METROVANCOUVER // GET THE SCOOP ON DAYCARES AND SCHOOLS

Playground rules apply to The Shorty List - that means keep it clean and play fair. Do not identify individuals. Do not include content which is false, offensive, defamatory, illegal, or an invasion of privacy. Comments are semi-moderated.

admin:

How far in advance did you look for childcare? 6 months before you needed it? 1 year?  Before conception??

 10 REPLIES [ Login or register to post comments ] 10.27.10 12.28PM
yoyomama:

With my first I put my child-to-be on a list when I was three months pregnant, as soon as I'd told work as the daycare was at work. I didn't get a spot until my daughter turned 18 months. Truly crazy.

 [ ] 10.28.10 10.07PM
Anonymous:

flashymama: We live downtown and it took 2 years to be called for an opening, but I hear there are new rules, at our particular daycare, where you can not be on the wait list until your child is actually born. Something to look into

 [ ] 10.29.10 10.09PM
Anonymous:

I teach and meet alot of parents with young children and have heard for years how difficult it is to get a space in daycares and preschools in Vancouver. I applied to a montessori preschool when my daughter was 8 months old. Some places will take early applications whilst others dont. It is unbelievable that to get a place in some community preschools like Riley park and Douglas Park you have to sleep outside overnight to get a place.

[ ] 10.29.10 10.24PM
test username:

A year and a half before I needed it.

 [ ] 10.30.10 10.15AM
wemom:

We live and work downtown. I put our fetus-to-be on the VSOCC waitlist 6 months before conception. The minute we knew we were pregnant I signed up on every other group daycare waitlist I could find - including ones where I supposedly had priority as an employee. We eventually got a spot when my daughter was 18 months at a VSOCC centre - 3 years after signing up. (VSOCC has since changed their policy to only allow kids with a birth certificate onto their waitlist.)

[ ] 11.02.10 7.32AM
Christina Hendricks:

We had to wait until we had an official due date before signing up on the wait list UBC Child Care Services, so I couldn't sign up before conception--or else I would have! We actually waited a little too long--six weeks after we knew we were pregnant in Fall 2006, our application was received (we sent it by mail rather than taking it there in person, which was silly). Given the way that spots open up in clusters, having signed up just two weeks earlier would have gotten us in several months earlier. As it was, we were 2.5 years on the wait list, and our son got a spot just before he turned 2.

 [ ] 11.02.10 10.14AM
mahonmomma:

We joined some waiting lists when I was 4 weeks pregnant with my first, but the daycare we are at now didn't let us on the list until we'd gone for an orientation evening tour, which was when my daughter (now 3) was 2 months old. Her daycare's waiting list goes by the kid's birthday so that there's balance in terms of not all the kids moving up to the next room at the same time. We probably got in a bit faster than people I know who are still on the list just because of the month her birthday's in (December). My second daughter is on the list for a spot there next September and has been since I was about 2 months pregnant!

 [ ] 11.02.10 3.30PM
Melly:

Wow, we have had a different experience compared to many of you, as it seems everyone has been on many waitlist for quite sometime. I was planning on having a dayhome and not going back to my previous employment. So when I was offered my dream employment and only had 2 months to look for childcare I was worrying! However, I had received about 60 childcare dayhome and daycare contacts from Westcoast & started calling. Many of the "speciality" daycare were quite negative and almost rude when I inquired. However, I out my name on 2 daycare lists and a couple of dayhome lists and today(1.5 before I start my job) we have our son in the daycare that I feel good about and is 2 blocks from my work. To those who are worrying, yes the waitlist of some Of the popular daycares
are long however I don't think it's as bad as make out to be. When a spot comes up many of those on that list have already found care.

[ ] 11.04.10 4.12PM
anka:

The waiting list has proved to be an excellent marketing tool for some daycares; you cannot question anything related to some Eearly Educators' performance as you are so disperate for a spot.

[ ] 12.15.10 2.55PM
KimkasJK:

Thanks for the helpful post.
KimkasJKK

 [ ] 02.17.12 10.13PM