FDC vs Childcare centre

I am just in the middle of thinking about daycare for next year. I am increasing my hours next year from .4- .5 FTE so will be putting the kids into daycare one day a week, and I am a bit torn as to which direction to go in.

I have had DD in daycare a couple of times and she wasn't really very keen on it, she was fine while she was there, but would scream blue murder when I left, which left me feeling awful for the rest of the day. DS is yet to any type of care other than being left with my mum (and the few times we have tried to leave him with anyone else, even people he knows- he has been hysterical).

Anyway- I am trying to decide between FDC and a centre, I have pros and cons for each so finding it hard to choose. I would like FDC, because I think DS would settle better in the smaller environment where he can be with his sister, and I like the idea of there only being a few of them together. However, I am worried about them having their afternoon nap disturbed to do school pickups. I also worry about it being just one person, so if they are having a difficult day they have no one to call on to lend a hand, where as you do in a centre.

I like the idea of a centre for my daughter, because dispite her protests when she has been previously, she really thrives with the social interactions of other children, and being the bright little button she is she really needs that added stimulation. I think it will be nice for her to also have some time without her brother as well. However, I worry that my little man might not adjust as well to the larger setting, and the fact he is away from his sister.

What are your thoughts on FDC vs a centre?

I cant really comment on a centre. I couldnt find a nice enough one with vacancies!

We use FDC and Claire LOVES it. In the morning when we get in the car, she spends half the drive there saying her carers name over and over, lol! She likes the smaller group (she gets overwhelmed with lots of people around) and I prefer it too because she can have more personal care, iykwim. Usully our carer has about 3 - 4 kids there a day. She's always happy when I drop her off and our carer is so lovely. Her kids are a bit older - 10 and 14 - and while she does often do the school pick up, it doesnt seem to cause much of an issue for Claire as she still always gets a good sleep every day.

Our carer is part of a FDC scheme and there are other FDC mums around our area through the same scheme and sometimes they go out together to the park or something. They also have special play days where a whole lot of the FDC mums get togtehr at the FDC office and do activities there (the FDC has a special bus that picks everyone up and drops them all back). One of the things that was an advantage for us was that FDC is heaps cheaper tahn any of the centres near us.

Ali - If they are in the same centre and one of them wants to see the other, the centre can do that. Larger daycare centres usually have higher turn over of staff, but as you say, there is more than 1 person per room. FDC is usually cheaper than a centre but you do have to provide everything, whereas some centres will provide some things like food and nappies, depending on the centre.

Many FDC will have a routine that makes room for pickup and still allows plenty of sleep.

Whatever you decide hun, you will be able to change if they dont like it. I know that FDC is harder to get into up here, but LDC is also hard to get places in. Where ever you can get a place until you get your preference will help you to see what suits both kids.

Hi,
my daughter goes to family day care two or three days a week depending on my roster, she is fifteen months. She started going when she was about five months. I was super nervous sending her as she has huge sleep issues and she still co-sleeps at night. Our carer is fantastic, DD was wrapped and patted and sometimes had to be physically held to get her to sleep and whilst she was sleeping. She is much better at care now she sleeps independantly in the cot. Our carer did not even bat an eye lid when i explained DD's sleeping habits when she started and i know she would not have got what she needed had she been put in a day care centre as she is only now starting to get a routine to her day. She goes to family day care play group on fridays where all the carers get together and she often goes for play dates with her carer to other carers houses. Our family day care is run by a not for profit organisation so there is two women in charge and the office is not far from our carers house, i often get a little slip saying that one of the in charge people has vistied. The personal care that our DD has recieved has been fantastic whilst she still gets plenty of interaction with other children of all ages.
I would highly reccomend this style of care as it becomes more of a family atmosphere than actual child care.
Our DD loves her carer and has only had a couple of times where she has'nt been over the moon when we drop her off and she settles within seconds. More often than not she doesn't want to leave.

Ali - its a hard decision huh !!!

I send mine (both) to child care centres. My sister sends her three to a FDC. She likes it because its a small environment, they love the carer and know her well, she is close to the house - and well, she's cheaper than child care.

My problems with FDC? Well, her carer doesn't work on Tuesdays - so whenever my sister works on a Tuesday - mum has to go down to Brisbane and look after the kids. Whereas my child care can take them whenever I want them to (well the one with vacancies, the other one is full and I can only get one day a week for DS - he goes to Montessori the other two days).

Another problem I have with FDC? The one carer. What happens if she has a heart attack/stroke - whatever - who looks after the kids? Who will call the ambulance? What happens to the kids if the ambulance is called and the carer is taken away? Who looks after the kids until you get there? Do you trust a stranger??

My biggest gripe would be the above. And the fact that yes, the carer may seem like a nice person, but you aren't there during the day to watch them and make sure they aren't doing controlled crying (if you don't want them to) or smacking your children, feeding them crap food, not abusing during nappy changes... etc... etc..

Ok, so I sorta sound like a untrusting freak who is over protective - but seriously - I would rather put my kids in an environment where there are several people watching over them, and looking out for the other carers to make sure they are doing the right thing. Plus I don't have to worry about them chucking a sickie and not being able to take the kids!!!!!

DD is still a little young for having feelings for her carers - but DS loves his carers - and he has the same ones every day that he goes there.

So thats my :twocents:

i'm also interested in peoples thoughts on this one, as I will be returning to work soon and am also making this decision

I originally wanted Charlie to go to FDC, mainly because of his asthma, I'd hoped he would be exposed to fewer kids and therefore not contract the flu as often. But after visiting some FDCs in my area, and then the CC near my workplace, I ended up putting him in the CC.

I just liked the centre I went to - they are a very well-regarded centre and they have a really good program for the kids. It also meant Charlie was close to me in case he had an asthma attack, so that was a good trade-off. I didn't mind the FDCarers I saw but there wasn't a huge choice (only two had vacancies) and I can't say I particularly 'clicked' with any of them. So despite originally wanting a FDCarer for Charlie, I ended up going with my gut feeling and putting him in a CC.

Yep he screamed blue murder whenever I left to start with. But now he loves it and can't wait to get in and me out the door so he can go off to play with his friends.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is: visit every option and go with your gut in the end. FDC is cheaper and this was the only other consideration I gave it, but still ended up enrolling him into a child care centre in the end, because it felt right to me.

FDC all the way. I worked in 2 child care centres and the goings on that I saw, I was shocked with. I had to report one centre for mistreating a little boy. These were 'great' centres in posh areas!

I worked in FDC and it was wonderful. I have put both the boys in FDC (Jaidan 1 day, Chase 2 days) and they love it. They get to know the carer well as it is only one carer. It is very personal, she has 5 kids one day and 3 the other. You can do like I did and request a carer that doesn't do school drop offs/pick ups. If you say your child has a nap at so and so time they will make sure your child is put in with a carer that can let them have this nap. They wont miss it.

Plus I think it's cheaper. I pay $9 a day after childcare benifits for each child :)

Mel hunni you can't trust that that stuff wont happen in a centre :( When I worked in this one a couple of years ago, there were the twin boys, one of them was a little hyper. This carer hated him, you could tell by the way she treated him. One day he wouldn't sit down for story time so she yanked him over and forced him down quite hard and when he started crying she told him to "shut up and stop whining". I reported her. This had been going on a bit and the other carers turned a blind eye! They were also very nasty with food issues, forcing the kids to sit and eat even when they weren't hungry, and if they accidentally dropped it they weren't allowed anything else :(
For this reason I would never send my kids to a CC centre, it might happen in FDC but I have worked in 1 and the lady my boys go to is lovely :)

Missy Mel - true - but you can't promise that that stuff won't happen with FDC - no matter how nice they seem, everyone has a breaking point and has bad days - and who is there to report them? ;)

This is why I chose CC over FDC:

More children at CC: DS is a lot more social than I am.

More activities at CC: I know some FDC ladies and tbh I'm not keen on DS going to coffee mornings and left in a creche while I'm paying someone to have coffee away from him. I know I did it occasionally but I'm not paying me to do it!

CC is a VERY "gentle" centre with loads of hugs and kisses. Most of the workers have no children so a full night's sleep and just LOVE it when DS hasn't slept so they can cuddle him all day! I've seen breaking point once: the kids were all playing up and the main carer said in a loud (not shouty) naughty voice to all sit down, there would be no TV late afternoon (the only time it's on, you don't know that about a FDC place!)... that's the punishment! No shouting or screaming. The naughty chair is used too, that's the worst punishment.

CC has a webcam you need a password to view, so you can watch your child all day.

CC has a bigger range of things to do: indoor climbing frame, balance bars, chalkboard, water bath, train set, duplo, sticklebricks... I don't have all of that! I don't know any FDC with a climbing frame in the front room.

My sister has worked in a CC where the care was poor. She was told off by other workers for spending time with babies and not letting them cry! Which is why I was picky choosing the second centre for DS: the first one I sent him to was awful (I saw it while I was pg, it was the work nursery). I think the other children there are a good indication of what the centre is like. Also if you can stay for a half-hour at drop off/pick up and just see what the carers normally do. If you're in and out and not allowed to stay with your child, it's probably to hide bad practice.

Also, I'm ill and paranoid about "what if I am suddenly paralysed for two hours..." I just need more than one carer around DS because you never know when someone's going to get ill. School holidays (I have off, the centre doesn't, nor does it have compulsary time off for holidays because there's more than one member of staff) I will now spend at my parents' so if I am ill then there's my mum there to look after DS.

This is slightly an odd one. I want DS to have my accent. Some of his carers are South African. And lovely, nothing wrong with them, before anyone gets bad ideas! But a balloon burst the other day, DH and I said "the balloon went bang!" and DS nodded, then said "Pop! Beng!" He says "bang!" with a South African accent! Just imagine if that was his full-time carer. I want DS with a Yorkshire accent, so will have to work harder on that one LOL. So you have to consider the accent, enunciation and things like that of the carer too. More carers means less chance of errant pronounciation slipping in. PMSL, I sound like a snob here! I'm really not! I'd be just the same if it were a English, Australian, French, Scottish... whatever accent. I just want him to have a "nice voice" and to me that means a Yorkshire accent.

I agree but I trust my boys would tell me. I am very much trusting in that fact and I ask lots of questions when they get picked up. The issue for me with THAT CC is there were 5 other carers in the centre, 3 of who worked in the 3-5 room and noone had reported her before me :(
I can't worry about the 'what if I pass out or die" thing because then I would worry about my own kids being in my care. Instead I have taught them about calling 000 and asking for the ambluance and stuff.

Missy - yup I get where you are coming from, really I do. My problem being that my kids are far too young to be able to tell me if anything happens - so I have to have faith in the people that are looking after him. I just find it easier to have faith in more than one person.. .LOL

I know that feeling. I used to be so scared sending my boys to Launceston to see their dad knowing they were so little and couldn't tell me what was going on (this was when they were 1 and 2). There is a big age gap (5 and almost 4) compared to your bubbas :)

My son went to FDC and my daughter is now at a CC centre. My thoughts are that the difference between FDC and CC (apart from the cost) is that with FDC you are choosing one specific person to look after your child. With CC, you choose the centre have to trust that all the carers follow the ethos of that centre. You also have to get used to (and check out) the multiple carers in your child's room and then accept changes in carers (when the carers leave the centre or the room, or when the child moves to the next age group). This is my little bug-bear at the moment because the main carer in my daughter's room last year was The Best, and with the new year everyone's been shuffled around and it feels like we're starting over getting used to the new carers.

Although, we actually had the experience of the FDC carer passing out! When my son was about 18 months, he had been at this FDC for only a few weeks, she was sick and passed out. The problem was that she had left the front door unlocked and the 3 kids got outside - and she lived on a main road!! The next-door neighbours saw the kids and brought them back, so they were safe. But the council had to remove her from their service.
The council organised a different FDC and the new lady was fantastic (and her house was set up for day care, with a large playroom safely separated from the rest of the house and a gated yard so no chance of escaping children). She was also studying child-care by distance education so knew a lot about child development and did lots of age-appropriate activities with the children. She even provided healthy, kid-friendly, food.
So, we've really experienced the good and the not so good with FDC.
The main reason my daughter's in a centre and not FDC is the length of the FDC waiting lists, and the fact that even when there's an opening it may not be with the 'right' carer so getting to the top of the waiting list doesn't necessarily mean getting a place in care.

Moki I know what you mean about waiting lists. The boys were on one for almost a year before I got them placed and that was just for 1 day a week!