Top Ten Reasons I Love My Kids' Daycare

10. They're always improving the facility. This summer, they added a basketball hoop and small soccer field for the older kids and new sidewalks through the center of the parking lot (mostly this will be handy in winter, when they'll keep them shoveled).

9. They mother my kids when I can't. Last month, when I had a fever over 101, and Husband was on kid prep and drop off duty, Daughter went to school without anyone having done her hair. Poor dear has no bangs, so all her fine hair ends up in her face all day long if we don't put in ponytails or hair clips of some kind. When I picked her up that afternoon, she had two tidy ponytails bouncing over her ears -- thanks to the teachers who neatly combed her hair after Daddy dropped her off.

8. They really value exercise. They have a large outdoor playground, a separate water-spray playground with giant frogs and flowers that make sprinklers for kids to run through in summer, and a big indoor play structure for inclement weather. Not to mention mandatory dance breaks every day for the kids to get moving in between their class's turn on the playgrounds.

7. Their chef cares about health value of foods: a year ago, they switched to all whole-wheat, whole grain breads and wraps.

6. They experiment with new ways for kids to learn. This summer, they planted a small vegetable garden that the kids helped tend. Recently, at pickup times, we've been met at the check-out computer with a colander full of freshly washed string beans or grape tomatoes, picked that day, and a smiling sign saying, "Please taste!"

5. They have a special "teacher's schedule" whereby I do not have to pay for any weeks when the kids are out during my vacations, and they go down to just two days a week in the summer, thereby saving me lots of $ in unneeded daycare.

4. They are extremely kind about adding an extra day if something unforeseen comes up as long as there are spaces in the rooms for that day. Even better, they have even on occasion let me switch a day, so that I don't pay for an extra day, but get to move the kids to a day when they're not normally there to accommodate my schedule's idiosyncrasies.

3. They put the kids' needs first. They moved Son and a group of 3-going-on-4-year-olds up to the 4-year-old class last fall because they were clearly ready. Four-year-olds then was a giant, multi-area class with four teachers and 36 kids. Then this fall, they moved the cohort of kids with birthdays just shy of making the cutoff for Kindergarten into a separate pre-K class for the "older" four-year-olds. So he's now in a separate room, with just ten kids, and a bit less chaos -- the perfect preparation for Kindergarten next year when he'll be expected to be more focused.

2. The teachers are largely career daycare professionals. There are a few young teachers scattered throughout the building, but every room has head teachers who have been working with very young children for a decade or more. They notice things right away -- bruises, diaper rashes, new words, bad behaviors that need correcting, skills that deserve praise -- and they always mention them to me.

1. The teachers love the kids, and vice versa. Every time one of my kids has moved up rooms, the previous teacher has checked in a few times and offered me reassurance that the transition is going well. My kids still remember their old teachers, and those teachers still make funny faces, exclaim over how much they've grown, and fuss over them in motherly ways.

I have no particular agenda with this post, except to say that I feel incredibly lucky to have found a loving, flexible daycare staffed by smart people who really care about the well-being of children. And somehow, today, I just feel like saying: I am grateful.