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Choosing a child care center can be one of those necessary evils in life. You are entrusting your child's life, essentially, into the teacher's and child care center's hands for several hours per day, possibly up to five days a week, maybe more. This should be a process, and you should do your homework before deciding on a day care. Your child will spend a large amount of their childhood at the day care center.
Word of mouth may be the first way you learn about a day care. This can be helpful, because then you already will have one reference for the day care. Do not just rely on this one parent's reference, though.
There are a number of questions you are going to want to ask the day care before even thinking about deciding on a center. Here are some questions that should be asked:
1. Can I come in any time unannounced?
This can make the most apprehensive parents feel better about day care, if they are allowed to come in unannounced, and if, when they do, they see their child having fun and being lovingly cared for by their teacher(s).
2. What is my child's menu like? Are there nutritious meals and is there a variety in foods?
You may discuss with teachers what foods you would prefer your child not eat, and make sure to tell the teachers what foods (if any) your child is allergic to! If your child is an infant, you will probably bring in your child's food and tell the teacher what times to feed him/her. You may want to ask how often your child will eat, if your child is not an infant.
3.How often will my child be changed (if an infant), or allowed to go to the bathroom?
Infants normally get changed around every two hours at centers, and older children can often go to the bathroom by themselves when they express a need to go.
4.Will I get a daily log of my child'a activities?
Your child care center should have a daily log of your child's activities, foods he/she ate, how much food and when, when/how often he/she went to the bathroom (if an infant), how long the child slept (if at all) and if the child is an infant, the teacher will also mark if the child was wet, dry and/or had a bowel movement (and if the bowel movement was loose or not).
5. Is there any security at the day care, such as video cameras or password coded doors?
Very often, if not always, there are password coded doors, and sometimes there are video cameras in the director's office that go to all of the day care rooms. The video camera idea is not done too much, but it does exist. You will probably have to search out a little to find a day care that offers that amount of security.
6. Is there a time limit on how long my child can stay at the day care?
Some day cares do have a set time limit on how long you can keep your child there. Some day cares only allow you to keep your child there for a maximum of nine hours, maybe ten hours, etc.If you leave your child at the day care for longer than that, you will be charged a scaled fee. Also, if you leave your child at the center past the closing time, the center also will charge you a late fee.
7. What is the day care's philosophies on discipline?
No day cares allow physical punishment. If you notice physical changes on your child that the day care center does not tell you about (day cares usually write up an incident report and/or phone moms and dads when their child has had an accident and been hurt at the day care)notify your head teacher and/or director as soon as possible and find out what happened. Discipline in days is usually age-appropriate and consists of such things as possibly a stern "No," to a time out or a redirecting of the child's attention.
8. What are the day care's philosophies on nap time?
If your child is an infant, there may be two alotted nap times, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The teacher will probably put your child down for a nap both times, but your child may not end up sleeping both times. If your child is older, there will still be an alotted nap time, usually two hours in the afternoon, and your child will more than likely fall asleep. If not, the teachers usually allow the children who do not fall asleep to look at books. Ask the head teacher for details on nap time.
This is not a complete list. There are many other questions that you can ask your day care provider. This is a skeleton outline of the basics of questions to ask a perspective day care. Other ways of evaluating a day care might be to take a tour, interview the head teacher and/or director, and don't forget to ask for references!! Lots and lots of references! Talk to as many parents as you can of children who already attend the day care and see what those parents think! Remember, your child is going to be spending a lot of time at the day care and a lot of time with the teachers at the day care!
Happy hunting!
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