Five Things I Learned the Hard Way About Finding Good Childcare in the United States
And tips to help whoever out there needs it!
Out of all the things I’ve learned as a new mom, the most shocking by far is this: it’s very hard to find good daycare in the U.S.
I mean this literally. There are some states where there aren’t close to enough daycare spots for parents that want it.
We’ve gone through three childcare arrangements since my son was 6 months old. The first was fine, the second a disaster, and the third excellent. It took lots of tears and stress to find a good arrangement.
For all my new parent friends, or friends considering being a parent soon, I put together a quick list of tips to hopefully help you avoid the stress I went through looking for daycare:
1. Get on waitlists as soon as you find out you’re expecting.
The minute you find out. There are parents who are on waitlists before their kids are conceived. I’ve been on some waitlists for two years. According to one analysis, there are 18 states where there’s only spots for 1 in 5 kids and it is the hunger games out here. Don’t assume you’ll find something right away, unless you’re okay with ending up in a poor quality set-up.
2. Don’t rely on reviews on Google to evaluate daycares.
Most parents don’t take the time to post a review of their daycare so most of the reviews you’ll read are by current teachers who were (strongly) encouraged to leave a review or by a few disgruntled parents.
Our state Ohio had a handy standardized database, called Step Up To Quality, that showed and ranked all daycares that receive public subsidies in Ohio on a score from 1–5. I honestly wish I had found it earlier because it really helped me narrow down my search. Another treasure trove of information are the publicly available State audit reports of daycares. There you can find all the things a daycare was cited for, from cleanliness to safety violations. Also, good daycares tend to be accredited by the nonprofit National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).
I also didn’t fully appreciate how helpful local Facebook parent groups. People are honest and usually helpful on these groups and happy to share their experiences. I’m not on Facebook very often anymore, but I’ve found Facebook parent groups to be a few bright spots on the platform.
3. Create a checklist for what you’re looking for when you tour.
Have all your questions lined up when you start talking to daycare operators. My non-negotiables were regular outdoor play time, some semblance of a learning curriculum, a good teacher-kid ratio, written daily updates, and an immaculate safety record. Live cameras and healthy food were my nice-to-haves.
4. …and trust your gut when you’re touring these places.
Daycare operators will sell you the moon and promise you that they are in the process of “upgrading their playground” or “rolling out a new curriculum”. If teachers look miserable, if the building is filthy, or if no one can quickly pull up the kids’ daily schedules, then run. Again, you can quickly check your State’s database for records of safety and health violations.
5. Childcare is expensive. Max your dependent care account if you have access to one.
All in all, we’re paying over $15k a year for daycare. There’s a reason why working parents say they get an immediate pay bump when they send their kids off to public school.
Many companies offer a dependent care pre-tax account, which the federal government has allowed you to put up to $5k+ into (check annual guidelines). Max your dependent care account if your work gives you one. You’ll end up saving a nice amount.
And hang in there. The journey to find good childcare in the U.S. is a wild one. Because of my own experience, I’ve been reading up on the nuances of the daycare market and why exactly it’s so hard to find good options. I may write about it sometime. In the meantime, good luck!
