How to What to Look for in a Daycare

Making the decision to go back to work and put your child in daycare is never easy and finding the right daycare can be even harder. It's important to find a daycare that fits not only your hours and budget, but one that meets your child's social and emotional needs as well. Knowing what to look for in a daycare can make a tough situation a little bit easier. Read on to learn how to know what to look for in daycare.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Daycare checklist
• <br>Time to visit daycares

Look at Daycare Policies

1. Observe whether a potential daycare asked you to make an appointment for a tour or encouraged you to drop in at your leisure. While the appointment may be a sign that a certain staff member wanted to be present, you want to make sure that your child's daycare has an open-door policy. It's important to be able to see what's going on at any time of day without the staff worrying about you being there.
2. Look to see whether the facility has its licensing credentials and fire escape plan prominently posted. Check to see if there's a log next to the escape plan that makes note of when the alarms and plan were last tested.
3. Ask about vaccinations, accidents and sick child policies. Well-run (and licensed) daycares will require a child's immunization information prior to enrollment, provide parents with incident reports for even the slightest accident and have clear policies about under what circumstances a child is consider too sick to attend daycare.
4. Check to make sure the daycare asks for ID when an unfamiliar person comes to the door. If you're not asked to identify yourself on the way in, it's likely that when someone new picks up your child, (his grandparents, for example) they won't be asked to prove their identity either.

Look at Staff Training

5. Watch the staff interact with the children when you visit a potential daycare. They should seem comfortable with the age group and be participating in and leading age-appropriate activities.
6. Ask about the adult to child ratio and make sure it's higher in the infant and toddler rooms. Infant and toddler programs should have at least one adult per every four children, while preschool age programs should have at least one adult to every 10 children.
7. Confirm that the staff is trained in First Aid and CPR and that background checks are performed as part of the hiring procedure. You should also ask about the staff turnover rate and find out if any of the staff have a degree or training in Early Childhood Education.

Look at Safety

8. Walk around the facility and look for signs of childproofing. There should be gates blocking access to off-limit areas, smoke alarms installed, covers and plugs in the outlets, locks on the cupboards and corner covers in high traffic areas.
9. Walk around outside to see whether the playground equipment looks up-to-date and safe. Check to see that the play area has a fence with a latched gate and that there are woodchips or synthetic rubber under the playground equipment.
10. Look for a drop bucket for dirty toys and observe how clean the surface areas seem to be. When in doubt, ask the staff how frequently the toys, counter and tables are cleaned and with what solutions. Ideally, they should be washed with a diluted bleach solution.

Tips & Warnings

• Look for a daycare that matches your child's personality and needs. In order to do so, you'll have to take an objective look at your child. A shy, slow-to-warm child is more likely to thrive in a homelike environment with a low child-to-adult ratio. On the other hand, if your child is very social and outgoing, he's more likely to do well in a large facility surrounded by lots of peers.
• <br>Choose a daycare that has a drop-off and pickup times that match your needs. Ask, too, for a schedule of holidays the facility observes and whether they have part-time slots available.
• <br>If you are looking for a daycare/preschool combination, make sure to ask what types of activities are planned for the children and whether the preschool follows a specific curriculum.
• Don't underestimate your intuition. If a facility just doesn't "feel" right, despite meeting all your standards, pay attention to that feeling.