Research shows that a high-quality daycare experience can do more than keep your child safe while you’re busy. It can also contribute to significant milestones in childhood development and early education.
That’s why there are a number of daycare providers that center on health, safety, socialization, and education. You can find more information at thelearningexperience.com
Choosing a daycare provider often starts with a tour and a Q&A. What kinds of questions should you ask before selecting the right daycare provider for you and your child?
Read on for seven important questions you should ask at your daycare tour to decide if a daycare is the right fit for your family.
1. What Kinds of Daily Activities Do You Provide?
As we mentioned earlier, the highest quality daycare providers are committed to education. However, not all daycare providers are focused on developing age-appropriate skills and knowledge.
Asking about daily activities can give you a sense of what a daycare provider prioritizes. Do infants get music time and other mentally stimulating activities? Are kindergartners developing their early reading and writing skills?
2. What Is Your Child to Caregiver Ratio?
One thing you’ll quickly find on your search for a daycare provider? Daycare centers are in high demand. As a result, some daycare centers end up taking on a large number of children without hiring more caregivers.
Keeping each center at an optimal child to caregiver ratio is key. This ratio may vary based on location, and daycare providers should be open to answering all questions about class sizes during your daycare tour!
3. Are Children Divided Into Age Groups?
As your child goes from the infant months to the toddler years and beyond, different activities become appropriate and beneficial. That’s why the best daycare providers will divide children into age groups. This allows caregivers to not only understand the needs of the children more deeply but also ensure that they’re getting the most out of daycare.
Take a look at the daycare’s list of programs to learn more about how they divide up students based on age.
4. Will I Get Updates About My Child?
Ultimately, you want to leave your child in trustworthy hands. At any given time, you should feel assured that caregivers at your daycare center are doing what’s best for your child. To work in daycare, a future caregiver should be qualified for looking after children. Children’s safety comes first, so staff needs to know how to respond in various situations, including medical emergencies. Having a certification in CPR Toronto and First Aid is one of the requirements for a career in caregiving. Nowadays, online courses such as the ones at AdvancedMedicalCertification.com are a convenient way to get these skills without disturbing your daily obligations.
That being said, it is completely reasonable to want to receive regular updates about your child. Find out what kind of app, if any, the daycare is using to let parents know throughout the day what their child is doing. Will they post updates regarding things like snacks and meals your child eats and how well they slept during naptime?
Each center should take their role in your child’s life seriously by recognizing that they are part of your childcare team. By providing you with detailed updates, you and the daycare can work together to make sure your child is eating well, getting rest, and learning every day.
5. Do the Children Get Outside Playtime?
Outside playtime is a crucial part of your child’s development. Research has found that outside playtime improves executive function, encourages socialization, and allows children to get plenty of exercise. It’s important to ask your potential daycare provider if outside playtime is an integrated part of daily activities.
Placing a high value on outside playtime is more than reasonable. Be sure to find out if the facilities are equipped with age-appropriate playgrounds that the children can enjoy when the weather permits. It would also be good to know if they schedule activities like relay races, water play, and more to get your child moving and playing well with other children their age.
6. How Do You Keep the Children Engaged With Learning?
Committing to education doesn’t just entail teaching lessons throughout the day. It requires a working understanding of how to connect with kids of different ages and how to keep them engaged. We encourage you to ask about learning styles and modes of engagement your potential daycare provider utilizes.
If a daycare center has developed a cast of characters to incorporate into education and playtime, that’s quite a bonus since children enjoy interacting with and learning from these characters because they feel connected to them. The use of characters surely helps your child stay focused and happy about learning.
7. Is Visitation Permitted During Daycare Hours?
All children develop different attachment styles and possess different needs. As a parent, you know better than anyone what your child needs to feel safe and secure each and every day. If visitation is an important part of your child’s sense of well-being, you will want to inquire about the formal policy regarding visitation.
Nursing mothers, in particular, should have access to their infants at any time. A daycare provider should never want to disrupt or alter the feeding schedule you’ve developed with your baby. That’s why there are daycares that provide private, sanitary rooms for nursing mothers to use during their visit to the center.
Conclusion
We know how seriously you, as a parent, take the process of choosing a daycare provider. The goal of any daycare provider should be to provide the most enriching experience possible for infants, toddlers, and kindergartners.
Therefore, as you want what’s best for your kid, you need to find a daycare that is dedicated to the children and who will show you everything that they can do to benefit the lives of kids. Also, they will not restrain from answering your questions, as they understand that you are a parent and that you want to do your child good.
