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Step 1
Consider separating by age group. One of the first decisions you'll have to make for a day care center is whether you will separate students by age or have a mixed age group. In large day care centers, it makes sense to separate children by age. Most local governments have regulations on the number of children that one adult can watch and this varies by age. Separating children by age allows you to meet those regulations, design the classroom with age appropriate toys and hire staff that specializes in caring for a particular age group. Smaller day care centers may not have enough children to warrant separating by age.
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Step 2
Set up daily routines for the children. You'll also want to establish a daily routine for the children to follow. Children often respond well to routines, so set schedules for each class. For example, set specific times for outside play, arts and crafts, lunch and nap times. As new a new student enters the day care, teach her about the routine and what you expect from her. Start kids off with the right routine and you won't have many discipline problems.
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Step 3
Plan for discipline. When you do have discipline issues with a student, you need to set standards for how you will handle them. A popular method is for the child to have a "time out" when she behaves badly. This gives her time to think about what she did and serves as a mild punishment for the bad behavior. When she realizes that she cannot participate in fun activities if she goes into "time out," she'll try to behave better. Another effective technique is to use positive reinforcement to stop bad behavior before it happens. For instance, if one student is behaving badly, you can praise the other students who are behaving well. This often causes the misbehaving student to change his ways in order to receive praise from you.
