Hi everyone. I know there has been a recent thread about looking for daycare/preschool in the new city post-match. But I thought I'd put my own dilemma out there for advice. As many of you know I'm waiting till next year to match but my husband is matching this year. I'm trying to decide if I should look for and sign up for mutiple preschools in possible cities where we might be. My kid just turned 2, and would be 2.5 when we move to the new city. He currently is cared for by nannies at home. I was thinking of continuing that arrangement next year when hubby is an intern, and waiting to look for preschools once we know where he matches (which would be in mid March this year). Do you all think it's ok to wait till then? Or will we lose our shot at preschools for next year - and if we do, is that alright? If we wait another year, my kid will be 3.5 when he starts preschool. He has also had some developmental challenges which is why we had nannies providing one-to-one care rather than a daycare. Thanks in advance for the feedback.

Ugh. It totally is register-for-preschool time... but it's a lot more expensive to hold a slot in a preschool than to get on a daycare waitlist. My 2cents: preschool is awesome but is lower stakes than childcare overall, and I'd hold off until match.

I think.

Probably.

I think it depends on where you are moving to. In some places you literally have to be on a waiting list for a year or two to get a 'good' preschool, others it doesn't matter. I would wait another month for match, a month probably won't make a difference anyway b/c you either needed to be on the list last year or it won't matter. Maybe you could ask some people with little ones in the city you are moving to?

If you are still a good 15 months away, one more month will most likely not make/break the enrollment issue. The really well-known (read: not always the best for your child) places may have lists that will extend far beyond that time frame anyway.

That being said- be aware of tricks that get your child enrolled for the time frame you need them to be. We enrolled DD over the summer (May - August) for two days/week because it gave her priority for fall (Aug - Dec) when we *really* needed care.

Of course that meant extra cost, but well worth it!