For those who use(d) daycare with single provider (not nanny) ...

[slworld]

...could you please share your experiences with respect to:

1) How many kids are there?
2) How is the setup. Does he/she provide all equipment (cribs, highchairs etc) & food?
3) How does his/her family life tie into her work (if it does). I mean like the care of her kids, their doc appts etc.
4) Is there a particular reason you chose this kind of care?
5) Any other comments?

I will start:

1) DS is 16months old and has been going to a single provider daycare for about 4months. There are 2 other full-time kids & 1 kindergartener who comes in after school. DS is usually there for about 9hours a day.
2) We provide all the food for DS and the playpen to nap in.
3) She has 2 school aged girls who are very good with the kids and all the kids really like them. As far as appts etc, until last week there were only 2 kids in the am, so if she had to schedule an appt she would just take them along (has car seats & stroller). She does let us know beforehand. Her kids have activities in the evening 2 days a week, so those days if your kid is not picked up by the time they leave, she takes them along & you pick them up from wherever they are. She does send out the schedule beforehand. This is probably the only inconvenience but then maybe it is not so different from where most daycares charge a late fee if you don't pick up your kids on time.
4) Well we were hoping less kids means less chances of getting sick.

Please no flames and please don't judge. Just looking to see how it works for others in this kind of situation.

Thanks for sharing.

[misshollygolightly]

DS goes 3 days/week to an in-home, single-caregiver daycare. For the most part, we love it!
1) there are at least 2 kids and at most 4 (1 goes full-time, DS goes part-time, another kiddo goes part-time, and the daycare lady's son is there part-time). She usually only watches kids 2 and under, so they are all roughly the same age.

2)we provide food and playpen (for naps), as well as diapers. She provides a minifridge (for storing food/milk), highchairs, toys (which are cleaned and swapped out daily), wipes, and Eucerin diaper rash ointment (when needed).

3) She has 2 kiddos (one in ft kindy, one in pt preschool). Her preschool son is home with her 3 days/week. We have no problem with that, but I think he has hit an age where he sort of resents having to share his mommy (and home and toys), and has been acting out some (of course, he's also in the midst of potty training, so that brings its own drama!). When she has appointments, she tells us in advance and usually her husband stays home with the kids for that short period of time--he is great, and as his work and their doctors are all within about a 2 minute drive, it works well for everyone. If she is sick (or has a really sick/contagious child to take care of), she'll generally give us as much warning as she can and cancel for the day.

4) We chose this arrangement b/c we needed something part-time that wouldn't charge us full-time, and b/c I felt more comfortable with a small, in-home setting (fewer kids, fewer germs, more personal attention, really focused on infants and young toddlers, etc.). Plus, DH and I were already acquainted with daycare lady and her DH--her DH works with my DH, and we'd spent a little time together socially. We like and trust them. And the entire arrangement suits our schedules and lifestyles well as it is dependable yet flexible. I'm a grad student working on my dissertation, so if daycare lady must cancel for something, it isn't a huge deal--I can generally work from home or do more work the next day. DH can also work from home occasionally, as the need arises (he is in IT).