Help me figure out what to do with my kid when I go back to work short of leaving him at the mall all day..

So I am going back to work in January and I have been sh*it with sorting out child care for Noah. My original plan was to find a childminder (where he would go to daycare in her home) but as Noah is getting older I am realising what a social little boy he is and how I think he might be happier in a daycare situation where he can run around and stuff.

I say this because he is the kind of kid, who at home, wants to be held all the time and cries if he gets bored, he doesn't really watch the telly and he really wants to be moving around, chasing the cats and standing on things...I am now wondering if he would get this in a home daycare situation. I think a childminder can have up to 5 kids, one under 1, and 4 over one. They are regulated by a government body and have to do a certain amount of childcare courses at a local college...

Anyway, what are your thoughts on this???

Re: Help me figure out what to do with my kid when I go back to work short of leaving him at the mall all day..

Currently my DD is with an in home sitter 2 days a week with 4-5 other kids since she was 15 months old. She is now 22 months and it has been good for us so far. However for FT care I would go for a daycare since they not only get the social aspect, but planned activities and a curriculum to teach age appropriate things. Also he might outgrow a sitter and then need to deal with the transition to a daycare, so it seems easier to just go the daycare route now. Hope this helps....

Re: Help me figure out what to do with my kid when I go back to work short of leaving him at the mall all day..

My DD goes to a family day care, same situation that you described. I love it! I feel she has a lot of one on one time plus the socialization that she needs. She is younger than Noah, but there are kids at her day care his age. The house has a HUGE yard and 4 of those wooden play set swing things .

My mom used to work in a "corporate day care facility" like a kinder care or tudor time type of thing before she became very ill. I remember before I was married the stories she would tell me. I know not all places were like her place, but DH and I decided that Grace would go to family day care instead. Also, since I work PT a corporate day care place would not even give me the time of day. I HAD to commit to 4 days at least and the family day care was more flexible. They are state regulated and I requested to see the background checks the state did on the employees and owners. Everything checked out great and ALL of the kids there seems very happy. Whenever I pick up Grace the 2, 3, and 4 year olds are playing outside and one of the kids asked "when can Grace play with us???" to me yesterday. OMG it was too cute. HTH