How to choose the Right Day Care Center for Your Child

Choosing the right day care for your child can be a difficult and scary task. As a parent, it is normal for you to get nervous when thinking that the protection of your child would be handed to a total stranger. However, to avoid feeling guilty of bringing your child in a day care center not fit for your child, it is highly important to plan ahead and do a research about the best child care center for your child. Here are some tips on how to decide which day care center deserves to entrust the care for your child.

Write down your expectations. When choosing the right daycare center for your child, you first need to know what you want to see in a day care center, and then make a list of all your expectations. In this way you can simply cross out the negative and positive qualities of the daycare center you will visit while looking for the right day care center for your child. You may consider the following:

Staff
• Do you want a day care facility that only hires staff that possesses enough experience and training in working with children?
• Do you want child care providers who have first aid classes?
• Does the staff practice good hygiene?

Facility and Safety
• Do you want a facility that obliges the staff to get immunizations against diseases?
• Does the day care center have clean work areas, adequate equipments and learning materials, and attractive and cozy room that your child would surely love?

Program
• Do you want a day care facility that has an organized schedule of educational program, or is it alright with you if your child just plays with other children and remains occupied?

General
• Do you want a facility that is long-standing in the business?
• Do you want a facility that is a part of a national group of day care or an exclusive one?

Ask your family and friends. One of the easiest ways to discover a day care facility that maybe right for you and your child is through word of mouth. Ask your family, friends, and coworkers about the best day care facility they know. If you have friends who have their children in day care centers, they can be a good source of information. However, be reminded that it is not enough to base your choice from a recommendation of a friend or someone you know. You still need to get a background check done before you can decide correctly. Check if the recommended day care center has license, and if it is a commercial facility, have a background check on the teachers that will be taking care of your child.

Check out the day care facility. To make you more assured that you have the right choice, spend time to visit the day care facility and check if the facility meets your expectation, and then consider the following: the cleanliness of the facility, safety and security, the child-teacher ratio, the children in the facility (are they healthy and happy?), and the kind of equipment and toys for the children of different ages.

See: How to start a childcare service