Long day care or Family day care - which one do you use?

Hi everyone,

I wanted to know which one do you use - long day care or family day care? Do all your children attend the same care faculty? And why have you choosen this type of care?

Kind regards,

My boys started in feb at a long day care centre, they both attend 1 day a week, the centre is lovely bright and clean friendly staff and well organised. They are in diff rooms due to ages, they both enjoy being there but DS1 does cry when I leave him and as soon as he sees me come back but does happily go to staff.

I sent them here as I think its important to be in a centre where they will learn as well as be looked after.

Mine were always in Family Day Care. There were limits of four children per carer, and two of them would have been mine. I wanted my children to grow up together, not in separate rooms. I also liked that I could choose the carer and that they wouldn't come and go during the day.

We still spend regular time with both my boys' day care mothers, eight years later. It's a fabulous bond.

Mine are in long day care, happy with it. At the time it was the best option price wise, as my CCB reduced the cost drastically.

We used Long Day Care with our girls (FDC was not an option as it wasn't really offered in our area for some reason). Anyway it is a Community Cooperative which is a parent run centre so there is a lot of involvement from the parents.

I had sort of the opposite thought to Divvy in that I wanted them to be in different rooms to enable them to create their own space and own network of friends - as they share a bedroom and spend all their other time together. Also the carers are long term and they often follow the children for 2-3 years. i thought it was good for the girls to be able to develop strong trusting relationships with adults outside of their family. The fact that they had more than one carer was good in case they didn't particularly like or warm to a specific carer.

Fortunately we have had a great experience and have been part of the centre for 5.5 years now (with another 2.5 to go!)

Our daughter is in long day care. I was more interested in that because I was concerned about what happens when the FDC lady gets sick - I've since found out that there is only one FDC in our town so that may not have been an option anyway.

I use LDC, there are not many options for FDC in the town I live in and I was a bit fussy as to what homes I would have wanted them to go in. Also my concern was that you don't have much control over who comes into the house, etc.

At the FDC I use they have a family grouping time at the start and end of the day. My boys have all really enjoyed the centre they are at and the carers are a great bunch of ladies.

I have used both. I used family day care with my first son as well as long day care. I LOVED my FDC lady. she was fantastic. But i also love my son's SMALL childcare centre (40 places)
Both have advantages- For me:
FDC- PRO's - Same person all day (although if they are having a bad day for whatever reason, your children also see that... but that is all part of it for me! the good and the bad!)
REAL home environment. Nice small groups. Siblings are together. My carer did wonderful programs based on the interests of my son. EVERY day there was thing that were planned specifically for him, because of the small group. My son got to know her family too- loved her older kids, and loved interacting with them.
Cons- for me there were only 2. Small group which was great for some things, but not so good if my son didn't like the other kids or he was in with children of a much younger or older age group, and IF she was ever sick or on Holidays. But she never was in the year and a bit that my son was there (well not on the days i had him with her.

IF i was only sending my kids one or 2 days, i would use family day care again!

Long day care- Pros for me- Small centre, so small group of staff. My sons know all the care givers really well, even though there is more than one. I don't have to worry about if one of their normal carers is sick, one of the others steps in and fills the spot for the day. Large range of activities for the kids that are age specific. everything provided. I can change my hours whenever it suits... any time in their operating hours, where as i couldn't always do this easily in FDC- booked hours were booked hours and additional hours needed to be negotiated. More social interaction for my Autistic son. He is exposed more to a more similar environment to what he will be in at school next year.

Price wise for me- FDC was cheaper if i wasn't using 8 or more hours of care- as i paid per hour not for the day. But for full time- LDC was easiest for me.

Currently use Long Day Care for DD2. In the past I have used LDC with both girls attending, with only DD1 attending, along with FDC with both girls.

FDC had the flexibility of being able to pick up and drop off DD1 for Kinder. They would also go into town for a council run playgroup so they could get to socialise with more children. I found it expensive though, the council charged their fee and I had to provide all food and milk. I was not fond of our carer, but had little choice as she was the only one out my way and would do the Kinder runs. I had days were she had appointments, so I had to collect the girls early. I am not comfortable with the one person looking after kids for 10+ hours straight with no help, I know as parents we do it, but it always worried me. Also I was never comfortable bringing up concerns, it always seemed so personal as it was her business.

I prefer LDC. Our current centre is one of 3 council run ones, DD1 was at one of the others when we first moved here. Yes, there are multiple carers, but I like that. If someone is sick, at least they can still go and there will always be someone there they know. The girls were in separate rooms, but most outside play was together and the first and last hours are family time where they are all together. I like that there is a heirachy. If I can't talk to the carer, I can talk to the centre manager, no luck with her I can deal with the centre co-ordinator. Most of the carers are brilliant women, who are so wonderful with the children and they make up for the ones who are just ok (normally this is just to do with the girls not clicking with them). I love that the centre provides food, it exposed the girls to other dishes that I had not thought of cooking, or did not want to. Of course there is the whole practical thing of not having to send along food ;)

I use long day care. I use it as respite care - I have a pretty serious physical illness which means I'm unable to work and at times find it extremely difficult to care for my son. I chose centre-based care so that his days away from me would be different. I felt that with FDC he would still feel like he was having another day at home, but it just happened to be someone else's home. I also feel that for my child's personality, the structured environment suits him better than FDC would. The fact that he has more people to socialise with (both adult and child) than he would in FDC was also a bonus for me.

On the other hand - if I was working full-time and he was in full-time care, then I think I would want FDC for similar reasons to Divvy. But this is what suits us and our current circumstances.

BW