Family Day Care

**danniellabella** · January 14th, 2010, 02:13 PM

My DD has been going to FDC since she was 3 months old (went to FDC full time from 4.5 months). Towards the end of the year we changed FDC carers because the first lady was retiring this year.

DD loves FDC, especially being able to mix with different age groups (from new born to school age). She currently gets along really well with a 6 year old. DD is nearly 2.

My first carer never took the kids out in the car and would only take them to the park if she had 2 kids for the day (my DD and her grandson). Our current carer does school & kindy pick ups and has a large van fitted with proper age/weight appropriate restraints. She's also available 24/7 (at an extra cost for weekends/public holidays/overnights if care is provided).

In my experience, the only downside I've found with FDC is if the carer is sick or takes holidays you have to make other arrangements. For me this usually means taking a day off work, although this year our first carer can do some babysitting if we are in that situation.

I have used child care centres but I really prefer the FDC environment.

When choosing a carer you basically make an appointment to meet with them and check out what they offer and "interview" them. Be prepared to look at different suburbs. When interviewing for our current carer who lives about 10mins away, we also met with someone who lives within walking distance of our house. We chose the one who was further because of a "gut feeling" and also we liked the environment she had set up for the kids.

**MantaRay** · January 14th, 2010, 09:18 PM

Hun, I'd try googling family day care and your suburb. There are organisations running FDC in most areas of Brissy. If you can't find one in your area, try ringing another and asking them. Usually they cover a large area and also know the numbers of the adjoining ones.

**hj1981** · January 19th, 2010, 01:25 PM

Right i officially hate FDC and now im really stressing!
No FDC will take Miss B - (and i do understand why) because she won't be permenant - we need different days each week, and they wont give up a perm position for her - fair enough tho! but still upsets me!
We don't want to be paying for days she isn't going - we are about to drop down to one wage and for a long time so we can't afford to be throwing money away like that!