I currently stay at home with my 18 month old son during the day and work at night while Daddy stays with him; however, I am looking at maybe expanding my hours a few days a week and would have to put my son in daycare. I was wondering what types of questions I need to ask the daycare facilities and what things I need to look for while I am touring the facilities before placing my son in someone else's care.
Thanks so much@
Go to babycenter.com they have a check list for both in home daycare & daycare facilities. IT was very helpful to us when we were looking for a new sitter.
You may wish to go to www.naeyc.org. It is the website for the National Association for the Education of Young Children. In addition to being a great resource, you can also search for care centers near your ZIP code. NAEYC has very strict standards for accreditation, and only about 10% of centers nationwide receive the honor of being an NAEYC center.
The other thing you want to do is make your visits unannounced. Do not go during traditional naptime; the kids will all be asleep and you won't get to see how staff interacts with the children. A good time to go when a lot of action is happening and the center is full is around 10:00 or 3:00. You want to drop in unannounced because you want to see how things are REALLY happening on a daily basis, not some packaged dog and pony show where they tell you how great their center is and have everything perfect at the time.
Make sure they're NYAEC certified.
Ask them if you can stop by during the day to see how your son's doing. (If they say it's a problem, don't go there.)
What sort of schedule do they have? (When's breakfast, when's lunch, when are the snacks, what activities are done during the day?) (I usually stopped by during snack time or lunch time.)
How often do they change booties? (change diapers)
What's the adult/child ratio? (Keep in mind that state law for that age says 1 adult per 5 children, and most daycares will have 2 adults/10 kids in a room that age - I feel it should be 3 adults/10 kids, but that's just me. Also, keep in mind too that if one adult is changing pants, and the other is preparing the snack, who's watching the kids?)
Will he be in a room with 1 year olds, or do they have it split to 12-18 months and 18-24 months? Or will they consider placement based on where the child is developmentally? (My child was in a room once where they just had "1 year olds" - she had just turned 1, and there was another child who was about 20 months who would hit or bite her and/or take her toys away -once we finally convinced them that he didn't need to be in that room because he was tormenting our daughter and we'd pull her out if they didn't do something, they put him in the 2 year old room - and what do you know, he quit bullying other kids.)
Does the room he'll be in have a "2 way mirror" so the parent can watch what's going on without having to go inside the room? (Sometimes the kids will be doing fine until they see the parent and then act up. But if you can watch to make sure he's okay and interacting well with the other kids and playing well, then you might not need to go in the room. I found with my daughter that sometimes that was better than going in the room - when they see you they want you to take them home, and if that doesn't happen, it can upset them.)
Do they provide the food or is that worked into the weekly price? Can you pay online if you want to? Do they have web-cam's? (I think La Petite Academy does.) (You'll likely have to provide wipes, pull-ups or diapers, and any other things like Desitin or Bag Balm.)
Are there any days when they're closed for staff training? (The daycare we went to closed on President's day and Columbus day for staff training.)
What are their hours? If you take the child in for 1 day that week, will you still have to pay the full rate? Do they have a lesser rate for weeks that you don't bring him in (if you go out of town for the holiday's or something)? (The daycare we went to was $225/week if we brought her in at least 1 day that week, or $150/week if we didn't bring her in that week.)
Do they have "incident reports"? (If your child falls down and klunks his head, how do they handle it?)
Just some thoughts I had....
There are always the given questions such as the daily routine, meals, naps, etc. One "trick" my ex-MIL taught me while on the hunt for daycare was don't assume because someone's house is in spotless condition they are going to be a good babysitter. The opposite also applies. One lady we visited, I was ready to write off because her house was in disarray. Not dirty, just cluttered. She turned out to be one of the best caregivers ever! If the caregiver is more concerned about the condition of their house than the interaction with the kids, she will not make a good caregiver. My current MIL is the perfect example. She quit working to watch my 2yr old, newborn, and 1yr old neice. She was the worst sitter I have ever had. She kept the kids "caged" in one room all day to keep her house spotless. Everything was very structured and they did not get to be kids. My son, being the baby had evidently been kept in a playpen most of the time. He was not even crawling at 10mo. I didn't think too much of it, after all they were with g-ma, at first. After losing my job and being home for 2weeks, my son was crawling and walking in no time. Lesson learned:clean, spotless house does not=good babysitter.
