Finding a daycare to enroll your child or children into can be a task in and of itself. Allowing someone else to care for your child and be the role model/teacher they learn from while not in your care is often overwhelming. Going in armed with questions can often make it easier, though, to allow parents to know upfront what can be expected of both them and the daycare providers, as well as the children involved. Many children spend a lot of time, learning and growing in a daycare setting, so starting on the right foot is a crucial step to take. Meeting with the daycare’s leader/director ahead of time, to tour the facility and possibly meet staff can help to alleviate any concerns and allow questions answered before any final decisions are put into stone.
Aside from the obvious question that many starts off with – how much will the daycare charge, whether it be per hour, per day, or even per week? Does this differ if more than one child per family is enrolled?
Licensing & Training
If it’s important to you that the daycare is licensed, this would be a good first question. Is the daycare licensed? What certifications have they undergone? What education/certifications do specific teachers within the daycare have? What training does the daycare provide for its employees?
Staff/Children Ratios
If more than one daycare teacher will be present, what is the teacher to student ratio? If it’s a larger sized daycare, finding out the number of children present on any given day could be significant. As well as the age range of children that will be together.
Scheduling
Finding out what a typical daycare day looks like is essential to many parents. Will there be any schedule followed? What is that schedule? Are meals provided within this schedule? If there are no catered meals, are there any rules about what can or cannot be brought for the child(ren)?
Philosophies
What are the theories followed when it comes to caring for the children? How are behaviors, both good and bad, handled? What is the discipline process? For example, if your child bites, hits, or bullies another child, how will staff handle this? If temper tantrums are thrown?
Policies
Also, Austin daycare Casner Academy (www.casnerchristian.org) suggests that parents ask what policies are required and followed. Are you charged if you “call off” due to illness and keep your child home? What sort of security measures are followed to make sure all children and staff are kept safe? Will staff administer medication if this is something that your child needs, whether it be an everyday thing or just as needed? Do they practice open-door policies, in which parents can stop in anytime to visit or see how things are going?
These are just a few crucial questions that come in handy when finding a daycare that fits with what you may be looking for. All of these can help ease the minds of parents as they consider weighing options for finding the perfect fit.