Good question Nox, I've been wondering about FDC & have a few questions too... DD is 5 months old and we'll be looking at putting her in childcare part-time in a couple of months.
With regard to kids of different ages being with one carer - those of you who have had babies in FDC, do you find their needs are met when there are older children who can vocalise & express what they require, are more mobile & independent and more assertive in their play?
Also, how much interaction do they have with the other, older kids?
I'm worried about 'too much' but this didn't actually occur to me until an encounter at the park last week where a 2ish yr old snatched a toy from DD who was strapped in the pram, refused to give it back to me when I kneeled down to ask (while scanning for apparently absent parent) and then proceeded to poke her fingers in DD's mouth and flap (not slap) her on the face/eyes, making her cry...all the while her mother who appeared tried to extract the toy from her grasp with one hand, balance a full cup hot coffee directly over DD's pram with the other and yelling 'Gentle! Gentle!'. Yeah, right.
I am not too keen to go for the institution-style childcare centres as I think a smaller group, one-on-one care & a home-like environment would be far better for DD, but feel that she might have a better chance against rougher, more snatchy kids if they're all roughly the same age & size (even though I know they are all shapes & sizes!)...especially when babies don't interact and play with each other too much until they're older. Is this totally misguided??
Any experiences/advice very welcome.
AJ
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