When deciding on the right daycare for your child, there are basic things you should know and insist upon. Here are some tips to help size up a daycare;
1. Ensure you pay attention to how the staff interacts with the children. Ideally, a caregiver should be on the floor playing with the kids or holding one on her lap. It is especially important that babies' first caregivers be warm and responsive.
2. Find out how long the current caregivers have been working there and how much turnover the center usually experiences. Children need stability, not a center that has constant staff turnover.
3. Find out whether you share parenting philosophies on topics such as discipline (Do the caregivers use time-outs, scoldings?); television (Is the TV on all day or used sparingly, if at all?); sleeping (When are naps offered? How are fussy babies put to sleep?); and so forth. Inquire about the sick-child policy (What symptoms prevent a child from attending?). Also ask whether there's a backup plan should the family day-care provider or in-home caregiver get sick and be unable to work. The more questions you ask early on, the less likely you are to be unpleasantly surprised later.
4. Try to visit the same centers at different times of the day to get a sense of how the staff interacts with the children and what the routine is. You may want to consider popping in unannounced a few times after you have enrolled your child, just to see how things are going. Sometimes your visits will confirm that the place is right for you, but sometimes they will be a real eye-opener.
5. Look for a daycare that always gives adequate information on how your child’s day went. This information should be documented. At the end of the day you will want information, such as the number of diapers he went through, when he napped, and if he seemed happy overall.