What separates a good day care from a bad one? Aside from blatant code violations and a bright and cheerful environment, what can a parents look for in a new center?
As a day care professional, I regularly see prospective parents come to tour our center. Some of these parents come with very specific ideas of what constitutes a good day care, and a few have even come with a typed list of questions for our director to answer. Sadly, this is the exception rather than the rule. Most parents spend less time choosing the people who will care for their child(ren) than they do choosing a car. This might be dismissed as negligence, but I believe that it is really due to the fact that many parents simply don't know what they can look for that separates a good center from a bad day care.
There are several things that most parents know to look for-a bright and clean environment, pleasant teachers, and no apparent fire code violations-but what about the less obvious things. These are things that parents, grandparents, and other guardians can look for, and teachers can be aware of in providing a quality day care center.
~Footprints: When state officials have spoken to me, one thing that they have mentioned that they look for in the winter are lots of footprints out on the playground as evidence that the center takes the children outside regularly. It is a time consuming task to dress children in their snow clothes, and some centers simply avoid this many winter days with the excuse of it being "too cold." In the summer, this can be applied simply by looking for patches of grass that should be worn down near the door, at the end of the slides, under the swings and various other places. During the heat of the summer, some may be tempted to keep kids indoors and avoid the summer heat, but physical activity is important the year-round.
~Messiness: At first glance, this doesn't seem to be a desirable trait in a day care, and I am not speaking of heaps of garbage or extreme disorder-this is just as bad as obsessive neatness. The thing to remember here is that when child care providers are spending time cleaning, they are spending time away from interacting with children. Also, children need to be free to mess up the art table or to have their blanky hanging out of their cubby without fear of being chastised. Look for child-initiated art projects on the drying rack, library books slightly out of order on the shelves, soap or paint residue around the sink in the bathroom. Any sign of moldy food, broken and jagged toys, or materials blocking entrances and exits are NOT allowable however.
(Part 2 of this article will be posted in the near future.)
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