Our baby hasn’t been born yet, but based on the advice we’ve seen so far, we’re already looking into reserving a daycare spot for next year.
My partner and I haven’t yet decided at what age we’d like to start sending our baby to daycare. We’re currently considering two different Kitas and would like to submit applications to both. We are in Kanton Zurich but not City Zurich. We have a couple of questions:
How flexible is the start date once a spot has been reserved? For example, if we initially plan for a certain start date but later decide to start 1-2 months earlier or later, depending on how ready our baby is, would that typically be possible?
It seems that the safest way to secure a daycare spot is to apply to both Kitas, sign a contract with whichever offers a place, and then cancel one contract if both become available (and pay any applicable cancellation fee). Is this a common and accepted practice?
I have no experience with Zurich, but this is how things work elsewhere, which is quite different than what you describe…: First (even before the birth) you apply to several places and are placed on their waiting list. This costs nothing. Several months later, even over a year, you get a message that a spot is available and have to decide if you want it or not. There may be +/- 1 month flexibility on the start date. Some work on a ‘school year basis’ meaning their contracts start around Sept, when the oldest start primary and free the spots, for these if you dont get a spot then you basically have to wait a whole year, as very few leave during the year.
There is no problem signing for multiple, but then I see no reason to go as far as to sign contracts with both, since the contracts are usually signed a couple months before the start, by which time you would know the start date.
We just give expected dates care would be required from and ask to be put on the waiting list.
It was difficult to find a spot, but it seems to have become much easier in the last couple of years. Not sure if it is a general thing or a BS vs BL dynamic (BS massively subsidized childcare so a lot of kita supply and demand shifted from BL to BS).
Not sure about elsewhere but Zürich city clearly has an oversupply. According to my AI, 43% visit a kita but there’s supply for 57%.
The situation is nothing short of absurd.
Parents and the Kitas get subsidies, now the Greens want to subsidise employees as well. In the end they’re functionally city employees because in addition to dictating how a Kita works and the places per employee the Greens now want to also dictate working conditions and salaries as a consequence of the subsidies.
In ZG they’ve introduced subsidies from August as well. If it was up to me, I wouldn’t be introducing them or any kind of welfare besides a minimal survival net for extreme cases. However, since it was introduced it would be a competitive disadvantage not to use them out of a principle, as this “variable” is already a part of the economy.
In any case, they did it at least in a smart way. Both parents must work to benefit from them (the flat 33% subsidy). If it pulls more people into employment, and makes them richer over time, it’ll turn into a non-socialist electorate at some point. I.e. the way I see it is that this compromise is a short-term win for the left and a strategic rope on the left by the right.
I think they should basically make kitas and schools free. It creates employment, helps encourage families to reduce the demographic timebomb and helps the budget of stretched families. It’s literally an investment in the future.