Day care near work or near home?

A question for the BTDT moms (or moms-to-be who have already registered with day care):

Did you look for day care facilities closer to your home or closer to your job? I guess this question is mostly for those who have a longer commute. Mine is about 40 minutes.

All opinions welcome! Thank you.

Re: Day care near work or near home?

I have a 45-50 minute commute. I have DD in daycare by home. I didn't know how she'd be in the car for that long. However, my husband works near home, as do my mom and sister so there are plenty of people to get her in an emergency. If there was no one to get her in an emergency, I would've put her in near work.

Re: Day care near work or near home?

I chose a daycare 5 mins from my office. There are a lot in this area (woodbury) where I work. I went to about 5 places, did research, spoke with other pple who had opinions.

Love that I'm 5 mins away. In the beginning I went there on my lunch break (when he started at 3 months). Now he's 9 months so I don't go anymore.

BTW... it's about 30 mins from home. I enjoy my drive in the mornings with him. I drop him off and spend some time there then I'm at work just a few mins later. When he was sick once I was there in 5 mins to pick him up. I called the Ped on the way there. Found it more convenient to have him close to me. I do love the daycare he's at too

Re: Day care near work or near home?

I have a 45-50 minute commute, dh does as well and I have dd at daycare where I work. She usually naps in the car. I did worry at first but now we are pretty much in a routine and she is very good in the car. I like being close if I have to pick her up and I visit her at lunch...if I had her close to home I would have to drop her off really early.

Re: Day care near work or near home?

I asked the same question when I was looking at daycare and I got a lot of great responses - I will try and find it and bump the thread for you

As for me, I chose a daycare near my office because we live in Suffolk County, and both my family and DH's family all live in Nassau (very close to my job and the daycare we chose). DH works in Queens so that didn't factor in at all. If, god forbid, anything happened I am here as well as my parents or ILs so there are a ton of people that could get DS, especially if I wasn't able to. There would be no one near our home to do that (my commute, without traffic, is over half an hour long).

ETA: DS was 13 months when he started daycare and is 18 months now. Our commute is typically 45 minutes long because of traffic and we have never ever had an issue. He drinks his sippy of milk in the car and eats breakfast when he gets to daycare (I drop him off at 7:45am). When he was smaller, clsoer to 13 months, he would even fall asleep sometimes.

Message edited 3/12/2010 1:40:13 PM.

Re: Day care near work or near home?

Home...because if you change jobs you have to change daycare. I wouldn't want to disrupt DC's routine.

Re: Day care near work or near home?

Home because I commute to Manhattan 95% of the time.

Also both DH & I drop her off (depending on the day of the week) so it needed to be convenient for both of us.

Message edited 3/12/2010 1:43:43 PM.

Re: Day care near work or near home?

We've done both and DC are now in a center near home and I am so happy.

The pros of having them near home:

very short commute-when kids are starving or tired and don't want to be confined it's great to know we are only a few minutes from home.

Less time in the car=less chance for them to be involved in an accident.

They are near their doctors, and we will eventually have family nearby that can pick them up.

She is meeting kids that she is going to go to school with-how cool that she'll have friends that she can say she knew since daycare and preschool?

We get to know parents and kids that live in the area-great for playdates and parties.

What I liked about having DD near work (DS wasn't here yet):
I could pop over for lunch

We got more time together be cause we all drove in together (although, now that DD is a toddler who doesn't want to be in her car seat, this is no longer a plus)

If I needed to get to her, she was very close-though once I picked her up I still needed to drive her to the doctor


Also, DH and I drive in to work together (we work across the street from each other) so we both do drop off and pickup. But, if you are going to split it, then it should be convenient for both of you.

Message edited 3/12/2010 1:53:30 PM.

Re: Day care near work or near home?

Posted by CrankyPants

They are near their doctors, and we will eventually have family nearby that can pick them up.
*************************************

If I needed to get to her, she was very close-though once I picked her up I still needed to drive her to the doctor

Re: Day care near work or near home?

At the time we were looking at daycare centers we both worked in the city so we chose a place that was between work and home so that we could get to him faster.

Now DH works in LI and I have to do drop off and pick up because it's too far out of his way (but he will go if I need to work late or there is an emergency).

After 9/11 and the blackout I prefer to have less time to get to him but I can admit that...

- I stress with the drive to and from daycare and hate that we have to be in rush hour traffic...on the Southern State no less.

- I hate that it all falls on me now since DH's job is in the opposite direction...and now I will have to handle two kids.

Re: Day care near work or near home?

Re: Day care near work or near home?

Thank you ladies, for all your responses!

Re: Day care near work or near home?

I have both- my son is around the corner from me at work and my DD is down the block from our house. Both seem to work fine.

Re: Day care near work or near home?

I have my kids in daycare near work. There's been plenty of times I've had to drop off diapers, wipes, or other random items...and have done so at lunch.

Also, if somebody gets sick or there is some kind of emergency...I can be there in 5 min.

Re: Day care near work or near home?

I chose a day care near my home. DH does the drop off and he works 15 min from home and I do the pick up. I work 30 minutes from home but I leave very early and DH drops DS off later on the days that he goes to day care.

Re: Day care near work or near home?

Near home. We share the drop off/pick up responsibilities. Plus if you are ever home sick or not at work one day, you don't have to drive all the way near work to pick them up or drop them off.

Re: Day care near work or near home?

ours is near work..both me and my DH work around 10 min from each other (the daycare and where we work is around 20-25 min from our house). Plus I get a discount b/c of where I work, so it made sense for us. DS has never had a problem with the drive.

Re: Day care near work or near home?

We chose a daycare about 2 blocks from our home. I am so glad we did since I ended up getting a sabbatical mid-year but we kept her in daycare because of the social factor and also the contract--we would end up saving only about one month tuition and then we would have to put her back in anyway when i return to work next month. It was the right decision for us because I work pretty far from home and if I didn't go in to work one day or had to pick her up early (like I did yesterday) it just makes everything easier.

Re: Day care near work or near home?

It's a personal preference.

I work about an hour away from home.

I cannot imagine having DD sit in the car with me for 2 hours a day in rush hour traffic. Plus there are times I need to work from home, so it did not make sense to put her in a daycare near my office.

I also wanted her close to where her Ped and affilated hospital in case of emergencies, or closer to home in case someone other than DH or myself need to pick her up. (like grandparents or my sister)