Spot open and very few responses...

[daycare woman]

Is anyone else finding it slow, very little looking for daycare right now? My ad has been out for 2 months and maybe 3 responses... very odd? Maybe they are taking the summer off and it will get crazy in august?

[dragonlady3]

August tends to be a very busy month for us. Don't give up.

[Spixie33]

I found May - Sept pretty slow to find people. I think some people time their maternity leave to run through the summer or extend it to sept so they can have the summer at home before going back. I think August and September tend to really pick up for finding people. Last year I sometimes went a whole month during the summer without even a nibble but then August came and I had very good and eager responses

[Play and Learn]

For me it's been hit and miss. One or two months and I'll have tons of hits, but then 3 months nothing. Just this past 2 weeks, have had 3 people interested in 1 spot - we'll see how these interviews go!

Be patient - that's the only advice I have to give on this one!

[mlc1982]

I haven't had any hits in the last month or so and then I got one today. It's been very slow. Although I only have one spot to fill, hopefully it will pick up after summer.

[lilac]

I find summer the busiest, June, July and August with people makeing arrangements for Sept. Winter usually really slow. I had 2 spots up from Sept with 1 or 2 phone calls and didnt manage to fill the spots until Dec.

[playfelt]

Depending on where you live there seems to be a holding pattern that happens in the Spring. A lot happens on the part of current caregivers too as to changes they need to make. Living in a military town means we wait each spring for posting messages to find out if a family will move and when so that determines when a space will come open and it could mean a caregiver is posted and her 5 kids will new caregivers. Also new families moving in won't be doing house hunting trips which usually involves a childcare search till June. Schools here are now beginning to tell parents if their JK/SK kids will be in the morning or afternoon class so once that is done there is some shifting around of childcare. I think a lot of families try to schedule maternity leave to include the summer so they want Sept-Dec not now or summer. May is the worst month it seems because of the uncertainty and toss in a long weekend and that seems to be a barrier in people's minds. Once the long weekend is over they are getting into summer mode and start to think oh gee I better get working on this. Make sure to renew your daycare ads in June so they look fresh and new and it does seem to be the time to get more response.