Choosing Quality Child Care
Selecting the right childcare center is a very important decision. It is imperative that when you leave your child in the care of another person you have complete peace of mind that your child is in a safe, secure, loving and nurturing environment. Without that peace of mind, you will not be able to put your best foot forward in your own job. So, how you do find that ‘perfect place’ for your child?
First, decide if you want in-home care or a childcare setting.
Once you make this decision, start looking as far in advance as you can. No matter what type of care you are considering, it can take time finding the right match for you. Make a list of what is important to you and try to prioritize that list. Some common considerations are:
- Classroom ratios
- Teacher credentials
- Cleanliness of the center, including having a pleasant smell when you walk in the front door
- Parent communication
- Curriculum
- Hours of operation, cost of program, and part-time options
- Extra-curricular activities available to child
- Ability to accommodate dietary restrictions
- Licensing compliance
Research the childcare center.
If it is a licensed facility, then check your state’s online licensing report for center reviews. Centers may be written up for major or minor infractions. If you end up touring the facility, you should feel comfortable asking them about the infractions, including their plan-of-action for improvement. Be careful of any facility that has repetitive infractions that were not addressed during subsequent state-licensing visits. Also, be wary of centers that have frequent customer complaints, especially complaints focused on safety of the children. Each state has their own website for posting licensing reports. An easy way to access your state’s childcare licensing report is to enter in your search engine “child care licensing report” and then your state identifier.
Tour the facility and ask questions.
If you want to get a good feel for how the school operates, visit during an active time of the day when you can observe the teacher engaged with the children in her room (mid-morning is best). Most centers will accept walk-ins, but if you want to have quality time with management and time to ask questions, scheduling a tour works best.
When you tour a center, the director should spend time with you up front to understand your needs, concerns and expectations. Find out how they monitor the progress of each child and how they address the individual learning styles of each child. Ask questions about their curriculum and how you can be sure that the lesson plans are written to the learning outcomes that children should be achieving (academically, socially, emotionally, and artistically). Good communication is important between a center and family, so determine how they are going to keep you posted on your child’s daily activities and center events. At a minimum, daily activity sheets (regardless of your child’s age) should be provided. What else does the center do to help establish an excellent parent/center partnership? To create a list of other specific and general questions for a center (class ratios, teacher training requirements, hours of operation, accreditation, etc.) there are many websites that you can search to help you. Write the questions down and make sure they are answered to your satisfaction during your tour.
Talk to others in the community.
Talk to your neighbors, pediatricians, friends or local elementary school administration to find out whom they recommend or what they may know about the center(s) you are considering. If you learn of something negative about a center, it may have just been that one person’s experience and may not accurately reflect the overall quality of the center. However, if you hear the same thing from several people, there may be more to it.
Let your gut guide you.
Your ‘gut’ feelings might be all you need to feel comfortable with a specific center. However, doing your homework through research, speaking with others, and touring a center is what will help direct you the most. After you’ve done all that and everything seems fine but your ‘gut’ is telling you otherwise, try to figure out why that is. After all, if you don’t have complete peace of mind that your child is in excellent hands while you are at work, you won’t be able to perform to your fullest potential.
If afterenrolling, you feel that your needs or your child’s needs are not being met, sit down and share your concerns with management before making the decision to disenroll. How they listen and respond to your concerns will tell you a lot about if you selected the right center for your child.