[speaker001:] hello my name is Donna and I'm calling from Plano Texas
[speaker002:] hi this is Laurie and I'm in Garland
[speaker001:] oh okay um would you like me to go first
[speaker002:] sure
[speaker001:] okay um I have three children um two two who are in regular school uh eleven year old an eight year old and then my little one three year old is in um a University of Gymnastics it's a a preschool and um I think it was really hard to um to pick the right uh
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] day care or preschool or Mother's Day Out I guess you can classify them all together um
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] some of the qualifications that I look for was that uh you know the cost and um exactly what they did if it was structured or nonstructured if they had a little academic um uh in there and um you know um you know what the qualifications the teachers' were and if the place was clean and um the hours and um
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] just just kind of going by word of mouth and finding out if anybody else has been pleased with their program that kind of stuff
[speaker002:] right well we don't have any children but we're gonna have one next year thanks so um that's something that I'm probably gonna be looking at
[speaker001:] oh well congratulations right
[speaker002:] maybe in the future we haven't quite decided if I'm gonna I'm working part time now and I don't know if I'll be doing that or what we're gonna do but if we do then
[speaker001:] or staying home
[speaker002:] I'm gonna need to find somebody and our our church has a Mother's Day Out program which they started last year and we know a lot of people at the church so I would feel very confident with leaving
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum that's a very good place to start I think um-hum yeah the Mother's Day Out programs and that's where Shannon had started in a Mother's Day Out program and um the churches always have I think a uh pretty good program and
[speaker002:] my child there um-hum
[speaker001:] you have to make sure that you um that you apply pretty early because they do have a lot of places have very long waiting lists and um and another question to ask is if they're um state certified
[speaker002:] uh-huh okay
[speaker001:] um you know if the teachers have um their Master's degree in in child education and um child development um you know what what kind of a structure is is it going to be um
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] when your child's a little bit older like a three year old you'd be more concerned with if there's a type of care that it's torture for them to lay down and take a nap is there like a mandatory nap time
[speaker002:] uh-huh time uh-huh
[speaker001:] what they do at Shannon's school is have a video tape going and if and they lay on these little mats and if they fall asleep they kind of let them sleep and a teacher stays with the sleeping ones and the other ones get up and go do something else so
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] she doesn't have to necessary take a nap there you know which is which is nice
[speaker002:] right um-hum um you know it's kind of scary I guess because you hear so many bad things about day cares lately and so it's
[speaker001:] um that's true
[speaker002:] I guess it's such a growing concern but then there's a lot of good things you don't hear
[speaker001:] right and sometimes when the child's a lot younger before they're really um before three years old you know like the church is a good program and sometimes you even consider um you know having a private person come to your own home when they're real little or or something like that
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] and another consideration is how many infants or children are they what's the ratio of of teachers to to children because that makes a um
[speaker002:] to children right
[speaker001:] a difference and if your child would be maybe sleeping in that crib all day just your child and or do they just put any child in any crib and you you know you'd want maybe
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] your child to have their own sheets all the time and not have another child use that bed you know but I'm sure that um
[speaker002:] right right
[speaker001:] whatever you decide you'll be happy with and and it's exciting time to have a new one
[speaker002:] yeah yeah we're pretty excited to
[speaker001:] I bet that's that's wonderful
[speaker002:] yeah that that you know we have been thinking about that but it's a little ways off in the future but um I figure you know I'd probably start asking
[speaker001:] um-hum asking right
[speaker002:] around at church because I know that they have a limit as to how old they can be before they you know before you can bring them in
[speaker001:] some some places um start them as early as I think well some some places take them as infants I guess you know like eight weeks even
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] um there's a place to look into um a nurse a friend of mine who's a nurse is was telling about a wonderful new place that opened some place in on Fifteenth Street up it's in Plano somewhere where um nurses that used to work in the hospital take care of infants infants and then only up to like two years old and it's it's supposed to be really a um
[speaker002:] hum
[speaker001:] you know some places just specialize in just real little ones and then other ones uh are the older children
[speaker002:] right uh-huh
[speaker001:] but it is a difficult situation I think and they're when they're little it's almost easier to leave them because when they're three and they're cry