Calgary Child Care. Child Day Care Centers and Home Daycares

User submitted comments

March 25, 2011

i am currently an approved dayhome. i have high standards but i am on the verge of going private. good dayhomes are hard to find. there is lots of dayhomes with spots through agencies that id never put my children in! they can have a level II or III and it means squat! private or not...pop in and check it out. drop by at a lunch time to ensure they are feeding them well, see their first aid and police clearance of everyone in the household that is over 18, is anyone else at home helping the provider. no one is to change my kids butt...or aid in bathroom than that provider! they need to have common sense. make sure they stay in ratios. no more than 6 children under 12. these are our children... dont pick a dayhome because its cheap!
im leaving the agency due to ratio. i have 2 2yr old and one almost 2 and i want to add a 1yr old. i am well equipped to handle them all. one of the 2 yr olds is my own child. there isnt any children 3yrs up to fill my spots! I know alot of moms struggling to find quality care. its crazy and scary.

January 06, 2011

This is CRAZY trying to find a Dayhome for my son!!! i have contacted a ton of people only to find out that they have no spots or i would never leave my son with them in the first place. A very disappointing experience. I am thinking of not going back to work at all now since this is not working out too well :(

November 16, 2010

I have been running a non-licensed dayhome for 5 years because I could not find someone that I trusted with my son. It does NOT matter whether you are licensed or not, what matters is the quality of care you will get. I have personally shut down 4 dayhomes in my area with social services (all licensed) that were abusing (verbally and/or physically) the kids, or neglecting them!! I know that my fee is on the lower end of the average rate for the city of Calgary but I know that my service far exceeds the average of the city!! The kids are loved and fed proper meals and snacks, outside time ect. I have an open door policy, parents do NOT have to call me before they come, I have nothing to hide, so come when you like, even if your child is sleeping, its your right as the parent to wake him/her up from their nap!! Finally if someone says they have Child Welfare and Police clearance, ASK to SEE it!!! These are our kids and they should be safe in the dayhome you choose!!

November 09, 2010

I am a private dayhome provider. I was with an agancy when I began but couldn't fill my dayhome due to the age restrictions within the dayhome. The reason i went private was because everyone knocking on my door needing care all had children under the age of 2. I was turning them away due to the agenct restrictions while I only had one child in my care. It was either quit and put my own 2 yr old in child care to find a different job or go private. That doesn't mean I don't still follow all the standards from the agency. I had to be approved through the agency to work for them. Not all private childcare is horrible and unsafe.
I think the reason it's hard to find providers is because we can't charge what we deserve to do this job or we wouldn't have children in our care. I charge a monthly rate and I make on average $8/hour. I have 3 children in my care. Two 2yr olds and a 19mos old. I also have my own 2yr old. Right now I am potty training three 2yr olds for $8/hr. If I raise my prices I lose my children. There's no way I can add another child to my home in the middle of potty training three 2yr olds.

I think parents need to understand their providers more. Ask your provider about THEIR day when you pick up your children. There are so many evenings these children leave my care with hugs and kisses and I feel so unappreciated by the parents. Their child spends more time with me then they do their own parents.

September 07, 2010

I have run my private day home for almost 4 yrs. I too have looked into become a registered day home but after speaking with several parents and other day homes the only real value of being registered is for the few parents who would qualify for subsidy. There is no guarantee that the day home you find will be safe whether registered or not, as a parent you need to constantly be watching and checking up on your day home, watching your children and being open with your provider. Caring for children is not an easy job, I love every one of the children that I care for in my home, however there are some parents that really could a timeout! Be open with your provider - let them know your expectations, appreciate what they do - you may be paying for the care but they are helping you raise your child, by keeping communication open and honest and saying thank you once in a while - you'll know when you have found the right day home for you and your child.

August 31, 2010

Im a day home owner since almost 4 years ago. The only reason I started a day home was because I couldn't find child care when we moved to Calgary. Im not licensed. Don't get me wrong, I tried to get licensed for the first 6 months of me running a day home. No one at the day home agency had time to come and provided me with the information or come look at the house to make sure everything was approved and give me the go ahead. Then I talked to previous day home owners and they said not to bother, an agency do take % off what you make a month. Approved or not, they are not there to provide the services with you. I do feel for all the parents that has had bad services. I do researches all the time to make sure Im not over and that Im fare for everyone that step in into my day home. Im blessed with all the kids and parents that have walked in here that they give good compliments about my day home and they recommend me to everyone they meet. I have kids, every time I see these kinds of messages on here it breaks my heart. My kids have never been to a day home in Calgary and this is for all the reasons why. I do put in the work and the time every day to make sure every one goes home happy. It makes me happy every day that the kids want to stay here sometimes and not go home. You have to find the joy in your day home provider that I have in myself. I think it would be easy to tell if a day home provider was all wrong for my children. Children do talk and you should always always talk to your day home provider if you have any problems to fix them and not judge right at first. I hope my story helps.

April 26, 2010

To all parents out there looking for childcare, I can't stress enough how important it is find a licensed child care facility. We did not and I cannot believe how our family was treated but we later found out that this also happened to at least 3 other families. We were charged an unreasonable amount of money, we had to supply our own lunches for our children, our children did not get outside, they did not come home with any crafts and we had to promptly pick them up at 5:00pm or else we were charged more. Unlicensed daycares do not have to follow a mandate and therefore they can do anything they want with our children and they do.

May 20, 2009

There are NO spots for children 12 months to 19 months. Most places don't even take your child the MONTH they turn 19 month JUST on their birthdate. Then they charge extra because you are only coming for part of the month! The government SHOULD give 19 month maternity leave.

April 06, 2009

I find every time I need to go looking for care, no one wants two boys. I am currently looking for care, for my two boys in the Coventry Hills area. My issue currently is finding care that can also get them to and from school. Everyone wants the preschool aged children and not boys.

January 13, 2009

Find a Day/Care in Calgary is a very stressfull process. Some people who owns day homes/care are abusing families who need the service by charging a lot or money and providing poor quality of service... The gouverment should put regulations and rules in place regarding price increases, menus, etc.

January 26, 2008

it is horrifying trying to find child care, and even wokse to find quality child care. It took 8 months to find our first caregiver, and now we are moving and have to start again. We have contacted 43 care providers, with only 2 having room for our children. Neither of them are individuals whome we would leave our children with. This needs to become a priority. We already have a shortage of workers in this city, and if we don't fix this issue, or make child care more accessible for employees, businesses will lose even more valuable workers as there is no one to care for the children.

General information about Calgary, Alberta

Calgary is considered to be the largest city in the province of Alberta. It is located in the south of the province, east of the Canadian Rockies. Calgary -is well known as a destination for winter-sports and ecotourism, with a number of major mountain resorts near the city and metropolitan area. Calgary holds many major annual festivals some of which include the Calgary Stampede, the Folk Festival, and the Lilac Festival. In 1988, Calgary became the first Canadian city to host the Olympic Winter Games.

Things you can do in Calgary with your Children

The Calgary Zoo is one of the most popular and interesting destinations for both children and adults. The Calgary Zoo has over 1,000 animals from all around the world. School and daycare visits are welcome but you must call in advance to pre-register and ensure that you maintain ratios at all times. They are open year round except for Christmas Day. For more detailed and up to date information, check their website.

The Calgary Science Centre (aka Telus World of Science) has many programs, exhibits and shows to interest both the entire family. Both children and adults will enjoy spending the time together learning about things together. The Science Centre has a children’s museum, Creative Kids Museum onsite. Daycare and school visits are welcome, but do call in advance to pre-register. Both the Calgary Science Centre and the Creative Kids Museum are open year round. For more information and hours of operation, you can check their website.

The Calgary Tower is just the place for children and adults to have loads of fun and to learn from new heights and explore Calgary’s most famous landmark. While you learning at new heights why not take a walk on the Glass Floor. The Calgary Tower offers access to all visitors onto their Glass Floor Experience. The Calgary Tower can customize the learning material to a particular age group or subject. Advance booking is advised and remember to ask about group rates.

Butterfield Acres is a fun place for the entire family. Both adults and children will enjoy a ride on the tractor pulled wagon, feeding the animals and even milking a goat. Butterfield Acres also offers a Summer Day Camp for children between 3 to 14 years of age. School and daycare bookings are also available. Check with Butterfield Acres for more detailed information and don’t forget to take a pony ride before you end your trip. Butterfield Acres is open seasonally and close from November to March, but they are available to come to your location.

How to find daycare centers in Calgary with GoDaycare

If you are looking for daycare centres or dayhomes in Calgary, you came to the right place. We offer daycare listings with reviews from parents in many communities throughout Canada. Use our Calgary child care guide to find childcare providers that offer infant, toddler, preschool, kindergarten, or school age programs. We realize how difficult it is to find a daycare spot, so we built our Calgary child care search engine to take into account such factors as age groups and proximity information to allow our visitors to easily locate daycare centres in Calgary. Before committing to anyone daycare centre found either on this site or anywhere else, ALWAYS do your own investigation to make sure that the center is safe and it addresses your child's developmental needs. You may refer to our article on finding the right daycare for some helpful tips.

Your child care search options

The first option is to run a city-specific daycare search. This option enables you to browse daycare centers throughout the city. If you are reading this page, chances are you are in the process of using this search path already. While browsing daycare listings you may also notice the list of neighbourhoods on the right-hand side of the page (neighbourhood child care search is only available for major cities). Select your neighbourhood to list daycare centers that are in your neighbourhood or in the near proximity to it. To narrow down your list, please select the appropriate age category for your child.

The second option is to use our local daycare search which allows you to find daycare centers and dayhomes anywhere in Canada. You can search by address, postal code or the nearest intersection. Use this search option to generate a list of childcare providers within walking distance to your specified location.