The Wait List is HOW LONG?

Today I finally got a call back from my workplace daycare; I was so happy. I had initially called to see what their policies were, when they were open, how much, basic stuff that isn't all listed on the website.

By the end of the call, I had placed myself and a mythical yet-to-be child on a waitlist.

You know those jokes people toss back and forth about how waiting until your child is born to start looking for daycare is years too late?

It's true.

The current waitlist for my work's group lisenced daycare is OVER TWO YEARS. The very nice lady on the other end of the phone informed me that I was Doing It Right by calling before I had even started to try and conceive; that I had a "Very Good Chance" of getting my infant into the on site daycare when I did get around to conceiving. "A Very Good Chance", since the waitlist keeps on getting longer each year by about three months; so if I start trying in a year and a half, that should do me when my maternity leave is done. Unless it gets longer, of course.

0.o

Not joking.

Numbed by this fact, I meekly put my name on the waitlist for imaginary baby girl who may or may not exist in 2016.

That said, there are a lot of group daycares with immediate openings right now; they just cost about $700 more a month, or are unlicensed and $400/month more, or are so much out of my way that I would have to buy a car to get to work/daycare on time. Or involve alternate methods such as nannies/etc. Since I also know that each of these daycares do jack their prices up each year for inflation, those numbers would get even farther apart.

I was just shocked that the waitlist for convenient, semi-affordable daycare that is sponsored in part by my work and only available to employees is TWO PLUS YEARS. I liked the idea of this daycare though -- the care went until six each day, so I would have time to do errands post work, she would be close enough to visit at lunch, and it includes two healthy snacks and a hot lunch option when they are older and off the bottle. The outside play area is wonderful, and the staff ratio is above recommended and have a low turnover rate. Cost? 60$/day.

Oi. Fire under my butt now to squirrel even more away.