Did you get the care option of your choice?

[bubhub]

Last question...

Does/did your child attend a childcare/preschool option of your choice, or did you just take whatever was available/offered?

[Sheer Bliss]

I wanted DD to go to family daycare, as she was 11months when i first went back to work. There were only 2 families available the 3days I wanted, but neither of them worked on fridays, and as my position is also holiday releif for others, i need to be able to pick up an extra 2 days when i am filling in for others. I didn't want her going to 2 separate places, so I went to a daycare centre.

On the positive side, it turns out to be a fantastic centre (and an ABC one at that!) and the first carer I spoke to (for over half an hour whilst sitting at the centre observing her) put my mind at ease. DD loves the place, and i now when DS is 18months & i return to work again, i will be booking them both back into the same centre. (his name is already on the list, so i should be at the top when i need it!)

[ShadyCharacter]

I got into the daycare centre of my choice (and the only one I would consider sending him to), but only because I bribed my way in by offering free services that they desperately needed (they are a NFP centre).

So I said yes, but I would have had NO hope of getting in if I couldn't offer them something in return.

[~Bec~]

Kind of got our first choice. We have secured a full time childcare place at a local place that looks to be the best and most convenient out of the 3 local childcre centres. I registered him when I was about 4 months preg though.

Our first choice of out-of-home care would have been a suitable family day care, however, there isn't one in the area.

[Percy]

I was lucky enough to get my DS into care at the first centre i tried. He was 16 months when he started.

Its a privately owned daycare centre and I am really happy with it!:thumbsup:

[Ana Gram]

Sort of. We got her into Montessori with the pre-school we wanted but not the campus we wanted.

[Roxy]

Yes - twice.

But, only because of my connections to the industry here in Canberra...

[cheezelkat]

Yes - I enquired at our local centre first off and they had room available immediately.

[Seekrit]

Yes! I called up 3 centres, one I still haven't heard from (a year one), another I didn't get a good vibe from and my preferred one which I called last because I was SURE they'd be stuffed to the rafters said "What days would you like???" I started Cobes on the first day of term which is when they change the kids to different rooms and start their new year, so I wondered if it was something to do with that.

[~Emmylou~]

DD - Yes I lucked out and got her into our first choice of centre.

DS - still waiting. He is on the list for the same centre but due to his younger age spots are very limited. Hopefully he'll get in soon. Don't ask me what we're going to do if he doesn't because I can't find anywhere else I'm happy with.

[1+1=5]

ok.. with daycare, we got the option we wanted.

with kinder, we applied to 13 places, a year in advance and got NO offers.

[mini_me]

NO

To get the centre we wanted i had to make sure both girls started as soon as they started back up. I dont start studing till feb but the centre said they can only hold the positions for the girls if they started asap in the new year.

So they both going a month earlier but DD1 half days and DD2 2 hours LOL enough to mark her name off as attending ill be there the whole time :laughing:

[l33thun3]

No - we didnt and still haven't got a place for my little boy. Everywhere we've looked can offer us four days a week but not 5. Since we don't want him to go to 2 different places - one of the ladies in my mothers group has agreed to take him one day a week until we can get him the 5th day in the place of our choice - which doesnt start for another 4 weeks!
Perth childcare I've noticed is sadly limited and very much in short supply.

[Wilhelmina]

I have been waiting for 18 months to be able to get full time day care. It is soooo frustrating, not to mention changing my work hours to suit daycare. We really need more places available.
Guessing I'm not the only one in this position
:smiliedance:

[RHJ]

When DS 1 was 5m old, i put him into a childcare centre. I got into the one i wanted after only 2 months being on the list. (but, it was the start of the year when they generally have more places)

He was there for a year.

Now he has just started Kindergarten at the kinder i had wanted. So, yes so far!

[TomsMumandDad]

I wanted DD to go to family daycare, as she was 11months when i first went back to work. There were only 2 families available the 3days I wanted, but neither of them worked on fridays, and as my position is also holiday releif for others, i need to be able to pick up an extra 2 days when i am filling in for others. I didn't want her going to 2 separate places, so I went to a daycare centre.

On the positive side, it turns out to be a fantastic centre (and an ABC one at that!) and the first carer I spoke to (for over half an hour whilst sitting at the centre observing her) put my mind at ease. DD loves the place, and i now when DS is 18months & i return to work again, i will be booking them both back into the same centre. (his name is already on the list, so i should be at the top when i need it!)

Be very careful with any ABC Centre and remember that they are getting your pay and playing stockmarket sharks, earning billions and not too much (if at all) more goes back into the centre.
Beware the sweet talk and pop in at odd times, we did and saw Tom sideslapped by a worker who said it was an accident but now we're out of that horror show Tom is happy in a community based ccetre where ALL the money made goes back to the centre :)
Watch out at ABC they use 'the one arm pull' on a child or press his eyelids down if he won't sleep. The hygeine is poor, watch for the use of gloves which is mandatory when changing children or even when serving meals! I got whooping cough and pneunomia which almost killed me. It was horrible and the Dr said it had to have come from ABC because the other members of my family where negative. Hospital coughing up dried blood (Worst thing I've had in my life) Shocking white blots on my lungs which took a year to go and the cough hurt every part of me and all AABC could say is "when is she coming back?" because they had to pay sickpay and employ a casual which cost more money and bonuses are given to managers who keep the place full and avoid costs. I left, I had too! I'd seen too much horrible stuff at the centre with those poor kids and the wy they treat them, thats whythey have their OWN SCHOOL!
If you like the idea of stockholders getting millions out of childcare then yes stay at ABC.
You may have a good centre with good people but what is for dessert? Is it that Coles Yellow muck custard? I'm just saying it's a McDonalds clone, each centre has fake grass which gets hot in summer, one piece of fixed equipment, a sandpit and a water bubbler. They are identical inside and just be careful, pop in a few times at odd times to check them out, if you're stil happy about making investors rich then stay and pay your fees. Do you really think investors want money spent on the centre when it could be invested and put in theeir pockets?........Ugggh I hate them and wish we could get them all shut down. Making stockmarket profit from childcare? It just isn't ethical?:bfn:

[mummeeto2]

Be very careful with any ABC Centre and remember that they are getting your pay and playing stockmarket sharks, earning billions and not too much (if at all) more goes back into the centre.
Beware the sweet talk and pop in at odd times, we did and saw Tom sideslapped by a worker who said it was an accident but now we're out of that horror show Tom is happy in a community based ccetre where ALL the money made goes back to the centre :)
Watch out at ABC they use 'the one arm pull' on a child or press his eyelids down if he won't sleep. The hygeine is poor, watch for the use of gloves which is mandatory when changing children or even when serving meals! I got whooping cough and pneunomia which almost killed me. It was horrible and the Dr said it had to have come from ABC because the other members of my family where negative. Hospital coughing up dried blood (Worst thing I've had in my life) Shocking white blots on my lungs which took a year to go and the cough hurt every part of me and all AABC could say is "when is she coming back?" because they had to pay sickpay and employ a casual which cost more money and bonuses are given to managers who keep the place full and avoid costs. I left, I had too! I'd seen too much horrible stuff at the centre with those poor kids and the wy they treat them, thats whythey have their OWN SCHOOL!
If you like the idea of stockholders getting millions out of childcare then yes stay at ABC.
You may have a good centre with good people but what is for dessert? Is it that Coles Yellow muck custard? I'm just saying it's a McDonalds clone, each centre has fake grass which gets hot in summer, one piece of fixed equipment, a sandpit and a water bubbler. They are identical inside and just be careful, pop in a few times at odd times to check them out, if you're stil happy about making investors rich then stay and pay your fees. Do you really think investors want money spent on the centre when it could be invested and put in theeir pockets?........Ugggh I hate them and wish we could get them all shut down. Making stockmarket profit from childcare? It just isn't ethical?:bfn:


That's ridiculous how they try to get kids to sleep. At the centre DS goes to if they don't want to sleep they don't have to and can play quietly or read at their beds.

I checked out 2 places and went with the first. I couldn't stand the second place even though some friends have their kids there. The one DS goes to is small in terms of numbers but has huge rooms and play areas and at rest times the kids are spead out so they can't distract each other. I checked it out Mon and had him booked in for that week, too easy

[ThomasMum]

Yeah we sure did. Privately run centre, not those ABCs, so thank God for that :yelclap: :D

My son goes there 2days/week as I work part time :)

[Canuck]

The way we ensured we would get our son into the daycare of our choice was by having him go once a week from 7 months. They gave us days to choose from (ie Wed or Fri) and since I was still at home it didn't matter (just needed a day at home to myself). And then at 12 months when it was time for me to go back to work he was already attending therefore he would get priority for full time vacancy. We had given the centre heaps of notice on when he'd go full time and there were no dramas.

[~Kimba~]

I ticked 'Yes' because we did get into Family Daycare which was our preferred option, BUT we were very limited in availability (IE choice of carers and days) and just took whatever days we could get to start with, with the only carer who was free.

Our carer thankfully worked out quite well and we ended up with 4 days a week, but they still aren't my preferred days, I'd rather work Mon-Thu (not Tue-Fri). I don't want to change carers though because DS is settled and I feel that it's it's unfair to him to change his carer at this stage, just to suit myself.

As it turns out it's lucky we got into FDC because we're till waiting to be offered anything from the other daycare centres we put his name down for - 2 years ago!!!

[lil miss]

i rang about 20 different places when my dd was about a month old, because i knew there would be waiting lists. There is a centre down the road from us that has only recently opened, and that was my first preference.

We got a call from one saying thy could fit my dd in 3 days a week, and when I went and looked at it, it seemed like a great centre, it was just too far away (and I was still hoping I would get a spot in the one down the road from us). A few called back over the next few months, but I was still holding out for the one I really wanted, which paid off, because I recieved a phone call from them 2 days agao saying they will take dd 2 days a week (thurs and fri). We'd been on the waiting list there for almost 6 months!

I'm glad I waited though, because after visiting the centre a few times, I feel it was the best option for dd. The staff are friendly and welcoming and it is in a handy spot. That way, if she gets sick or something, its not hard to go and get her (i rely on public transport).

[SweetSerenity]

Mine isn't a straight "yes" or "no" answer.

At the time I was ringing up wanting somewhere for him asap, preferably in the suburb I'm in now.

I came across one newer daycare about 15 mins from where we are and they had vacancies on the day I needed. So we went to have a look and I am more than happy with where Peter is going.

They have wonderful, attentive staff and the owner and her husband are wonderful :yes:

I'm glad I came across them :yes:

[mum of six]

The first place i tryed was the Abc Child Care Centre near me and got in straight away,was great :)

[Aquamarine]

Yes my two boys both got into the preschool that I wanted.

:yelclap:

[babyspice]

yes i did, got family day care, everyone kept recommending it to us, the waiting list was only about 2 months. but it was pretty limited with the location of the carers and the days they had available. i took what was offered, which was 2 days a week, that was when he was about 12 months old, he was with that carer for about 5 months until i moved house.

we got family day care in the new area, the waiting list was only about 3 weeks, the carer works 4 days (mon-thu) which fits in with my full time tafe course. and she is such a lovely lady also!

i applied to a few of the long day care centres in the new area but i never heard back