Home Daycare vs Daycare Center-A Guide To Help You Choose

1. Home Daycares Have a Small Number of Children

Home daycares are regulated for the number of children that can be watched per adult. In turn, this keeps the number of children in care way down.

In my state, 1 adult can care for up to 8 children, 2 of which can be under 2 years of age.  If the provider has any of her own children under the age of 7, they are also included as part of the 8 cared for children.

Your child may only be around a few other children and may have more one on one time with the provider.  

This can be beneficial if your kiddo needs lots of snuggles or more focused attention for learning.

2. You Know Who Is Taking Care of Your Kiddo All The Time

Usually there is only one person taking care of your child. 

I personally like this and found that it was easier for me and my children to build a good relationship with the provider.

3. You Get More Feedback About Your Child's Day

There is one person taking care of the kids all day. It is easier for the provider to know exactly how your child's day went.

I found that it was easier to get complete feed back about my child's day when we had them in this setting.

4. There is a Range of Ages Around Your Child

Children can benefit from being around other ages of kids.

If your child is the youngest, he/she will watch the older kids and may start developing sooner - walking, talking, feeding, learning, potty training...

Maybe your child is older.  If so, they learn more responsibility by helping the younger kids. Also, some older kids are more comfortable playing with or reading to younger kids instead of adults.

1. The Rooms Are Set Up Like A Classroom

The rooms are set up as classrooms after they turn 1 - 1.5 years old. The activities, crafts and learning are made for the specific age of the room.

2. Your Child Will Be Around Same Age Playmates

Kids benefit from being around other kids of the same age. 

As much as my oldest loves being around my youngest, a 6 year age difference, my oldest takes every opportunity to be around her friends.

"According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), playing with kids their own age — or adults! — helps children learn social-emotional, cognitive, language, and self-regulation skills. Children with social skills, the 2018 AAP report says, are better able to “listen to directions, pay attention, solve disputes with words, and focus on tasks without constant supervision.”   - Good Housekeeping.com"

3. Open All The Time

If one teacher at the center is sick it does NOT mean that the entire center is going to close.

You do not have to scramble to find someone to care for your child.  

Nor do you have to burn up your vacation or sick days from work either.  

When my kids were at the home daycare, I was 99% of the time the one who had to take off work. Eventually you run out of days off yourself.

4. Rooms Are Completely Tailored To Age

In each different room, everything is set up for the age it is designated for.

For example, in the 2 year old room the tables, chairs and even the bathrooms are pint size and the toys and activities planned are appropriate for a 2 year old.

Not a baby toy in sight.

1. If the Provider is Sick, Daycare is Closed

There is no back up person if your provider is sick or needs to be off for other reasons. 

We do not live close by any of our family so one of us, usually me (my husband has a time demanding job and to be honest he brings home the bacon), had to leave or miss work.

2. Can Shut Down At Any Time

Our original daycare decided to close and gave us 10 days notice (yes you read that right, 10 days!), and told us last of all her clients. 

That was a bummer and a shock! It was stressful and sent me into a panic.

At this time we had a 2 year old and a 4 month old. We called every home daycare we could find and not one had openings for both of our kiddos. 

This is when we moved onto experiencing the daycare center.

3. Smaller Range of Play Items

The amount of play items your child is exposed to is only what the provider wants to buy and bring into their house. 

While having a small range of play items isn't necessarily a bad thing, these items may not be the right kind of items to help your child learn and grow.

Every child is different!

4. Less Play/Explore Space

If your provider has a small house and/or yard that is all your child will be able to explore.

Kids are curious, they like to be able to explore as much as they can.

I don't know about you but when I am out and about with my kids, they stop and check out everything.  

1. Usually Costs More

Having to move from a home daycare to a center increased how much we had to spend on daycare. 

At the time the increase was $50 per child per week, so $100 a week for us. In case you are wondering, that is a 30% increase. Ouch!!!

That was an unexpected for our budget.

2. Kids Always Seem to be Sick With Something

There are so many kids at a center.  Even though there are specific rooms for all the kids, they all get to their room using the same front door and hallway.  

They touch everything too!  I once saw one of my boys lick our toilet seat.  Gross but true. 

As much as centers can do to keep clean, germs get everywhere.

Within the first 6 weeks of our 2 year old being at the center, she was sick 3 times. This lead my husband or myself also to be sick.

3. Rotating Teachers

Kids like schedules and want things to be consistent.

Our 4 month old had the same morning person and then switched to the same afternoon person every day, thankfully.

But when it came to my 2 year old, I could never figure out which teachers were going to be around her. And even if someone was on the schedule to be with her, it didn't mean they were actually with her.

4. Harder For Your Kiddo to be on a Schedule

I don't know if this is true of every daycare center but both we toured had an infant sleeping area. It had multiple pack and plays in it. 

If a baby was trying to nap, it only worked if the other babies were quiet or napping too. But as soon as one started crying, bam naptime is over.

It was also hard for my 2 year old to nap. There were about 15 - 2 year old kids all trying to nap at the same time.

She was used to getting a good 2 hour nap at the home daycare but it dropped down to maybe 1 hour at the center. She was a little grouchy bear by the time I picked her up!