How to Choose the Perfect Location
If you’ve made the decision to send your child or children to daycare, the next is whether you want to pick one that is close to your work, or one that is close to home. Unfortunately, there is no right or wrong answer. Ultimately, it’s something that only you can decide upon based on your family’s individual situation. However, if you are currently in the process of making this daycare decision, here are a few common pros and cons to consider:
Daycare Close to Home
Pros:
A daycare near home makes it much easier to share pick-up and drop-off duty between spouses.
By choosing a daycare close to home your child will be able to make friends that live in your community, making it easier to schedule playdates and getting them familiar with kids they will likely attend school with.
If your work situation changes you don’t have to worry about finding a new daycare.
Cons:
According to the 2016 Census, the residing population in Ottawa’s downtown core is 4,168, yet other sources estimate the area employs somewhere around 100,000 people – which means there is a lot of traffic going in and out of the city every day. By choosing a daycare near your home you need to consider how this traffic may affect your commute, your family time and your child’s pick up schedule.
Daycare Close to Work
Pros:
By choosing a daycare close to work, you will ensure you are close by and able to get there quickly in case of an emergency.
The longer commute to daycare means you can spend some extra bonding time with your child.
If your coworkers have children enrolled in the same daycare, it may present a unique opportunity to network.
Cons:
A longer commute in the car may not work well with your child.
If you travel often and your spouse does not work in the same area this may create scheduling conflicts.
Questions to Think About
- Where is your office located? Are there many daycare centres near there?
- What is your commute like?
- Are you required to travel a lot?
- Is one parent going to do all the drop-offs and pick-ups?
- Is there more than one child’s schedule to consider?
- Is it important to you to be close to your child during the day?
- Is it important to you for your child to make friends they can schedule playdates with?
While choosing the perfect daycare location can certainly make life easier, it should only be considered as one part of the equation. At the end of the day, the most important thing is that your child is in an environment that is going to provide high quality, nurturing care.
