Moms: Help me out with day care ?s

[texaswildflower]

I plan on substituting once the school year starts, so I need to start looking into day care now. This will be the first time I put R in day care. I will be going by a few centers next week.

What should I be looking for? What questions should I be asking? I appreciate any and all advice!


ETA: I need to go run some errands, I'll be back this afternoon. Thanks ladies!

[ilovelamp]

I don't have kids so I can't contribute much, but are you looking into daycare or something like a Montessori school where they are education based?

[kcd0531]

Are you looking for a place that does drop-ins or are you willing to put your kid in full-time? A lot of facilities won't do drop-ins and you'll have to pay a full-time rate and then you're more likely to be able to come and go.

How old is R? A lot of questions to ask are dependent on that.

What is their sick kid policy? What do they do in contingency situations?

[softspot]

R is 7 months old, KCD.

Will they rock him to sleep? Teacher to kid ratio? Medicine policy? Milk policy (will the throw out unfinished bottles or offer at next feeding? Are all teachers CPR certified?

[drunkpeggy]

CPR certifications for all the care takers. Kid to caretaker ratio. Qualifications of the caretakers. Sick kid policy. Food program or you provide food. If you cloth diaper that should be discussed. What type of activities do they do with the kids?

[kcd0531]

Jun 29, 2012 13:09:45 GMT -5 softspot said:

R is 7 months old, KCD.

Will they rock him to sleep? Teacher to kid ratio? Medicine policy? Milk policy (will the throw out unfinished bottles or offer at next feeding? Are all teachers CPR certified?

Thanks Soft.

Spinning off on the bottle feeding; how do they determine whether a kid is full or not? Does it agree with your views?

As Peggy said; do you CD? If yes, do they support that? Not all places will do CD.

What activities will they do with your LO? What condition is the play equipment in?

How is the sleeping area set-up?

Do YOU feel comfortable with a place the minute you walk in the door? Those first instincts mean a lot.

Teacher to child ratio; this should be firm regardless if you use a private home care provider or a facility.

What condition is the kitchen kept - you will want to see it for yourself.

All I can think of off the bat at the moment…