Las Vegas: how to chose hourly day care for a toddler

It is incredibly easy to find child care in the US. That, I said it.

When we decided to go to Las Vegas it was clear that I would like to rock climb for at least one day. The easiest way to achieve it is to schedule child care for Nicole.

From my experience is hourly child care is Washington State, where I reside, that type of child care does exist but is not as easy to find as a regular one. At that type of a facility, there will be no teaching programs, which makes sense considering that children will be dropped off and picked up on a chaotic schedule. It is usually more expensive and you can either bring your own food (nuts free) or order a meal for your kid. In many cases, it is also required to schedule it ahead of time to secure date and time.

It did not take me long to find two possible child care facilities: Kids Quest and Kinder Care. Both seemed good.

Kids Quest has five locations in Las Vegas. I called them to confirm that the parents do not need to be onsite like at Wiggle Works when their child is at their facility. For toddlers they have “safe place environment with soft climbing zones .. that encourages sensory stimulation, interactive play and toddler-friendly snacks.” They offer a lot more fun activities for older children.

Kids Quest hourly rate for toddlers is $10 per hour. Reasonable and on a low side. In Washington State hourly rate at a similar facility is $12 per hour for a toddler.

To sign up I completed an extremely short form online, called phone number of my desired location and scheduled specific drop off time. They also asked for $25 deposit and took my credit card information. In addition within 15 days of the date of the day care, I was required to provide immunization records for Nicole. I did call our doctor asking to fax the records to Kids Quest directly. That was it! Sweet!

Kids Quest caters to Las Vegas audience that apparently does not include climbers, which is evident in their operating hours: they are open Sunday to Thursday from 11 am to 12 am, Friday and Saturday from 10 am to 2 am. They do stay open longer, till 3 am, during summer, I guess because summer is more popular than winter. They also cannot accept children for longer than 5 hours. I am not sure if it is possible to drop off the child in the morning, check out after 5 hours and than drop off the same child again. For climbers it was not a viable option anyway, so I did not do any research.

To enforce policy of 5 hour stay Kinds Quest has really, and I mean it, bad sanctions policy. Late fee is $25, and you incur it every 15 minutes after the supposed pick up time. We were 45 minutes late, which resulted in $75 late fee.

The other option was Kinder Care. We did not use it but I did talk to the stuff on the phone. They also have several locations in Las Vegas (search by zip code provides better results than search by city name). I called to Torrey Pines Kinder Care, where they confirmed that they accept toddlers for drop off. They are open Monday to Friday from 6:30 am to 6:30 pm, which is perfect for climbers and not so perfect of everyone else in Las Vegas. I do not remember what their hourly rate is. It did not strike as too much when I talked to them.

The best way is to call them ahead of time, fill out questionnaire, forward immunization records and set a drop off date. Because it is a regular daycare, not fun play care like Kids Quest, they probably have some sort of teaching activities for kids enrolled full time and they might provide meals to the child. At least that is what happened at other similar centers in Washington State.

Next time when we are at Las Vegas for our climbing trip, I will schedule day are at Kinder Care.

Finally, I also wanted to write about methods to ensure success of placing a child in a day care.

First, I always research day care centers, read reviews and call them to schedule drop off date and time and make sure that I understood everything correctly. If any questionnaires could be filled out ahead of time, I always do that before the trip.

In the US immunization records are always required. That means that the child in question should be fully immunized and records should be provided in a form acceptable by the center. If you cannot follow immunization schedule for whatever reason, it is best to confirm with the center whether they would accept the child without full immunization and what records should be provided to them.

Second, I am certain that Nicole is going to be ok at any day care center. I used drop off day care since she was month old (for a couple of hours once every one or two weeks), now she attends day care part time (5 hours 5 days a week). She is very adaptable and thrives in unfamiliar environment.

Our friends, on the other hand, cannot leave their toddler at any day care because their child is not used to day cares. His mother takes care of him 24/7. When she tried leaving him for 2 hours to go to a doctor’s appointment, he cried entire time. I do not think they will be able to drop off their child at an unfamiliar day care any time soon.

As I see it, the best way to avoid separation anxiety of a toddler is to take them to different day cares once a week since they turn 3 months. In that case, the child will get used to day cares and will not mind staying there for a couple of hours when needed for doctor’s appointment, or on vacation.

Next post - exploring Las Vegas with a toddler includes activities for toddlers, places to get milk and other food, and methods to decompress for parents.