Hi Ladies,

Looking to get some good advice here. My DD is currently in a centre which she is sort of happy at, she still cries at drop off after a year but I think this is more her personality than not liking the centre. My concern is that in the last 12 months there has been a huge turnover in staff and just recently the director left too. Some more carers have now resigned. There is only one carer left that my daughter knows and I'm nervous that she will leave next. I rang around a few centres and there is one that has a spot available and is $12 a day cheaper. One of the carers from my DD's current centre has also moved to this new one so she will recognise her and in fact be in her class. My son will also join her at day care in January. All in all we would save over $200 a month if both kids went to the new centre. If they both went I would leave them there till they start school as the have a great pre-school program

Now my question is would you move her? I know it seems like a no brainer to move her but my LO does not take kindly to change. The new centre is very big and flashy whereas her current one is much smaller and more intimate, I'm worried the new one will freak her out. The new centre is also about a 10 minute drive away compared to 1 minute for the other.

My last option was to wait the rest of the year out at the current centre and put DD directly into pre-school which again is a whole lot cheaper than the new centre. My son would then have to be in a different place to her so 2 different drop off places.

If you have read this far thanks!

I can't say whether your daughter would cope with the change, but my son changed at about 18 months and he was fine. Our old centre had huge turnover, lots of agency staff and it just didn't feel welcoming. For about 3 weeks he went to each centre 1 day a week. The transition was made easy because he was fairly adaptable at that age, and the staff at the new place were fantastic at making him feel comfortable.

If there is so much turnover at your centre, then the only constant is the actual physical environment. Maybe you could start talking to your daughter about going to a new creche with lots of nice new carers and different toys and more people to play with. Talk it up and get excited yourself. I'd do it, if it's a better centre, as well as for the big cost saving.

Good luck.

That's a hard one, but when in doubt I always go with what my gut tells me. Mother's instinct is ALWAYS right.

The fact that there is a high turnover in staff would be setting off alarm bells for me........happy carers usually means happy kids.

Good luck with what you decide.

Hi Lacheb
Only last week I removed my DS from daycare as I wasn't happy with the level of care which resulted in high turnover.
I would go with your gut instinct and maybe explain to her that she is a 'big' girl and is going to big girl kindy where her other friend has gone. If you let her pick out a new drink bottle or hat etc it might help?
Best of luck, it's a shame I think there is a real challenge with consistency of care in the centres at the moment.

Thank you everyone for your responses.

I took my DD up to the new centre yesterday morning and just flat out asked her if she liked it turns out she does She starts there in 2 weeks time! I'm sure she will be a bit upset to start off with but I think in the long run it will be better for her.