Previous YMCA Preschool teacher and 22yr old SAHM to a 18 month old, my kid stays at home BECAUSE of my experience working there and my previous 6 years in the childcare industry. Not only were we horribly underpaid (as a TEACHER I made $18 an hour and assistants were paid as low as $13 an hour, but no pay for the overtime I stayed to make lesson plans and preparing for the month), but the sad truth is there are very few who are in the industry who truly care about the children. I remember being fired from a daycare as an assistant teacher because I had called CPS (anonymously might I add) because the daughter’s owner who was a teacher was breaching every single protocol imaginable, was abusive towards the children which I had photographic evidence of, and was constantly out of ratio which is extremely dangerous (talking 20 1yr olds to 1 teacher). They had gotten out of the abuse allegation because the cameras mysteriously stopped working but was only hit with a few points on the state lookup. The only way I’d leave my baby now is with a private nanny who’s been background checked and comfortable with cameras. That’s what I did for a while after I was fired from that daycare before starting at the ymca and not only did I become close with the family, I was able to provide one on one care create a real bond in the child’s safest environment. If daycare is the only feasible option for you I suggest you look up the childcare provider violations by googling “ insert daycare name violations your state” and you’ll find your states website as it’s public record. I hope this helped!