Finding Childcare for Twins - The Best Tip

I'll round up my childcare week with what I consider to be the best tip every twin parent needs to know when it comes to finding good center-based chilcare. I'll start by sharing the behind-the-scene stories of my childcare searches. After doing all the research, what comes next?

Daycare 1 (Houston): After doing all the necessary research, I narrowed down to a couple of daycares. What tipped the scale for me, was the recommendation our daycare got from several parents on my work bulletin board. These parents shared how good the daycare had been for their infant's development and I liked what I heard, so I enrolled the twins

Daycare 2 (Calgary): When I knew I was relocating to Calgary, I called a lot of daycares and was told about 12 month long waitlists. The relocators and personnel department could not help. Then I told my manager about my childcare concerns and he told me to talk to a colleague that just had a baby. On talking to her, I found out that my company had a retainership agreement with the daycare that guaranteed my spot. Personnel didn't know this, but a new mother did. Armed with this information, I was able to get two spots and enroll the girls. 

Daycare 3 (St John's): In St John's I went through the whole waitlist debacle again and had to work from home for a couple of weeks. Whenever I did go to the office, I discussed my childcare woes with anyone who would listen and asked for leads. One day, a senior manager sees me and says he's spent the day looking for a daycare for his daughter and one of the centers he visited had an infant spot and he thought of me. He gave me directions to the center, I visited and the twins started there the next day.

Do you see the common thread in all these stories? The best resource that any twin parent can have in getting good childcare is other parents. Talk to them, pick their brains, use their connections. It worked for me especially in St John's. I'm not usually chatty but in this situation; putting all my business out in public meant that everyone knew my childcare problem and were on the lookout for me.

Have a great weekend peeps!