Getting closer

Last night I started the process of interviewing three prospective child care providers. It is a delicate process, this; you want them to like you, you want them to respect you, you want to like and respect them; you want them to love your child almost as much as you do, and most importantly you want your child to love them almost as much as they love you, but absolutely no more. You want all this plus reasonable rates, healthy meals, a clean house, and close proximity to work or home. A tall order for a virtual stranger.

Right off the bat, I am going into this process disappointed that Megan's daycare provider does not have any openings. Janice seems so ideal. She lives on the next street over, and does cool things with the kids - painting in the backyard during good weather, churning butter with them during bad weather, and she emails Megan photos that she takes of Audrey during the day - what could be better than that? To top it off, she is actually moving onto my street. But, like I said, she is full, so I have to get over her.

So who can possibly live up to her? First I talked to Krista, and I was underwhelmed. First impressions really count. She did not sound very articulate, doesn't have a fixed program for the kids, and seemed more interested in telling me her rate than telling me about herself or her child care philosophy. Next. I then spoke to Renee, who sounds wonderful. She takes fewer kids than the legal limit, because that is all that she is comfortable handling; she previously worked as a therapist for autistic kids; and she has an extensive application process to ensure that she is only caring for kids whose parents are like-minded when it comes to child rearing. This, I really like. But, she has no spots open right now, and a long waiting list. I added myself to her list and arranged to go through her application process, which she wasn't able to slot until mid-January. Considering that I am planning to return to work in March, this seems too far off.

Finally, I talked to Darlene. She has only been in the business for a month, but she lives in a good neighbourhood (the kind that parents truck their kids into on Halloween night - you know, clean, safe, well respected) and is almost full. Conveniently, she will have an infant spot opening in March since one of her charges has a birthday that month. She spent 7 years in a kindergarten classroom, her husband is a paramedic, she structures the mornings as a nursery school and leaves the afternoons more open for free time. She takes the kids down to the OEYC for caregiver mornings once a week. Her rates are great. She's willing to hold a spot now for a week's pay, applicable to our first bill. She didn't give me the same instant-connection feeling as Renee, but she has a whole lot of positives working in her favour, and I don't have to wait until January only to find out that she's still full. We're going for an in-home visit next week.

I am now trying to compile a list of questions to ask. I want to cover the important stuff, but not take up her entire afternoon. It's hard. How do I want her to answer What's your approach to discipline? - I haven't had to discipline Liam yet. I don't even know what my own approach is. I also have to decide what my deal breakers are. Suppose this woman turns out to be wonderful in every way, except that she feeds the children hot dogs for lunch every single day? I'm sure that there will be something that I wish were different, but I will have to decide to either live with it, work around it (pack Liam his own lunch) or look elsewhere altogether.