The disadvantage to home daycares is that they can change (i.e. go to part-time) on a whim and they don’t necessarily offer the structure of a large daycare. However, if you can find a good one, I certainly think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Our daycare provider is very loving, cooks great food (hides veggies for one little boy using recipes from Jerry Seinfield’s wife’s recipe book), gives the kids goat’s milk (one little one is allergic) and is on top of all the latest in baby stuff – such as plastic sippy cups with no bad toxins.

And – generally home daycares cost a lot less than the ones. Plus – added advantage for us in Toronto – they don’t have the dreaded wait list. I actually fired our nanny and found this daycare spot in a week – unheard of in Toronto.

Something you didn’t mention re your wife going back to work is the fact that perhaps she actually wants to! I work, have a career and I am not interested in staying home to do chores all day and look after my daughter. It is EXHAUSTING. Working, quite frankly, is easier! if Mommy is happy, baby is happy.

But I am confident that she loves daycare – is very sociaable – and even if I was at home, I would have to take her out because she wants to be around other children and to see new things. As far as my career goes, for sure, working in the private sector – your career slows down. I should have been promoted but haven’t been because I was off on mat leave for a year. For someone ambitious, it is very tough. But I have come to terms with it. My daughter is the most important in my life and I don’t care as much about work as I used to. People with children are understanding and you just have to hold your own.

For anyone looking, a non-profit daycare may be an excellent choice, especially if you have the time/energy to be a member of the board and help guide the direction the daycare takes and the staff it hires. Ultimately, though, being confident that the daycare staff will treat your child right is the most important decision. These people will be spending more time with your child per day than you do, so picking top notch workers is a priority. Cost is only a secondary consideration.

Ensure that the daycare has a policy and procedures manual and that they follow it. Any person can run a daycare and be mostly successful doing it, but when the stuff hits the fan and an emergency happens, you want to know that they will approach the issue professionally and in an organized manner.

You’ll want to make sure that you’re comfortable dealing with the people who take care of your child. Being able to discuss behaviour and health concerns openly is important.

You’ll also want to make sure they can deal with allergies, if there are other children with allergies, and to make sure that if a health issue does come up for you that they are able to deal with it for you. Ideally you want to know that your childcare provider is willing to provide a safe environment for your child, even if that means implementing some new rules.

The biggest issue normally is the closing hour …

It probably doesn’t apply to formalized daycares, but be quite wary of home-based childcare where you can get a discount for paying in cash or not getting receipts for tax purposes. We all know why this is done, and I can’t help but think that someone willing to be dishonest in reporting their income at tax time will also be dishonest when it comes to other things, and that’s not the kind of environment where I would feel comfortable leaving my child.

I’d also look at group size: regardless of caregives/child ratio, some children work better in small groups, while others do not mind larger groups.

TV policy. Remember the movie “Pursuit of happyness” ? Make sure the day care doesn’t sit your child in front of Love Boat all day — unless that’s what you want. Our 3 year old watches no TV but about 2 hours of DVDs per week.

Security: make sure you understand their policy for picking up your child. Only the parents should be able to retrieve your child. Or perhaps a pre-assigned emergency contact in case the parents cannot make the pick-up time. Policies vary I believe.

Backup staff: depending on whether the facility is a run-from-home child care or a professional facility, you want to make sure you know who takes over the care when the primary caregiver is out sick. In other words, you want to know what other adults may have access to your child.

Some places may also allow arrangements for nights and/or weekends — that may come in handy if you do not have a baby sitter around.

Preschool starts as early as 3 year old. So your day care for a 2-year old may only be for a year.

In our area day care is between 900-1000 per month. This is more (well, close) than my wife’s salary as a teacher, so we decided to have my wife stay at home. This becomes especially economical when you have a second child. Also, this proved to greatly enhance our quality of life, since many chores are done by my wife during the day, leaving more family time at night and on the weekends. Our 3 year old is now in pre-school two mornings per week for around $200 per month.

2 year old pays $125/wk in a home environment with no tax receipts. If we want receipts its $150/wk

6 yr old in a daycare beside her school is $95/wk. If they were to bus her to her old school there’d be an additional $25/wk bussing fee.

Also being on the other side of the fence I will tell you this. Being late without letting your daycare know in advance is the one thing all daycares hate with a passion. Avoid doing it and you will usually avoid the large late fees which can be up to $1/minute.

If the owner/manager declines or gives the impression that it’s an unusual request, scratch that facility off your list.