Education: Top 5 Ways to Find a Quality Daycare for Your Child
Most parents are riddled with overwhelming shame for not being financially wealthy enough to keep their children with them at home throughout the day when faced with the responsibility of choosing a quality daycare for your child. Save for people with close family members who are willing to care for their children daily while both parents work (and this situation also has its challenges to be discussed in a later blog); finding and choosing a quality daycare for your child is a tremendous stress.
When I was faced with the reality of returning to work after my daughter was born, I felt so helpless in my search for quality childcare that would was within our budget. While I knew to be concerned about her developmental skills, I most feared for her safety. What if someone touched her inappropriately? What if she is harmed or neglected? Do I place her in a home childcare setting or an established daycare? Which is safer? This endless questioning, stress, and guilt was grinding at the fabric of our family life. … She is a baby and can’t speak for herself. I am her mother and, if I get this wrong, I will forever be blamed. If I get this right … Well, I am her mother.
To bring some to comfort to your search for a quality daycare setting for your child, I have some practical suggestions from my journey.
1. Ask for recommendations from all sources. Parents regularly receive advice from close friends and family on a variety of child care topics; finding quality daycare should be amongst these. While speaking to your close friends and family regarding your need for quality daycare, share your parental fears and listen closely to their responses. Are they listening to and validating your concerns? Are they positively addressing your concerns with their referrals? If their responses bring you comfort, consider the referral. If, on the other hand, your concerns are dismissed or disregarded, this person, regardless of their relationship to you, is not a credible source for quality daycare options. Unfortunately, not everyone accepts the crucial responsibility that quality daycare plays in the nurturing of children for many years to come. As such, you may greatly benefit from broadening your referral sources for recommendations by casting a far wider net to new, unfamiliar sources. Ask parents that you observe in the grocery, at the park, or your pediatrician’s office. Oftentimes, these referrals are more honest because you are strangers.
2. Schedule a tour. While this may be stressful, visiting multiple daycares offers the opportunity to see the obvious differences and similarities between each of them. As such, pay close attention to various details parents often overlook and/or disregard:
a. Phone etiquette. Did you call numerous times before someone answered the phone? Was the person on the other end welcoming, calm, knowledgeable and positive? This first phone conversation lays the foundation for your relationship with this daycare. If no one is answering the phone now, what happens when an emergency occurs? If the person is not welcoming and calm, how gracious and patient will they be when you have valid concerns to discuss? Take notes of your first phone experiences with each daycare and use these when making your final decisions.
b. Adequate parking spaces. Most parents are stressed trying to get to work in the mornings. As a result, drop-off times at most daycare centers are challenging. This becomes more intolerable when parents double-park, block entry ways or simply ignore others’ need to safely navigate limited parking areas. Take note of the drop-off situation for each daycare. Has the daycare management organized a controlled drop-off routine to increase fluidity and safety? Ask each daycare about their driving and parking routines during drop-off and pick-up hours.
c. When quiet is too quiet. Let the sounds you hear guide you. Are too many children crying at once? Do you hear happy sounds from children as they play? How are the children being spoken to when they are upset or have broken a rule? What tones are being delivered to children? While I want a level of calm at daycares, I also want to hear the joyful sounds of children playing, learning, and making discoveries. I want to see happy children who are comfortable speaking to their caregivers as well as their peers. The daycare should be an organized, relaxed, positive, and nurturing environment. If it is too structured and regimented for you, imagine how your child will feel there. Alternatively, if you feel like you want to stay and play, your child will surely feel the same.
d. Cleanliness. As a therapist, this is my daycare pet-peeve - dirty rugs, toys, and runny noses! The environment should be regularly cleaned to ensure the health and safety of infants and children. This requires constant work and attention from both the management and staff. While I do not expect all daycares to have the latest and greatest toys or equipment (some of the best daycare can not afford such), I do expect to see daycare staff regularly wiping tables, cleaning noses, washing hands, and changing diapers. As children are crawling, playing, and actively navigating their environments, floors should be kept clean. Period.
e. Happy teachers. Believe it or not, everyone working with children aren’t happy. And, if asked, most all would say their unsatisfaction has little to do with children. Unhappy teachers and staff are usually a sign of poor management and a stressful work environment. Whichever is the case, allow this to be a clear sign for the exit!
3. Ask current parents. When I was shopping for a quality daycare for my daughter, I remember parking outside the daycare at pick-up time and waiting for an approachable mom (smiling, not in a hurry) to introduce myself to. After introducing myself, I shared that I was interested in the daycare and wanted to hear her honest experiences. While she graciously answered all my questions, unknowingly, she was also allowing me to get a glimpse of the parent culture at the school.
4. Online reviews. Online reviews allow for a level of honesty most people feel uncomfortable to say in a direct conversation. I read online reviews for everything from restaurants to vacuums. While I find these reviews resourceful, pay close attention to the ones that highlight a negative experience. Did the reviewer receive a problem-solving response? If not, and you are seriously considering this daycare, discuss the negative review with the daycare director. Their reception of your concerns will be very telling. If their response is sincere and addresses your concerns with notable reflection and positive changes made, I would give this daycare a huge plus. If, on the other hand, they become bitter with personal negative tales about the parent who wrote the post; head for the exit door.
5. Childcare Licensing Board. Check in with your local childcare licensing board for their reviews, citations, and observations for each daycare on your list. All daycares are licensed through this board and they regularly conduct both random and scheduled observations. A few of their observations are: teacher – child ratios, exit doors, fire alarms and extinguishers, cleanliness, food prep and storage, and child files. Allow their reviews and observations to speak volumes in your decision-making process.
Additionally, be honest about your budget. Most daycares are offering “Mother’s Day Out” programs which offer services for 2-3 days per week for a fraction of the cost. While daycare costs are high, I have visited quality daycare centers across a variety of budgets. I have been truly amazed by the structure and welcoming environment of government subsidized programs to home daycares. Quality daycares are available for every budget. Allow your daycare search to be your practice for elementary schools.
Good luck on your search!