Creche - near work or near home?

awec

When it came to choosing a creche, did people opt for one near work or near home?

Our daughter's name is down for a creche near my work, but it's nowhere near where my wife works or where we will live (we're moving). So basically, I'll be doing all drop offs and all pick ups.

Is there anything we should be considering when choosing the location? I guess the advantage of a creche close to work is less stress getting there by closing time in the evening.

On the other hand, I do work from home at times and this seems like it just won't work.

jester77

Near home is better. If you are sick, or travelling with work or have to change your hours for meetings or trainings, then it can get complicated. It also makes changing jobs in the future a big issue.

You can stagger your hours with your wife if picking up might be an issue. I start late so I can drop mine off just at 9, and she starts early so she can leave earlier to pick them up at 3. We don't want our kids in the creche all day so this works for us.

awec

jester77 wrote: »

Near home is better. If you are sick, or travelling with work or have to change your hours for meetings or trainings, then it can get complicated. It also makes changing jobs in the future a big issue.

You can stagger your hours with your wife if picking up might be an issue. I start late so I can drop mine off just at 9, and she starts early so she can leave earlier to pick them up at 3. We don't want our kids in the creche all day so this works for us.

Yea this is what we were thinking, but I spoke to someone else who said to do it near work.



If it was near home then I could drop her to creche in the morning (I start much later than my wife) and she could collect in the evening.

Dardania

awec wrote: »

When it came to choosing a creche, did people opt for one near work or near home?

Our daughter's name is down for a creche near my work, but it's nowhere near where my wife works or where we will live (we're moving). So basically, I'll be doing all drop offs and all pick ups.

Is there anything we should be considering when choosing the location? I guess the advantage of a creche close to work is less stress getting there by closing time in the evening.

On the other hand, I do work from home at times and this seems like it just won't work.

My daughter's creche is also close to work, and I find the advantage of less stress in evenings good.

If you're planning on moving house anyway, the consistent location is your workplace...maybe you can move creche next year to be close to your new home, and share the load with your wife more (particularly when you're working from home?)

Another factor is as your child approaches school age, it might be nice for them to graduate to primary school with some familiar faces

Bacchus

I'd say "close to home" but a big factor (that you already point out) is making it for the pick-up in the evening after work. That depends on things like how long your commute is, is there much variability in traffic on your commute, can you (or your partner) be flexible with your working hours (i.e. can one of you start early to do the pick up in evening). On the flip-side, in your particular case, if only YOU can do the drop-offs/pick-ups for the one near your work... that will cause you some headaches in the future. Even just the fact you sometimes work from home should be a big red flag that a "close to work" creche won't work. It may not be applicable for you, but another pro of "close to home" is if your parents/siblings are visiting they can pick up the wee one from the creche for you.

Bacchus

awec wrote: »

If it was near home then I could drop her to creche in the morning (I start much later than my wife) and she could collect in the evening.

Just saw your update there. To me, that makes it a no-brainer to stick close to home. That's pretty much the setup my wife and I have now. My wife spends the morning with herself before dropping off to childminder at around half 8. I'm then back home by half 4 to pick her up again.

awec

Bacchus wrote: »

I'd say "close to home" but a big factor (that you already point out) is making it for the pick-up in the evening after work. That depends on things like how long your commute is, is there much variability in traffic on your commute, can you (or your partner) be flexible with your working hours (i.e. can one of you start early to do the pick up in evening). On the flip-side, in your particular case, if only YOU can do the drop-offs/pick-ups for the one near your work... that will cause you some headaches in the future. Even just the fact you sometimes work from home should be a big red flag that a "close to work" creche won't work. It may not be applicable for you, but another pro of "close to home" is if your parents/siblings are visiting they can pick up the wee one from the creche for you.

We'll be living in Greystones, I'll be commuting to Sandyford. Traffic going home I'm told can vary from grand to hell.

My work is very flexible but it's an american company and I work a lot with people in the US, so 4pm->6pm is generally a time when I get a lot of stuff done.

Our current plan is to keep her where she is for now and put her on the waiting list for a creche in Greystones, and move her as soon as a spot becomes available. I think we'll stick with this idea based on what you're saying.

Also, does anyone have any recommendations for childminders in Greystones?

Cakerbaker

My son is in a crèche in bray (logo has a red background and a bird) which also has a branch in greystones and we couldn’t be happier with it. We went with close to home for a few reasons -
Didn’t think the commute would be fair on him. (Or us or fellow commuters on public transport to be honest!).
Shared drop offs / pick ups mean he’s there for a shorter day.
If one of us has a medical appointment / day off where we want to get something done we can drop him in to play with his friends for a few hours.
The few times he’s been sick he hasn’t had a long journey home from crèche.
Hopefully a few of his friends will end up in school with him but that’s not a definite and wouldn’t be the end of the world.

We are lucky to both have fairly flexible working hours which helps. We also have family / friends nearby in case of emergencies etc although we’ve never had to call on them.

mirrorwall14

We went with beside work because we were renting and didn't know where we would end up. He's going to be moving in September to beside home because we are now in our own house and all going well I will be on maternity leave so beside my work would be impractical

lawred2

awec wrote: »

When it came to choosing a creche, did people opt for one near work or near home?

Our daughter's name is down for a creche near my work, but it's nowhere near where my wife works or where we will live (we're moving). So basically, I'll be doing all drop offs and all pick ups.

Is there anything we should be considering when choosing the location? I guess the advantage of a creche close to work is less stress getting there by closing time in the evening.

On the other hand, I do work from home at times and this seems like it just won't work.

Definitely near home

MAJJ

Near home for us

Kids don't have to commute
Get to know parents / kids close to home and this carries to school
Through that parent network as kids getvolder you can help each other with kids taxiing to sports/activities.

Cash_Q

Close to home is a big advantage for the child. Having worked in a preschool for a year I saw kids collected at 6pm then facing an hour drive home in traffic which must have been miserable for all concerned. I'd never criticise either choice as you have to do what works for you as a family but commuting for the child is worth considering. Also if you are off sick for a few days you will be paying your child's creche fees anyway and will really appreciate being able to have them looked after while you're unwell. The last thing you want is to have to drive most of the way to work to drop them in when you're not in yourself.

robinph

Went for a childminder near work, which happens to be near both works. Why pay someone else to mind the kid while you are sat in a traffic jam?

Cienciano

Near home. Its much handier. If you have a day off and need to use creche, if you're sick, if you're going to a different office for a meeting or are on the road for work. If I was moving home I'd probably still choose home and move them. If you need after school care when they start school, you'll need one near home

sillysocks

robinph wrote: »

Went for a childminder near work, which happens to be near both works. Why pay someone else to mind the kid while you are sat in a traffic jam?

Why make a child sit in a traffic jam unnecessarily?

Grassey

Neither of us work near each other so the crèche 800m from home works best for us. That said, we bought recently so no plans to move house, moving work is currently an ongoing topic of discussion.

Means either a 2 min cycle there and back, or a 10 min walk to/from bus stop.

Doing a 40km trip each day with the kid on the bike would be a killer!

lawred2

robinph wrote: »

Went for a childminder near work, which happens to be near both works. Why pay someone else to mind the kid while you are sat in a traffic jam?

Does any creche charge by the hour?

Not that I know of anyway.

august12

awec wrote:

Yea this is what we were thinking, but I spoke to someone else who said to do it near work.

Would be opting for near home, makes transition to big school much easier for child as will have made friends who will be moving to same school, and also gives adults opportunity of meeting other adults within area.

appledrop

Near home 100%. It has worked so well for us. My husband works from home some days so it's great as might only drop him to creche at 8.30 + then only 5mins away to collect him in evening. I would hate to have to put him in the car real early + try + do the commute. It's a long day for them so if you can shorten it in any way I would. Also if you ever have to collect them if they are sick your near your doctor + don't have long drive with them unwell.

rainbow kirby

Near home. If I'd gone with one near work it would have meant taking my son on the tube in rush hour and I'd rather not inflict that on him!

pwurple

Option 3: Near your layer 2 childcare.
You can occasionally get called out of work if there has been a fall, or sickness at creche, or... depending on your work you might need to start earlier or leave work later than creche hours. There might be a road traffic problem, and you get held up. We picked one near my mum and brother basically... so that if we were running late, we could call them at short notice, they could do a pick-up, or could pull them out of sick. In my line of work, a lot of us have layers of childcare going on... creche, childminder/someone who can drive them to sports, and backup childminder / babysitter.

awec

pwurple wrote: »

Option 3: Near your layer 2 childcare.
You can occasionally get called out of work if there has been a fall, or sickness at creche, or... depending on your work you might need to start earlier or leave work later than creche hours. There might be a road traffic problem, and you get held up. We picked one near my mum and brother basically... so that if we were running late, we could call them at short notice, they could do a pick-up, or could pull them out of sick. In my line of work, a lot of us have layers of childcare going on... creche, childminder/someone who can drive them to sports, and backup childminder / babysitter.

Unfortunately not an option for us, we have nobody else within a reasonable distance.

pwurple

awec wrote: »

pwurple wrote: »

Option 3: Near your layer 2 childcare.
You can occasionally get called out of work if there has been a fall, or sickness at creche, or... depending on your work you might need to start earlier or leave work later than creche hours. There might be a road traffic problem, and you get held up. We picked one near my mum and brother basically... so that if we were running late, we could call them at short notice, they could do a pick-up, or could pull them out of sick. In my line of work, a lot of us have layers of childcare going on... creche, childminder/someone who can drive them to sports, and backup childminder / babysitter.

Unfortunately not an option for us, we have nobody else within a reasonable distance.

Depends on your circumstances and whether you need this, but people do give a childminder a sort of retainer, to be available for those oddball times when you can't get to the creche. Neighbours, friends do this too. 

I guess it's early days for you guys if you are starting to look for the creche now. Baby is probably only around 3 or 4 months old. They end up staying in that creche sometimes until they are 5, or for afterschool care too up to 8 or 9 years old. You may have another child in a few years, who goes to the creche, and have to do a school drop-off for older child. Might be handy to have creche near future school.