Questions to ask daycare provider

AmberDerek · July 2011

How did you ladies know what questions to ask daycare providers? I know there are many obvious questions, but did you find a list of questons? Or did you just make up your own list of questions?

Sarahbear621 · July 2011

You can google daycare list and you will see tons of questions that people ask- My list is as follows:

1- How do you handle excessive crying? Or fussy babies?

2-Level of experiences teachers have?

3-Ratio of children/ babies to teacher? What happens when you go over?

4-Do the teachers rotate or will my child have the same person or team for the most part?

5-Do you follow a circulum even for the babies (my favorite daycare had a great circulum for babies that included art, music etc. It was awsome to get his ball or foot print artwork each week!)

6-Do you provide formula/ baby food/ finger food in cost of daycare?

7-When LO is hurt or scratches himself how am I notfied? How strict are you in doing this? I have had my LO get scratches to the point of bleeding on his face in daycare and they didn't write up a report so I have no idea how it happened...we left that daycare shortly after.

8-How do I find out about my LO's day? Do I get a progress report etc?

shanniebananie · July 2011

1) What's your policy on dropping by throughout the day?

2) What is your "Sick Child" policy and how strictly do you enforce it?

3) What is the reimbursement policy for days you're sick or closed for vacation and how much notice do you give before closing?

4) Do you encourage breast feeding and accept breast milk? What are your procedures for the safe handling of the breast milk.

5) What am I required to provide and how much notice can I expect when you need more of an item?

6) What is your daily schedule? Do you go outside frequently? What will my child be transported from point A to B?

smilelari · July 2011

What is the teacher to infant ratio?

What do you do for daily reporting? (most places have some sort of sheet that they fill out with when baby ate, was changed, slept, etc)

Center hours?

Do you have on site storage (for extra clothes, diapers, etc)?

What is the emergency plan for fire, tornadoes, etc?

Is there a set curriculum (it won't be much for infants but I like it when they have some sort of answer to this question)?

Who fills in for lunch breaks, vacations, etc?

How long have the teachers been there? What is the turnover rate for teachers?

What are the teacher's qualifications?

What is the pickup procedure (basically what sort of security policies they have in place)?

How often are toys cleaned and sanitized?

Is it ok to visit child during day (red flag if answer is no or they ask for notice)?

Will you do cloth diapering (this might not apply to you)?

Do they take the infants outside regularly?

Does each child have an assigned crib (or do they switch - more risk of germ spreading if they are in a different crib every day)?

What are sick policies?

What are vacation policies? What holidays are you closed for?

What are the age separations (for example our daycare has a young infant room, older infant room (for crawlers), young toddler room (walkers), 2-3, preschool, primary)

What age will you start working with toilet learning? Do the toddler rooms have bathrooms?

What are your rates and how often do they go up? What forms of payment do you accept?

How do you handle breastmilk? Is there a freezer to store extra in?

Food? Does the center provide food? Am I allowed to bring food from home? Can I see a menu?

Be sure to ask to see some of the rooms for the older kids.

klreese0213 · July 2011

in addition to everyone questions (i didn't read through everyone's so not sure if these were mentioned)

- Who provides wipes? (some places provide, some dont)

- Who provides baby food/cereal? (again, most don't provide, but some do)

- Toilet training policy?

- Pacifier policy?

- Do they provide daily progress notes? (these are very nice because they list all the feedings/changings/potty times when toilet training, etc)

smilelari · July 2011

I thought of a couple more:

-Daily schedule? Will they let naps be infant directed? Can feeding be infant directed? At what age are naps scheduled? What is the daily schedule for the older infants and toddlers?

AmberDerek · July 2011

Thank you all! These are great questions! We are thinking of using an in home daycare that we have known for years, but I still want to do an interview. I also plan on looking at a few other places to compare. It is still such a scary thought even though I know the family very well.

AllieCat16 · July 2011

thanks for asking this! and some very good information from those that replied

Want a personalized experience?

Questions to ask daycare provider

Re: Questions to ask daycare provider

Choose Another Board

Search Boards