Questions to ask at infant day care center?
- Thread starter JulieA
- Start date
In no particular order!
1. What is the teacher baby ratio? (most states have a required 1:4)
2. How long have the teachers been with the daycare? (Daycares are notorious for hiring young people who are in school part time. This often results in frequent staff turnover when class schedules change, people graduate, etc.)
3. Are the infant teachers in the room all day or does the staff rotate?
4. Do the rooms have planned curricula you can view? (required by law in most states)
5. What form of communication do they use to tell you about your child's day? (Ours has printed forms on which they write exactly what B ate/drank/played with, etc.)
6. In the infant room is feeding/sleeping on demand or on the center's schedule?
7. Do they adhere to AAP guidelines like back to sleep, no bottle in crib, routine vaccines, etc?
8. Are infants allowed to bring their own favorite toy for nap time?
9. Do they supply linens or do you?
10. If you nurse/plan to send milk, what are their rules regarding labeling/storage, etc?
11. When older, do they supply food? Is it included in tuition?
12. Do they take babies outside on nice days? (Sounds silly, but a lot of daycares consider it too much work.)
13. What is their policy re: picking up an ill child? (A local daycare requires a parent to be there within a half hour or they will call down your entire emergency contact list to find someone to get your child. We chose a daycare right near out home which means I'm 45 minutes away and DH is 15. That policy could have bitten us in the bum)
14. What form of payment do they accept? (Our daycare is cash/check, but my nephews attend a daycare where credit cards are taken. They opened a card with airline points so they can offset the cost to visit grandparents.)
15. How much notice must you give if you plan to remove your child form the center?
16. What holidays is the center closed? Is tuition prorated that week? (It's almost never prorated but it's worth asking!)
17. Do they operate on a school closing schedule or their own schedule? How will you be notified if the center is closed? Do you pay if they chose to close the daycare?
18. How secure is the school? (Our front doors are always locked from the inside and visitors must ring a bell to be admitted.)
I'll stop now because I've probably made your head spin enough!
1. What is the teacher baby ratio? (most states have a required 1:4)
2. How long have the teachers been with the daycare? (Daycares are notorious for hiring young people who are in school part time. This often results in frequent staff turnover when class schedules change, people graduate, etc.)
3. Are the infant teachers in the room all day or does the staff rotate?
4. Do the rooms have planned curricula you can view? (required by law in most states)
5. What form of communication do they use to tell you about your child's day? (Ours has printed forms on which they write exactly what B ate/drank/played with, etc.)
6. In the infant room is feeding/sleeping on demand or on the center's schedule?
7. Do they adhere to AAP guidelines like back to sleep, no bottle in crib, routine vaccines, etc?
8. Are infants allowed to bring their own favorite toy for nap time?
9. Do they supply linens or do you?
10. If you nurse/plan to send milk, what are their rules regarding labeling/storage, etc?
11. When older, do they supply food? Is it included in tuition?
12. Do they take babies outside on nice days? (Sounds silly, but a lot of daycares consider it too much work.)
13. What is their policy re: picking up an ill child? (A local daycare requires a parent to be there within a half hour or they will call down your entire emergency contact list to find someone to get your child. We chose a daycare right near out home which means I'm 45 minutes away and DH is 15. That policy could have bitten us in the bum)
14. What form of payment do they accept? (Our daycare is cash/check, but my nephews attend a daycare where credit cards are taken. They opened a card with airline points so they can offset the cost to visit grandparents.)
15. How much notice must you give if you plan to remove your child form the center?
16. What holidays is the center closed? Is tuition prorated that week? (It's almost never prorated but it's worth asking!)
17. Do they operate on a school closing schedule or their own schedule? How will you be notified if the center is closed? Do you pay if they chose to close the daycare?
18. How secure is the school? (Our front doors are always locked from the inside and visitors must ring a bell to be admitted.)
I'll stop now because I've probably made your head spin enough!
stephbolt
Brilliant_Rock
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2008
- Messages
- 1,072
Munchkin covered most of what was on our list, but here are a few others
What are the hours and are there any restrictions on what time you can drop off/pick up?
What is the policy if we are late picking up?
What kind of notice do we get as to changes in rates?
Are parents welcome to stop in during the day or is there a webcam?
How is coverage handled when staff members are out sick or on vacation?
What is your policy for sick children (i.e. what symptoms are children not allowed to attend if they have)?
How do you keep children's belongings (change of clothes, etc) separate?
Who provides diapers/wipes?
Additionally, since we were looking at a daycare we hope to stay at long-term, we wanted to know how they handled discipline and toilet training down the road.
Good luck!
What are the hours and are there any restrictions on what time you can drop off/pick up?
What is the policy if we are late picking up?
What kind of notice do we get as to changes in rates?
Are parents welcome to stop in during the day or is there a webcam?
How is coverage handled when staff members are out sick or on vacation?
What is your policy for sick children (i.e. what symptoms are children not allowed to attend if they have)?
How do you keep children's belongings (change of clothes, etc) separate?
Who provides diapers/wipes?
Additionally, since we were looking at a daycare we hope to stay at long-term, we wanted to know how they handled discipline and toilet training down the road.
Good luck!
amc80
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2010
- Messages
- 5,765
Awesome list! Definitely going to be referring to this one. My company has an (almost) on site day care- it's at the edge of the parking lot (my company is really big, all of the buildings on this campus are about 1million square feet). So a quick 5 minute walk. And the fees are partially subsidized by my company, depending on your income level. I was really hoping to be able to use this day care, but just found out today that they don't do part-time/part-week care. We would only need day care Tues-Thurs. Total bummer!
MerryMary
Rough_Rock
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2011
- Messages
- 69
lliang_chi
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2008
- Messages
- 3,740
Logistics
-What is the price? Per week or per month?
- Do you allow you a *vacation week*? ...a week where you don't pay because you're on vacation.
-What are the drop off/pick up hours?
- Any drop off or pick up restrictions - i.e. during naptime.
- Are extended hours available and if so, what is the process/price to use them?
- Late fees if you're not able to get him on time for some reason.
- What are your sick policies?
- What holidays do you close?
- What are your security measures?
- Do you have a mommy-cam? some daycares have cameras in the room that you can watch online. i'm not so sure i would want to watch but some people seem to like it.
- Any policy on unannounced drop ins?
- What are your policies for bringing items from home? Might be discouraged it since the kids may fight over outside *toys*.
- What inclement weather closing policy they follow- school system, govt, etc?
- What Vaccination requirements do you have for staff and students?
Feeding/pooping
-Are meals included, if so which ones? What about food allergies or dietary restrictions?
-Can you store frozen breast milk?
-What is your policy of bringing in baby food?
-How do you handle allergies?
-Do you accept cloth diapers?
-How do you handle supplies like diapers, wipes, formula, etc?
-How do you handle potty-training?
Activities/curriculum
-What activities are included in the price?
-What is the daily schedule?
-Do you go outside, if so, where, for how long, and in what weather?
-How do you handle discipline?
Staff
-What childcare certifications do the care givers have, how long have they been working there, are they fluent in English, and are they certified in first aid and CPR?
- What is your staff turnover? How long have the staff been in the infant room/older infant room?
-What is the price? Per week or per month?
- Do you allow you a *vacation week*? ...a week where you don't pay because you're on vacation.
-What are the drop off/pick up hours?
- Any drop off or pick up restrictions - i.e. during naptime.
- Are extended hours available and if so, what is the process/price to use them?
- Late fees if you're not able to get him on time for some reason.
- What are your sick policies?
- What holidays do you close?
- What are your security measures?
- Do you have a mommy-cam? some daycares have cameras in the room that you can watch online. i'm not so sure i would want to watch but some people seem to like it.
- Any policy on unannounced drop ins?
- What are your policies for bringing items from home? Might be discouraged it since the kids may fight over outside *toys*.
- What inclement weather closing policy they follow- school system, govt, etc?
- What Vaccination requirements do you have for staff and students?
Feeding/pooping
-Are meals included, if so which ones? What about food allergies or dietary restrictions?
-Can you store frozen breast milk?
-What is your policy of bringing in baby food?
-How do you handle allergies?
-Do you accept cloth diapers?
-How do you handle supplies like diapers, wipes, formula, etc?
-How do you handle potty-training?
Activities/curriculum
-What activities are included in the price?
-What is the daily schedule?
-Do you go outside, if so, where, for how long, and in what weather?
-How do you handle discipline?
Staff
-What childcare certifications do the care givers have, how long have they been working there, are they fluent in English, and are they certified in first aid and CPR?
- What is your staff turnover? How long have the staff been in the infant room/older infant room?
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