One Parent's Story

The battle most parents will face is making the decision whether to have a stay at home parent or both parents go back to work and put their child in daycare. Some parents feel the child will benefit better by having a constant nurturing environment with one of their parents until they reach school age, while others feel it is better for their child to interact with other children their age so they can learn to be more independent. Here is one parent’s story as to why she chose childcare.

Kelly Crowe of Pasadena, California thought it was time to go back to work when her son Adam was about seven months old. She wanted Adam to have all the advantages childcare has to offer but with the nurturing environment home and the child’s own parents can offer. After searching all the childcare centers and preschools in their area, Kelly and her husband finally found the childcare center they were going to have Adam attend. Woodbury Preschool Village located in Altadena, California had all the advantages and perks they were looking for and much more. One of the things that made Kelly most comfortable about their son attending was the ratio of infants to teachers. The state requires a 4-1 ratio while Woodbury Preschool Village has a ratio of 2-1. The phrase that Kelly was told by the owner and director, Danielle, was “I have two arms to hold two babies”. This definitely made Kelly feel more comfortable.

Childcare positively affected Kelly’s family in a number of ways. With all the teachers and childcare providers at Woodbury Preschool Village to help Adam was not only receiving enough attention to learn and gain confidence but he was also in a very nurturing and homey environment. All the teacher’s and director’s goals were to know all the kid’s names. This made Kelly and her family, feel they were in a real community-type environment.

One of the most long term benefits Adam’s childcare experience had to offer was all the relationships Kelly and her family made with other families attending the preschool. “There is a close group of about eight families and we're actually all going camping at the end of the month”. So with all the debate about whether or not to attend childcare, Kelly and her family's experience has shown you can have the best of both worlds.