If you've started looking into preschools or daycares in LA, you've probably already heard the scary number: waitlists that run anywhere from six months to two years. It's enough to make any parent panic — especially when you're also reading that you should have signed up "yesterday."
We run a waitlist ourselves, so let us say the thing you most need to hear first: take a breath. It's going to be okay. Waitlists feel intimidating from the outside, but once you understand how they actually move, the whole process gets a lot less scary.
The timeline, at a glance
- When you find out you're pregnant: start your search. Tour a real mix — a couple of centers and a couple of home-based daycares.
- Once you've toured: join the waitlists at your top two choices. Don't pin everything on one school.
- While you wait: check in with your top choice every so often — staying gently on their radar genuinely matters.
- If you need care sooner: line up an available interim daycare, then transition when your preferred spot opens.
Each step is explained below.
Start sooner than you think — ideally when you find out you're pregnant
If we could give every LA family one piece of advice, it would be this: start your search early. The single most common mistake we see isn't choosing the "wrong" school — it's starting too late. We regularly hear from families who need care immediately, or within the next two to four months, and more often than not we simply can't accommodate that timeline. It's heartbreaking to turn good families away over something as fixable as timing.
So our honest recommendation is to begin when you find out you're pregnant. Tour a few places — and we mean a real mix. Visit a couple of centers and a couple of home-based daycares. There are genuine pros and cons to both, and you may be surprised which one speaks to you. Some parents fall in love with the energy of a center; others feel more at home in the intimacy of a home program. You won't know until you walk through the doors.
Don't put all your eggs in one basket
Once you've toured, put your child on the waitlist at your top two choices. Pinning all your hopes on a single school is what creates the real anxiety. When you're on more than one list, you've given yourself options — and options are what let you relax.
Here's something most people don't realize until they're deep in it: waitlists are completely normal in childcare. It's not a sign that something's wrong, or that you've fallen behind. So tell your friends. Genuinely — one of the kindest things you can do for another expecting parent is to mention that waitlists exist and that they should get on a few early. So many families simply don't know.
How waitlists actually move
This is the part that surprises people. A waitlist isn't a fixed line where you're stuck at "number 14" forever. We set our timeline based on the ages of the children currently in our care and when we expect spots to open. But the moment we start calling families, the list begins to shift — a lot. Plans change. Quite a few families end up deferring when their turn comes, which means the people behind them move up faster than anyone expected.
Spots also open in ways no one can predict. We had a family within the last year for whom Footsteps was clearly their top choice — they made that known, and they checked in with us every so often (which we always invite families on our list to do). Then a child unexpectedly moved out of the city, opening a spot we weren't anticipating. As we worked down the list, family after family deferred — and that family who had stayed in touch got the space. Staying gently on our radar genuinely matters.
What if you need care right now?
Sometimes timing just doesn't line up, and you need care before your first-choice spot opens. That's okay too. Many families place their child in an available daycare in the meantime, then transition over once a space opens at their preferred school. It's a completely normal path, and a good interim program can be a wonderful experience in its own right.
And one honest note, because we'd rather just tell you: our newer Mid-City location currently has immediate openings — and we expect it will for some time. If you're flexible on neighborhood, that may be the fastest way to join the Footsteps family right now: you can schedule a tour and look over our tuition today. (Our infant program, for our youngest little ones from six to eighteen months, is based at our Playa Vista homes.)
Choose for fit, not out of fear
It's easy to get so caught up in "getting a spot anywhere" that you forget to ask whether a place is right for your child. Try not to let the waitlist anxiety make the decision for you. Tour, trust your gut, and pay attention to how a space feels — how the teachers talk to children, how the day flows, whether your child would be known there. Get on your top two lists, line up interim care if you need it, and let the rest unfold. It really does work out.
And if Footsteps sounds like it might be your kind of place, we'd love to be one of the schools you tour — come tour our Mid-City home and see how it feels — and if Playa Vista is closer to you, join the interest list.