Anyone used Family Day Care?

Hi Ladies,

I am still considering my options for Daycare for DD who is 14 months.

I have enrolled Loren is a normal daycare but today we had a play day, and I am still concerned that she is not ready. Plus I a new little boy was there and he was just left sitting on the floor crying and nobody picked him up.

So this got me thinking about family daycare. My main concern with family day care is that only one person is there to mind your kids, so you really don't know what they are up to iykwim. On the other hand they only have maximum 4 little ones with them at one time and your child is supposed to get one on one attention.

Please share your experiences

Bek I am a diehard FDC fan. Once you have chosen your carer, you should be pretty confident that your little one gets exactly the same degree of care and attention that they would at home. You will know you have the right carer by observing how she interacts with the children while you are there. My kids have always warmed to their carers straight away, and I'm confident that any time my DD needs a cuddle she will get it. But I'm picky with chosing, and I have no problems rejecting a carer if anything doesn't seem right. For me, it's really important that the play area is incorporated within the main body of the house, that tells me a lot about the carer's attitude to having children in her space, kwim?

I have just started my DS (8months) in FDC. We chose to use FDC as I was putting him in so young, and I was recommended a carer, through the local council FDC. She was recommended to me as being a caring professional with over 20yrs experience in FDC.

I chose to use her, after visiting her home, and assessing the areas. She has a converted garage which is full of toys, activities and books. Her backyard is full of play things, and covered in a huge shade sail. She has her kitchen/family room with the portacots for the babies, and a huge open area for games. She meets up with other carers in the area and takes the kids out to the park, or for walks in the afternoons. Her kids are all long term kids, and she generally has them till they are in school, and even has some for after school care. But she does insist kids go to preschool from 3.5ish for at least some of the time.

She was recommended to us, as being more like a surrogate grandma to the kids than a carer, and from the time DS started there, he has been so happy. Almost to the point where he doesn't want to come home to me... She and I are able to have conversations daily about his progress, eating, sleeping activities etc, and I am totally comfortable leaving him there. And she even said to him on Monday when she saw him, I missed you on the weekend... Did you miss me?

I was concerned about the one carer thing too, but in a center, the ratio is 5 to 1 these days. We do have to be careful with illness, and there are strict rules about sickness etc, but FDC will find you a replacement carer for DS if our carer is sick.

OK.... that was quite long. Hope it helped, and feel free to ask if you have any questions...

After using FDC i dot ever want to think about using normal day care for my kids. DD1 has been in FDC since 5 months old, and DD2 since 8 months old. The carer is great, the girls have an awesome time (and dont ever want to come home), they have so much fun, do alot of craft, the carer keeps them in the routine they are in at home.

If she is sick (which she hasnt ever been whilst my girls were there) or goes on holidays a back up carer is organised (if you need it..i just kept the girls home when she went on leave as im always home so could care for them). Fees are reasonable, good feedback and i like the communcation diary we get.

Over all....id recommended FDC....

Guys I have worried myself sick over this daycare biso all day but your recommendations have been welcomed immensley. I have called our local fdc and I will going to see them this week.

A million hugs

how did you go at FDC Bek?
I use FDC for DS and love it. We get abck up when carer is sick, he is a part of her family (and now also of the family of the lady who does back up), the flexibility is great etc etc.
I also went to FDC as a kid and am still close to my FDC mum and her 8 kids... another bonus it is a relationship for life if it works out well..

I love FDC. DD has been in care since 5 months old.
They are only allowed a max 5 kids in care at once ( i think) and only 2 babies at once. DD LOVES it!! I think go for. make sure you check out a few carers etc because there are some dodgy ones out there

I reckon family day care is great! My little girl goes to a lovely FDC near our home. She started going when she was 12 months old and she is just about to turn 2 next week. I was able to spend a couple of hours there at her place when Claire first started at FDC and I chose this particular carer because she just seemed to interact so well with the little ones. Plus, Claire just loved her straight away. On the weekend Claire points to the car, gets her shoes on and starts saying the carers name (hmmm maybe I'm not a very exciting mummy!) and she gets so excited when its finally monday again and she gets to go to FDC again.

Our carer has a maximum of 5 children per day, only 2 can be under 2. If she is sick, usually we get a backup carer who is part of the same scheme. She's only been sick once in the last year, so we've only had to use the backup carer once. Definately go and meet a few carers and see how you feel. I got a good vibe off our carer and she made us feel so welcome, so I actually never went to meet any others! but I've been into some centres where it just didnt feel welcoming at all. I've found that the cost of FDC is a bit less than a centre too, so that helps (especially if you're a povo uni student like me!)

We love FDC and would never ever go back to the centre.

Mason never wants to come home and I know he is so well looked after there. OUr carer has a daughter about the same age so I know she takes care of them well. Her whole house is decked out for the kids and they have such a variety of toys and activities. She keeps me regularly updated, and is generally fantastic!

It works out much cheaper for me too, than a normal centre,although I do have to provide food and nappies. Hope it all goes well for you!

FDC called me last week and they had a lady who was interested in taking Loren for 2 days per week. Unfortunately the FDC lady could not tell me too much about this lady because she was new to the area. I decided to wait until another spot becomes available with a more well known carer.

Thanks everyone for your opinions