Childcare options in Orinda
We are moving to Orinda from SF in a couple of months, and our son will be about 18 months old. Any recommendations on what to do about childcare? Ideally we could get him into a full-time daycare, but we understand that there will likely be wait lists, and some places may not even take a child at that age and we may need to get a nanny in the meantime. So we were wondering:
- If you've experienced a similar situation, what have you done?
- What daycares do people recommend? We live near the Orinda BART station, so it'd be great to find somewhere relatively close to that area.
- If we go the nanny route, any suggestions/recommendations?
It'll be a big change for out little guy, after having spent over a year with a wonderful nanny and nanny share family, and we are nervous about the transition. Really appreciate your input!
Jun 15, 2019
Parent Replies
We moved from Oakland to Lafayette when our son was the same age and the childcare was definitely one of the biggest challenges. We had a nanny he loved in Oakland that we were all so sad to leave behind. We had planned to get a nanny in Lafayette, but had a surprisingly hard time. They are certainly out there, just not as many as I would see advertised in the Oakland area. I suggest joining Lamorinda Families on Facebook, Lamorinda Moms and Nextdoor as a way to see nanny postings (and on BPN of course).
We ended up putting our son at Lamorinda Montessori in Moraga and have been quite happy. Drop offs are still hard (just the fact that mama is leaving is tough), but I think doing something totally different rather than kind of similar to before has actually been helpful. And I think it has been a good time frame to transition to day care for him. Many of the preschools in the area don't start until age 2, so that will be your biggest challenge, but I would definitely recommend checking out Lamorinda Montessori for their toddler program. We also tried for the Firehouse School and LVMS and they didn't have any spots. There are also some in-home day cares in the area, but spots can be hard to come by.
Feel free to let me know if you have any other specific questions!
Hi welcome to Orinda!
ive only found 4 full time options for childcare in Orinda. Orinda Afternoons (in home daycare) M-Th, St John preschool, Fountainhead Montessori and St Marks preschool. Tour and get on wait lists now :) we have a full time nanny until our little guy is old enough for St Marks.