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mommies w/kids in daycare...HELP
we had our first visit to a daycare today and I was overwhelmed! What kind of questions do you wish you would have asked or you think I should ask? Any suggestions are appreciated!
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Re: mommies w/kids in daycare...HELP
daily routine for each type of room (if you plan to keep them there past infant stage)
What you have to provide vs what they provide
Ask to see the menu. Some places really serve crap food!
What they do to handle transition to other rooms, discipline, etc. Does this mesh with your views?
Look at their past inspections/violations. Do they have anything 'big' or just all 'minor' stuff (ie my place had some minor ones for things like not have 3 emergency contact numbers for all kids - I can live with that).
How long their staff have worked there. A good place will have low turnover.
Do you wake babies to feed them- or let them wake up?
Where do most babies sleep? In a bed/swing/bouncy seat
I am a teacher and had to ask if they would hold DD's spot over the summer.
Ask about schedules - are they self lead (ie - nap when the baby falls asleep) or do they follow a routine?
How do they encourage the kids to gain skills - finger foods, transition to sippy cups, crawling, walking? Will the adults help with that kind of thing?
What is their ratio of adults to children? 3:1, 4:1, 5:1 - obviously, lower the better
Do they have any additional accreditation beyond?Licensing? ?We picked our place b/c they have a "center of excelence" or something accreditation
Will they do cloth diapers? (if you want that)
What are their policies around kids being sick? ?Our place requires a kid stay home 24 hours AFTER their fever breaks - not that we ALWAYS follow that policy if it means another day of calling into work sick...
What is the parental involvement? Do any parents volunteer their time or get involved with an advisory board?
How do they handle injuries - the place we use has a written incident form we sign if he hits is head hard, or if the room has a biter
?
Everyone has given you great advice. I would only add that while you can ask a million questions, don't forget to trust your gut. If something doesn't feel right, leave.
There was a daycare that I didn't like- I couldn't explain it- I just got a bad vibe. Later on I asked other people who put their kids in daycare what they thought of the place and every single person hated the place. 2 actually had their kids there and pulled them out. Turned out there was a lot more to the place (not good) that I later learned. So I learned that even if I can't explain it, to trust my gut.
Mom's intuition is a good thing so look around when you're there and just watch and absorb everything you see.
IUI- BFN IVF #1 -BFP! Allie is our 2nd IVF baby. Born at 36 1/2 weeks after pre-e again
You have already gotten some great feedback. Other things to ask would be the safety training of the staff (CPR, first aid). I also asked about the education of the staff too (DS' daycare requires at least an associates degree). The director will tell you about the teachers in the room, but also ask about who floats in their! Some daycares use college or highschool students to help cover breaks or fill in at the end of the day. How do they evacuate the infant room in case of fire? (This happened a few months ago at daycare!! There was smoke coming into one of the classrooms!)
Other things would be thier sick policy, what exactly is sick. Some daycares will let you bring in a baby with a cold and others won't. You may not thing this is a big deal now, but juat wait. If you have to call off work everytime your baby has a snotty nose, you will be home a lot.
Asking about the menu is very important! I knew that DS would only be in this daycare until about 10 months of age, so I didn't stress about this. This daycare serves crap! Who puts poptart on the menu in an infant room? Ask if outside food is allowed in the toddler room (in case you don't like their menu) because some daycares don't allow it.
Ask about the bitting policy in the toddler room! Also know how they do outside time. Make sure you are comfortable with where the kids go.
DD -- 5YO
DS -- 3YO
staff turnover and ratios were big to me. I also liked the places that had a mix of ages in the providers - lots of slow lovey-dovey grandmotherly types, but also more active younger women that really wanted to play w/ the babies/kids.
Really, really trust your gut too and remember that this is a place taht your child is going to be a very large portion of the day. You want someplace where there is alot of love going on and the teachers seem to genuinely love the kids and want to hang out with them. I liked seeing places where the littliest babies were getting alot of holding and talking and singing from the caregivers.
Trust your senses. Pay attention to what you smell, see, hear, etc. If the other kids look at you like "please pick me up and take me home" and it smells like dirty diapers and all you hear are kid noises beyond the volume you would expect, don't go there. I was super picky about the day care I took DS to and so glad I was! The kids should have bright eyes, be interacting with someone, be fairly clean, and noises should be from fun and guided activities- not reckless, unsupervised free-for-all.
Ask the caregiver what he/she likes most and least, what they do with the babies all day, what they do with constant criers, what they'll call you for and what they consider normal (w/ regards to snotty noses, coughs, etc). I found that daycares in churches or non-chain businesses were best- even if I didn't go to that church. Heck, if you can find one with a mommy-cam, that's the best!!