[kddani]

sadly, I think a great many daycares are like this. I worked in one for six months when I was 15 (yes, 15, not even legal to work more than a very limited amount... they doctored the paperwork!). We were investigated on several occasions.

Honestly, I would advise finding a private child care provider. My mother does it, she has 4 kids right now (2 sets of siblings- 2 2 year olds, 1 1 year old, and about a 7 month old). These kids get so much attention and love, it's more like a parent raising them. They're plenty ready for preschool when it comes time, and they all behave quite well b/c my mom is strict.

The bad thing is that this kind of arrangement is generally under the table. Well, that can be good and bad. You can't write off the expenses on your taxes, but then you don't have to worry about all the other BS that comes with having an "employee".

I have vowed to never put any babies that I may have in a daycare at least until they are probably around 3 1/2 or 4, when the social interaction with others really becomes important to their development. After working in a day care, and seeing how little attention the little ones get and sanitary issues, etc.... never. And the staff may even be wonderful and caring, but when you're overworked, you have way more kids than you're supposed to have for ratio (state mandated, varies by age group), you can only do so much. For example, shortly before I quit that job, I was in the room with the 1-2 year olds- the ones who could walk but weren't old enough for the 2 year old room yet. I generally had 7 or 8 kids and was the only one in there. The legal ration was 1 caretaker per 4 children for that age group. I hated it. No person has that many eyes or hands....