of the country your in. Around me it typically runs 50-60 dollars a day. Good luck!

Yea, that's the typical price where I am at too.

Yea, I'm just trying to find daycare for my 2 girls now, for full time and it is anywhere from $30-$60 a day here for just one child. Some places give sibling discounts, but for most at minimum i'm looking at $300 a week for the 2 of them...ouch....
My husband just got a new job with more steady hours/pay and my sister doesn't want to watch them that much, plus now she is trying to find a job. I was paying her $200/week. Its insane out there.

 

[Tweak0605]

I know they do have drop in centers, but I don't think they have any around where I live.

LO goes 3 days a week, and we pay $740 a month for her. I would pay higher if I needed to, because they are absolutely amazing with her. We definitely lucked out in finding this place.

 

[Noelle610]

Most centers won't let you just drop in once in awhile. It's a cost thing - they make way more money off of full time kids.

I think your best bet for that type of arrangement is an in-home daycare. My daughter attends one full time, but there are several toddlers who go once or twice a week. My provider charges $200 a week for infants under 2 years old, $175 a week for full time toddlers and $50 a day for drop-ins. It's very inexpensive for my area, but likely pretty common elsewhere in the US.

 

[ARuppe716]

I pay approx. $80-85 per day when you break down my monthly bill! But I'm also in an expensive area in New Jersey...

 

[alaskagrown]

I do daycare in my home and watch 2 other kids aside from my own (wasn't planning on doing it...just sort of happened that way!). I'm not licensed, but kids obviously get more one-on-one time with me. One little girl's mom pays me $25 for half-days and $50 for full-days and the other mom pays me $7/hour. There was one licensed person in town who did drop-in daycare, but her whole set-up seemed kinda sketchy. One person said she had like 10 kids in her house at once O_O I believe she charged like $4/hour for kids less than 18 months?

 

[DaisyBee]

Licensed daycare can have 10-12 kids in their house at once ( rules for certain ages) and it's legal. (which would vary by the state.. All daycares and rules are only state... Not federal).

Some home providers do drop in care... But you would need to set up with them in advance... Do all the paperwork, go through the interviews, etc. And then when you call them saying "are you available tomorrrow or next Tuesday " then they can tell you if they have a spot open that day.

There are daycare centers that do drop in care, and advertise for that. My town of 6000 doesn't have one... But the larger town 15 miles away does.

Rates for daycare vary hugely... Area of the country, town you live in, licensed, home or center. You would need to call around in your town to find out rate averages. Home daycare providers decide what they charge... Jane can charge 30 a day for all kids, her friend down the street also does daycare... She charges 70 a day for infants, 50 for all other kids. ( as an example). It's up to you as the parent to decide which you want to go with. There is no set price.

 

[mrsbeano]

10-12 kids being looked after by one person?! That's ridiculous for babies and toddlers... mainly because I can only cope with one most of the time haha.

 

[Faith1025]

We pay $528/month for 5 day/week care.

 

[scoobydrlp]

My LO goes to a daycare center in a church (we are not members of the church), and she goes 3 days a week, which is what they originally said was the minimum, but they have allowed us to do 2 days on occasion, especially when there is a holiday and they aren't open. If she were going 5/week it would be $155. Since she's part time it's $31/day. This is absolutely the cheapest lisenced center in our area that isn't in-home. They are also wonderful and they love my baby! I feel completely comfortable leaving her there. In general it seems church daycares are less expensive than the big chains. Prices of in-home seem to vary.

 

[Noelle610]

10-12 kids being looked after by one person?! That's ridiculous for babies and toddlers... mainly because I can only cope with one most of the time haha.

I'm imaging it's kids that are in the 2-4 age range? 10-12 is an average size nursery school class, isn't? Not sure how these things work yet!

 

[easyrhumba]

We currently pay 725 a month full time.

 

[DaisyBee]

10-12 kids being looked after by one person?! That's ridiculous for babies and toddlers... mainly because I can only cope with one most of the time haha.

I'm imaging it's kids that are in the 2-4 age range? 10-12 is an average size nursery school class, isn't? Not sure how these things work yet!

Yes there are rules for ages like I said. When I was a licensed provider i could have had 10 kids in my house at once. 8 of the 10 could be under kindergarden age ( 5 ), of those 8 only 3 could be under the age of 2. Of those... 2 could be under the age of 1. The type of license for 12 kids, only 2 of those kids could be under 2, and one of those could be under 12 months.

I personally only had 6-7 kids in care at once because thats what I chose to do. But I knew providers that were at full capacity.

Megan will be in preschool this fall and they have 10 kids per class typically. If they go over 10 ( last year had some classes with 12) they have a helper in the room.

 

[LuluSS]

I pay $860/month for four days. The minimum they do is three days/week. I can choose the days. Five days a week would cost me $955/month. They don't do drop ins but I know of places that do and they charge about $60/day.