Guatemala City - Post Report Question and Answers
Are preschools available? Day care? Are these expensive? What has been your experience with them, if any? Do the schools provide before- and/or after-school care?
There are good pre-schools and they are very affordable. Many families seem to have nannies. - Mar 2023
Day care is uncommon, but I believe Pequenitos (a Spanish language preschool) in Zone 16 recently re-opened their full-day program. I know they accept even babies. I don't know of any other facilities that offer good full-time care, though. Basically everyone I know who works and has children has a nanny. There are many options for morning-only preschool. Popular options include Tykes (which has a location right next to Ramblas housing in Cayala and is bilingual), Pequenitos, and Seeds (also bilingual and has multiple branches around the city). Seeds will help arrange a van transport service to and from school to pick up/drop off your child up at your house. - Oct 2022
In Cayala, there are two preschools/daycares. Pequenitos and Tykes. They are both great each alternates their weeks where one week is taught in Spanish and the other in English. - Jul 2021
We still have preschool-aged kids, and I wasn't terribly impressed with the local options and we ended up homeschooling for pre-k. Most preschool classrooms are small, with large class sizes, and mediocre facilities. One thing I noticed at the preschool level at least was a heavy emphasis on obedience and rule-following, even for 3/4/5-year-olds. Kids need to sit, be quiet, do their worksheets, and raise their hands; this was hard for my kiddo. You'll definitely want to find a school near your housing, as traffic is terrible in my opinion. - Jan 2020
In this neighborhood, Tykes and Pequenitos are the most popular preschool/daycare options. Both are walkably close, both have excellent staff and facilities. - Mar 2019
Unknown - Feb 2019
Again no personal experience, but most people with young children hire full-time, live-in nannies. I'd guess that this runs about US$400/month though I'm sure it varies. - Jun 2015
There are local options that are good. They are around US$325 a month. - Apr 2014
I don't really know about preschools, but domestic help is cheap here so many people hire nannies. - Mar 2008
