When Charma and Bryan Haskins' son was born two months premature, they opted to keep him out of day care a while so he could build up his immune system.
Lyric stayed with a relative and then a sitter for the first 10 months of his life. Meanwhile, the Argo couple looked at 10 to 12 places for six months before getting on a waiting list and finally into a high quality center they liked.
"I knew you had to be on waiting lists and all that kind of stuff and that was fine," Charma said. "But I did not expect it to take that long to find the right combination with the directors, the teachers and the day care set up."
The Haskinses are among many new, working parents who turn into pseudo investigators - closely examining everything from playgrounds to teacher turnover - in their search for proper day care. Along the way, parents find there are often months-long waiting lists for newborns, that centers with accreditation and educated teachers are popular and cost more, and that location is just the beginning.
"This is way more important than purchasing a house or a car, and we all know how much time we spend doing those things," said Randy East, director of the Elizabeth Perry Rushton Development Center in Birmingham.
One Birmingham agency built to make shopping for quality day care easier is Childcare Resources, a nonprofit that helps families locate child care, trains child care professionals, and provides parent education services in Jefferson, Shelby, Walker and Blount counties. They also offer child care financial assistance for low-income, working families.
Executive director Margie Curry said parents should be looking for the very best preschool program that will help a child with early brain development and prepare them for kindergarten. Her organization also recommends that parents visit at least three child care programs, look at the child's proposed classroom, and inquire about the qualifications of the individuals who will interact with the child.