day care in St Thomas

Yes there are quite a number of day cares. From small "local" ones run at a home by a couple moms; which you hear about by word of mouth... or their clients are friends or old co-workers they might have worked with in the passed. Then there are ones that are part of schools, pre-kindergarten or day-care (some of these are only part day until 1pm for young kids)... then there are other day cares that keep the child the whole day.

I don't have names, perhaps someone else can recommend some names and numbers for you to try. Also you might consider hiring a sitter that stays at your home with the child until you come home, some people do that as well.

You might try the yellow pages at www.viphonebook.com and see the listing and then call and ask how much, what they offer, time of day they operate and then check them out when you get on island, or list the ones you are thinking about on this board and see if you can get feedback about the place and location.

--Islander

Would you please give me your opinion on single mothers moving to St Thomas. I have a friend on St Croix who tells me that the island is not a good place for single mothers. I'm not sure why he said that, do you have any advice?

Well MD, being a single mother is hard anywhere. The USVI has many many single mothers often with more then one child - they also have extended families to help out a bit. It will be a bit more difficult for a single mom without a support network - it depends greatly I suppose on the income you will be getting, day care is pricey particularly really good daycare but you can find some good programs that arent much if you look around and ask co-workers for suggestions. Cost of living is high as well, many single mothers and fathers in the USVI depend on Medical assistance programs and food stamps and government housing. These assistances have waiting list already for local people. There are lots of single moms/dads that make it but it is diffiult. I know of a single dad that had two kids he worked 3 jobs so was never home. Although he was doing the best he could in terms of having to make money - the kids were raising them selves and this alone was creating a huge problem in terms of behavior, manners and school studies. And then there are some single parents who seem to have a guardian angel smiling on them that they are able to do what they do in a 24 hour day. It is difficult and I think the additional challenge in the USVI is income because of the high cost of living. If the single parent is making sufficient money to just work one job, send the child to a good daycare and school and then the evening can be spent helping the child then it will work. This is not the case with many people. So overall I think its the cost of living that makes being a single parent in the USVI more challenging.

--Islander