How To Choose A Daycare Center

We’ve had a lot of questions about what to look for in a child care center. Whether you’re looking for a commercial center, or a home center, there’s some things in common that you want to be looking for. Finding the perfect center can be a life save, and may be a destination of yours for years to come so choosing the right one is important.

First and foremost: licensing, there are rules and regulations because daycare centers are held to certain standards. These certifications allow you to really check up on them before you decide to enroll your child. Be sure to continue to check on your center periodically and get feedback on where the school stands with their licensing and their quality insurance programs.

It should come as no surprise that quality centers enroll quickly. Make sure you have your checklist in hand when you scout out places to know which questions to ask and to jot down notes for your to remember later during decision making time. An important factor to consider is the size of the center. Is this something that you’re looking for? A lot of the big, commercial centers are up to 120 children. An in-home center may be up to 15 children. It is important to think about what your goals are: what the size of the center is, what their capacity is, how much space they have available, and what does that mean classroom by classroom? Or in a home center, age group by age group. Is your child gonna be 1 of 20 with 2 teachers? Is he or she going to be 1 of 8 with 1 teacher? These are things to compare from school to school or from home center to home center. Lots to think about.

Also, it is important to take teachers into consideration. What are the requirements, as far as hiring? What minimum requirements do they have? What does your center look for in a teacher, above and beyond what the state’s minimum is? So again, you’re going to find great differences here. Also, be sure to inquire about what the teachers do. Do they create their own lesson plans? Is that handed to them? Again, neither is a deal breaker. But just something for you to be aware of when you’re looking at a center and thinking about your child’s style and what you’re looking for as a good fit for your family.

The other thing to consider – really important – is staff turnover. If your child falls in love with a teacher and that teacher is really special with them and really helpful to them in making this transition, and then you walk in one day and they’re gone your child may have a difficult time acclimating to a new teacher. What happens if this sort of turnover occurs repeatedly? It is important to note that turnover is common in this industry and is something that all the schools fight with.

It is important to be educated and ask the right questions. Your readiness will really let the center know the level of seriousness that you have.

Another factor to consider is teacher conferences. Do they assess the kids throughout the year? Will you have an opportunity to learn more about your child other than when you’re picking them up? It is nice to be able to get the chance to really sit down with the teacher and hear more about what are they learning and their challenges.

Finally, you want think about quality assurance. Aside from the state, who else is checking in on these guys? Do they want to hear from parents? Do they send out postcards asking for your feedback? So, as you can see, there is a lot to think about when you’re looking at a center. But if you follow these points, it will really give you a good set of things to think about as you start your quest for the perfect center to meet your criteria.