Interviewing Daycares..., What do I ask?

To all...

Well I have been on maternity leave since the birth of my son in late October...in February I will be returning to work. I do miss my work as I teach severly disabled children and I look forward to seeing them again...but my anxiety increases with each passing day about the type of daycare my son will be recieving. I wish I could stay at home with him but this just isn't an option.

SO...my husband and I are going to start interviewing Daycares. Can anyone give me suggestions as to what kinds of questions I need to ask of them? I'm thinking that I need to ask what kind of training their teachers recieve, what is the student/teacher ratio, what kind of schedule/routine they plan for their infants...

I would really love anyone elses suggestions..


Thanks..
Marcella

First let me ask what type of daycare you are looking for. You can opt for a larger group center, or a home center. I use to manage both, so the questions you would ask and the expectations may be a little different. Personally, and this is just me, but I would prefer at this age a smaller in-home setting that is licensed/certified.

Just a few important things off the top of my head...for in-home...ask for a couple references. I always gave my prospective clients a few numbers of current clients that they could call for referrals. For group...ask about the qualifications of the staff. Ask to sit in the room your child would be in for a couple hours. Make small talk with the staff and observe their day to day function. You will be able to tell a lot just from observing for awhile.

Another reason I like in-home for this age is that there is not a threat of turnover. Turnover in general group care can be very high. Wheras in-home it's just the provider and "possibly" an assistant if it's big enough. But, the provider is always there, the same person your child is with every day, day in and out. It promotes consistancy and a faster/stronger bond between the the provider and the child.

If you look at group care ask about their turnover. A generally reputable center will have little turnover.

The first thing I would do is ask to take a look and read their parent handbook. IMO, and this is just my opinion, a parent handbook should be large. Not 100 plus pages, but if a center has a good parent handbook you should be able to answer most of your questions yourself just by reading it. Mine was 30 pages, with a policy for everything imaginable. Regardless if it's group or in-home, they should have a parent handbook of policies and expectations.

Ask about a food program. Food programs are nice, wheras they will provide the food and meals, aside from breastmilk. The meals are monitored so you know, like when your child is older, they are getting well-rounded nutritious meals and snacks.

Ask about schedules. Infants should be able to conform to their own schedule until they are a little older and can be trained to be put on more of a center-wide schedule. Once they get old enough they usually start to transiton them to a schedule that all children eventually follow while at care.

Ask about curriculum. Even though your baby is small, when he/she gets older you will want him/her to be a part of a learning environment, but a babysitting service.

Ask about general hours of operation, holidays closed (will you have to pay for holidays or not), late fees. Most centers operate on tuition based on enrollment NOT attendance. Meaning, you sign a tuition contract stating the times and days each consistant week your child will be there and you have to abide by it (you can usually change it with notice if need be). If your child is sick one day, you pay regardless. This is common because of the frequent amount of times children are gone/ill/on vacation, a center or provider would not be able to manage a decent business any other way. Most centers have you pay for holidays as well, but there are some who do not charge for holidays...that is in-home and group.

Also, you may want to ask about their teaching philosophy. That one may stump some, but you might be surprised what kind of answers you may get. One of my philosophy's is...in daycare it should be about a partnership between parent and teacher/provider. The parents and teacher/provider work together to promote a child's physical, mental, social, spritual, and cognitive growth. I find this to be very imporant. Teacher's and parents should work as a team, not a seperate playing field.

I'll try to think of more. If you have any questions, let me know! Good luck!!

This post has been edited by Boo&BugsMom on Dec 31 2007, 12:11 PM

Oh, and just an FYI, the ratios and training will differ from state to state or country. Some are more strict, others are more leniant. You can call your local Health and Human Services department to find that out. The ratios and training will also differ depending on what kind of care you seek after...home or group.

Thank you this is very helpful. Do you mind if I ask you for your opinion as I interview places?

Thanks...
Marcella

I don't mind a bit! I'm glad I can help.

Okay Boos and Bugs Mom...

I would love your opinion on something. My husband and I *thought* we found a really good daycare...but now I'm questioning this.

Today I decided to pop into the daycare where my son will be going in a couple of weeks. I used the excuse that I had not met all the teachers in the classroom...but I just kinda wanted to see what was going on. Well this is what I encountered.

There was a teacher and an assistant there with 5 infants...thats all they have and they both said this was a good number for them...they feel very comfortable with it. Well...there were 5 other toddlers in the room that are not part of the class. These toddlers teacher has a bus route every day and is gone for an hour...so they must come to the infants room for this hour, every day. The toddlers were all sitting at a table where they feed them...only they were not being fed (it was 2:30pm)...nothing in front of them at all. It looked like they were just being contained there...I'm sure. I asked the teacher if she feels overwhelmed by having to care for these other toddlers as well as the infants....she was hesitant but said "sometimes".

I just don't think I like the fact that they do this. Is this something that is commonplace in daycares....where classes get blended so a teacher can do a bus route? What do you think about this??

Marcella

First, a couple questions.

How long were you there for? I ask this because they could have been waiting for their snack if they have a lunch person bring it to them. Did the kids have anything to do while they waited? I guess I'd like to know how long they were sitting there.

What is the licensed ratio for children and teachers for that age group? Usually infants and toddlers are the same. Here it is 4 per each teacher. Be glad they have 2 for 5 because here 1 teacher can have 4 infants to herself. Some states allow 6 infants for 1 teacher.

Is this the bus route for the center this teacher drives for? Or is this personal, or her lunch break? I ask because sometimes it can be commonplace during the time of day since this is when teachers take their lunch breaks which is usually during naptimes. If the kids are sleeping, normally ratios have to be met "within the center", not each room. Sounds like it was after naptime though. If that were the case, and they were NOT within ratio then the director should be in there with the toddlers.

Were there still kids napping in the center, or more importantly in the toddler room still? Sometimes kids will be bumped up for a bit if the teachers are afraid to wake up the sleeping ones then recombine them after all the kids are awake or when nap time is over.

I guess, I would have to know the ratios first. If they are within ratio, then yes, it could be a common occurance depending on the situation. I would ask the director if this is a temporary thing or if this is common. Tell her the teachers looked stressed. Perhaps they are experiencing turnover with bus drivers? Unfortunately, good help can be hard to find in daycare and turnover is quite large, so class mixing itself, yes can be common depending on the situation. I always tried to not do it, but sometimes it was the only way to deal with the situation if we were short staffed. Talking to the director about the situation would be what I would do because often in situations like this it can be easily looked at differently than what it really is. I would also ask what the STATE MANDATED ratios are....not what "they" feel is best. They may feel a ratio is ok, but the state mandated ratio has to be kept at all times. Keep me posted! As long as the center was within ratio, the teachers were able to handle it, and the kids needs were all being met then it wouldn't bother me. If that was not the case though, then I'd be irritated...however, I have to keep reminding myself of the struggles center's went through, so I'm kind of in the middle. Did it seem chaotic, or do you think they were handling it ok?

This post has been edited by Boo&BugsMom on Jan 14 2008, 05:06 PM

Okay.

Well I was only in there for a few minutes. Its *possible* someone was bringing them their snack...but I doubt it. They were just sitting there...they did not look distressed or upset they were just sitting there. The situation did not seem chaotic...it was orderly...but the teacher did say...sometimes...it is a lot to handle. So I don't know how to take this.

The ratio for this state is 4 infants per teacher or 10 per 2 teachers. The teacher I spoke to had just come on duty at 2:30....the morning teacher left at 2:15...SO the assistant had been there for at least 15 minutes with all the infants and toddlers. I know 15 minutes does not sound like a lot...but being that I know what its like to care for very young children (developmentally)..15 minutes by yourself with 10 young kiddos can seem like an eternity. And in this 15 minutes they are in violation of a policy it sounds like. And I know this IS the schedules of the teachers as was repeated to me by a couple of different employees.

I think you're right. I probably do need to talk to the director about this. If you have any other thoughts on this...I would love to hear them.

Thank you...

Being you were only there a few minutes it is hard to judge the situation. They may have just been sitting there, but before you walked in they may have sang a few songs while they were waiting, or they may have gotten snack right after you left. About 2:30 sounds right for snack time. Generally it is after naptime, so they were probably getting ready to serve it. I can understand it being a stressful situation on any teacher, but sometimes a center has to do what they have to do in order to get through the day, and sometimes that means combining the classes. This is usually most typical at the end of the day and afternoon, as kids start to leave and staff go home...or during naptimes for teachers to get in there break time. To be honest, even if they only had the 5 babies, she probably would have answered "sometimes". I think anyone would get stressed sometimes by watching all those babies or children all day. It comes with the territory.

About the bussing situation though, it really IS in the best interest of the whole center to have those kids in their OWN rooms whenever possible and find someone to either stay in that room while the teacher is gone, or find someone else to bus. I would talk to the director still and ask her if this is a permanent or temporary situation. I can't see how that can be a good permanant solution. If that were me, I would be the one in that toddler room when I could to make sure things were orderly. JMO though. All director's are different, and they aren't technically breaking a policy (aside from that 15 minutes), BUT IMO, that really isn't a good permanant solution.

As far as the 15 minutes...15 minutes is 15 minutes. If you would have been a licensor, you would have written them up for being under staffed and over ratio. It's those times where it is the director's responsibility to either have someone to be in there for those 15 minutes, or herself. Many times I had to do that, it comes with the job! Unfortunately like I said, it is hard to find good help sometimes and this is common every once in awhile....BUT....I would really like to know where the director is during these times. Director's have a lot to do...BUT, the well-being of the classrooms should be her first concern. If she is already in a classroom, fine...but if she is just doing paperwork in her office or something every day while these things occur, she should be plugging her butt in a classroom, IMO. Ask her about that!!!

Thank you...I am going to ask the director. I've been really thinking about this and really I know I do need to hear her explanation. I may let you know what she says.

Again...you have been very helpful...