The family daycare you currently attend has a caring teacher, but the long car rides and limited program may not be ideal. If you’re concerned about the amount of screen time and lack of structured activities, you should consider alternatives. As for your studies, you may need to use a writing service for school or college in the future. I recommend this one https://edubirdie.com/excel-help because of its reliability and quality, you will need it in the near future I think! A daycare center that you like but is only open for one day can be a good option if it meets your needs. If you are able to split your days between this center and a family daycare, it can offer a good balance between structured activities and personal attention.

I’d consider the centre daycare options and hopefully the second day opens up for you. If a friend was watching my girl, I wouldn’t mind her tagging along for the school runs but if I’ve booked a day care service I probably wouldn’t be too happy with that much travel – unless it was disclosed at the time that the centre also provides school drop offs/pick ups and approximately x amount of time is spent on this each day. They I could have decided at the time if it was ok for us

I like the idea of checking things locally on Facebook as one of the replies stated. Only you can decide what is right for your child, so I wish you all the luck in the world. What ever you decide will be right!

2 hours is a long time to be paying for education/care of your child for them to be in a car. I would be looking to change. Even if for just one day now, more may become available.

I definitely wouldn’t be leaving my child there knowing that she spends a lot of time in the car. Go with your Mum’s instincts and find a better place for her

I wouldn’t be happy with spending so much time in the car! I think you should go with your gut and find somewhere else, however only if you feel it’s the right one! I wouldn’t rush it. My son is in a Nido day care and loves it!

i would not let her spend almost 3 hours in the car. it is stressful, this is my personal. but totally up to you to decide. however give priority to the kids happiness.

There are standards for both options that need to be followed. Always listen to your intuition and be guided by it.

Wowie, definitely wouldn’t be happy with anyone driving my babes around let alone for that amount of time! Craziness! We didn’t feel comfortable in the family day care setting so opted for a centre. Personal preference.

My husband and I opted for a natural childcare Springfield in our area. We think it is best for a child to learn how the natural environment works and make them more aware of it. We love the outdoors.

URL: https://www.eskaykids.com.au/our-programs/

My kids both went to family daycare. It’s a better environment than a centre as its more one on one. I think you should think which one fits better with your schedule. It might be too much muck around to have to use 2 different ones. It is a shame that there’s so much car time. Maybe keep looking for more different family daycares and join a Facebook group that shows vacancies.

I would go with the one that has vacancy, grab it while you can!

I would much prefer a day care centre for this reason alone. Having a child cart along for all the running around for the other family is ok but your paying for a service for your child. Also what if FDC mums kids are sick….. go for the LDC centre.

That’s a lot of time in the car. I personally wouldn’t be happy with that. Take up that one day a week at the childcare and see how it suits you both.

Both my sons goes to childcare with 20 other kids and they are enjoying the interaction with other kids. They are exposed to various educational activities and friendships they have are beautiful. Yes they do bring back bugs and but eventually they’d be exposed to it too when they go to school. Give the childcare a try and see if you like and your child like it, then you can decide from there. It is not permanent and you can still change again if you think it’s best. Good luck hun xx

Having worked in Daycare for 17yrs, I would not be happy with my child being in a car for that many hours in a day. Taking a child in a vehicle is a dangerous situation, plus not having any programs in place contravenes the way family day care is supposed to work.
My advice is if you like the feel of the centre with a day place available, place your child into it and if you’re happy then apply for the other day and when one becomes available you will be able to grab it. Nursery is some centres is from 6wks to 18mths, then sometimes they go to the Babies room until 2yrs old, but if the centre is small then they may not have both rooms and have the children up to two in the Babies/Nursery. This is not a bad thing as the ratio is 1:4 and the children get heaps of attention and do heaps of activities, as the room must plan a program based on EYLF programming, which is used in every daycare and kindergartens. If when you walk into the daycare you feel comfortable then that is the right place for you, but remember if you don’t like it you can always go somewhere else. I would definitely go to a licensed daycare centre instead of home daycare as the rules are very strict and policies must be adhered to, plus your child will be exposed to all the different learning experiences and activities.

Go on your gut instinct. Never been a option for me – day care to be honest. My childrens safety is my uttmost priority.

Follow your gut !
Personally I would go for the 1 day Child care you really like (whilst waiting till they have more places available) and the rest of the days in the Child care where they have places available (which you could cut down once the other one has more days available).

Don’t underestimate the value of your “feeling” about the different places – this can be really valuable. Personally I think a daycare centre is often better than FDC. Especially if your daughter is being driven around for over 2 hours a day.

Give the daycare a try if they have space available. My son was in the baby room till he was 2 as they didn’t have space to move them up. He got lots of attention in the baby room as the ratio was less in the baby room