When you visit a daycare you have many questions to inquire. There are many questions to ask daycare and understand how they work. You will also wish to know what kind of staff they have and how the entire facility is being maintained.
These lists of questions would help you to get answers to almost everything you wish to know. How the daycare work and handle the precautionary measure to ensure the safety and security of the children. The staff should be friendly and loving and capable enough to look after the children.
So, know the questions and the possible answers you may get from the day care centers. These answers would also increase your information about what can you expect and the facilities the daycare should have.
21 Questions to Ask Daycare
Academic And Social-emotional Learning Questions
1. How do you support the mental health and social emotional development of the children?
All the parents keeping or planning to keep their child in daycare should inquire about the practices of the centre. How the centre support mental health and the social and emotional development. This is important as it helps in the early development of the skills and the academic success, empathy, confidence in life.
2. How do you prioritize inclusion?
Research Is the best method through which inclusion can be prioritized. Parents nowadays are looking for the best inclusion in daycare. In the inclusion, the children can participate in all the activities of their age. This has to be done irrespective of the background or ability they have.
3. What are the factors which are considered while developing the curriculum?
The curriculum should be created to meet up with the different age of the child during their development. This helps in their physical, emotional, and social growth. The Parents also look for curriculum based on which their child would learn better.
Safety Questions
1. What are the protocols you follow while cleaning?
Daycare centers should be chosen which has strict cleaning protocols. There should be daily cleaning of the entire center and the classroom on a regular basis based on a daily cleaning checklist. The toys for babies and toddlers should be clean immediately when the children put them in their mouth.
2. Is there any third-party agency accreditation for your program?
Some daycare centers are accredited by third-party agencies like National Association for the Education of Young Children NAEYC. This ensures they follow the highest standards of education health and safety for the young and children are maintained.
3. What is the ratio between the staff and the students?
The staff to student ratio varies from each state. In some states, there is a rule that every four infants should have one staff. This creates a much safer environment for the babies. The daycare should also meet the criteria of the state as well. When there are older children the ratio would change to one staff or every 12 children. This ratio is fine as they are more independent and not need more individual attention as the younger ones.
4. Is the center up to date on any necessary licensing?
When you are looking for a daycare center, always check whether they have the necessary licensing. The requirements vary for each state. And there are no hard and fast rules that the child care centers would require a license. The state-licensed daycare providers need an annual licensing inspection. This is done for the public record.
5. What are the qualifications of your staff?
All the staff at the daycare centers should be trained in child development, early childhood education, and other related fields. They have to be trained in CPR and have their background check done. The caregivers should love the children they are looking after.
6. What are your emergency plans?
Any daycare center should have a detailed emergency plan ready. The regular practices and drills should be done to maintain the safety measures. There should be immediate responses to a variety of emergencies like the fire drill, tornado drill, and the earthquake drill as well.
7. What is the policy for the sick day?
The parents keeping their child in daycare wishes to ensure all the policies for the safety and the health of the children are being followed. Among them comes the sick day policy. There should be clear guidelines when a child must stay at home due to illness and the plan for a range of illness. The centers should have all the policies written with them and they must follow it strictly by the staff and the family members. The daycare centers should have standard guidelines where the child’s parents should be notified to pick up their child when they experience symptoms of any infectious disease like fever, diarrhea, and vomiting.
8. What is the policy for vaccination?
The daycare centers should inform their staff about the vaccination policy. They should have a written plan on place when the staff members suffer from infectious diseases and when should they return to work. The decision of the daycare should be conveyed to the parents as well.
9. Do you have a medical professional who weighs in on policies?
It is not mandatory for the daycare center to have a medical professional on call. But if they have the provision then it is a bonus.
10. What are the security practices?
The security of the daycare should start from the moment you enter it. The daycare center should have clear written rules on the safety of the children, parent, and visitors. They should abide by those rules as well.
11. What are the safety practices?
The daycare center should ensure all the equipments and the learning materials are working properly. The cribs should be placed away from the blinds and windows. The high chair straps should be secured and checked when the babies are there. The babies should not be allowed to sleep on their stomach.
12. What do you do when anyone gets injured?
The parents should be informed beforehand what measures the daycare takes when their child is injured. Do they have any medical professional to contact or how they provide first aid and so on? The daycare should also inform the parents whether they provide parents with a written report about the incident or not.
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Food And Nutrition Questions
1. Do you provide meals and snacks, and if so how do you decide the types of food to offer?
When the daycare is providing food a well-balanced meal plan should be incorporated when children are not on breast milk or formula. The parents should have a look at the menu of the daycare and check the meals. The meals should meet the dietary needs of the child as well. The daycare centers should be prepared to handle food allergies and intolerances to certain foods as well.
2. How do you handle feeding for babies?
The parents should ask how the babies handle and stores breast milk and formula milk. Even the solid foods for older children and how it is handled should also be informed to the parents.
Schedule Questions
1. What are the daily activities we can expect?
The daycare center should include daily activities for the children to encourage them to explore things. They should inculcate the habit of reading. Parents should also bring them toys and books which are child-size and appropriate for their age.
For babies activates like tummy time and other developmental milestones should be included. The older children should engage in more out door activities on a daily basis. For the pre-school children the sensory activities are recommended. Activities with fine motor skills should also be incorporated.
2. What is the policy for visitation?
After Covid the number of visitors in a daycare center is limited. But the parents are allowed to visit their children anytime during the day and check on them.
3. As the status of my workplace and the child care needs shift, what are the options that would be available to me now?
Families which are working ask for options available like part-time and full-time programs. The daycares should be flexible enough to accommodate the children accordingly.
4. What is the policy or communication?
Communication in a daycare is very important. The parents should be updated about the activities of the child for the entire day. Parents with infants wants to go deeper and want to know how many diapers were used. The number of times they ate and slept. Such information should be communicated to the parents on a daily basis.
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Conclusion
Although it is hard to find a perfect daycare for your children but these questions to ask daycare would help you a lot. They will help to understand and assess how the daycare works. The daycare should be another home for the babies. They should not feel they are away from their parents. So, use these questions when you are looking for a perfect one for your child.