What to look for, when choosing a Day care centre!

Finding a Day care can be one of the most overwhelming tasks a parent can face, choosing to leave your little ones with a complete stranger and a bunch of unknown new faces would be enough to scare anyone!

I was privileged enough to work in the early childcare industry for Seven years, and throughout my time I was a part of that first transition into care for so many families. I understand how challenging it is for parents to leave their little ones and learnt to do everything in my power to ensure they knew I would Love their children just like they would, and create an environment that they would love to come and visit!

Now. in my time, I also learnt of a lot of let’s call it “sneaky” things day care centres would do that was not always in the best interest of the children, so I without scaring people off putting their child into day care at all, I wanted to enlighten parents and just share what to look for, and what to look out for when looking at centres.

So, let’s jump into it!

The first step in finding a good day care, is not just to take their word for it, or see the beautiful pictures online. but actually, call them up and book a tour. Centre directors should be more than happy to show you their service, and invite you in to have a look around, meet the educators and take a look into their planning, environments, meals, daily routines etc.

Don’t just book a tour for the centre closest to you, make sure you give yourself options, Book to Tour for 2-4 Centres.

Next step:

Now that you have your Tours booked in, do your online research and see what they have to offer, they should share some pictures of their environment, educators etc. this is good to give you a guide of what to compare when you go to have a look in person.

When arriving at the centre, you want someone that is more than happy to Meet and greet you, and should know your by name prior to your arrival! (this is Huge to me personally, because it means, they are not just looking at you as another enrolment but rather a potential member of their little community)

The centre director then will show you through the centre, and start telling you everything you need to know about the service, it can be overwhelming and often you can miss things, so here are a few good questions to ask:

Now what to look out for. Red Flags.

- Staff all congregated in one spot, talking – inadequate supervision.

- Staff member not moving around the yard, or engaging with children. You want Staff to be on your child’s level.

- Not enough play equipment or Toys – this can result in more children being hurt, because they are bored)

- Toys being kept on high shelves (usually this happens when staff are too lazy to clean up, everything should be on children’s level at all times of the day.

Once you have toured all your centres, and have a bit more of a general idea of what you liked and didn’t like about each you can make a more informed decision about where you would like to send your child. And don’t worry, if you missed something or forgot to ask. Just email the director and they should be able to help you. If they have a place for your child right away, they should invite you in for a little orientation, where mum, dad or both can also come in and stay with your child for a little bit to get them comfortable with the centre.

Okay so that’s about all! I always get questions about what in particular I look for in a centre, because I am so Picky, so I thought I would just note them down quickly for you.

1. Good vibe – You should be able to feel the love in a childcare centre.

2. Sustainability- will they allow Layla in cloth nappies.

- Do they teach children about sustainability, growing foods, recycling, composting etc.

3. Program – I like to see lots of outdoor activities, because Layla loves to be outside. a service having Chickens, Guinea pigs, birds, fish etc. is a huge bonus for me!

As well as Outings for children, do they take them out of the service to visit places nearby, such as a coffee shop or a nearby bushland for something different.

I also love to see cooking & gardening on the programming.

4. Community involvement – Again this sort of loops into the programming but I love to see when a childcare centre is actively involved in their community, they support local.

5. Adequate Resources- I love to see open ended toys and play equipment for children to explore and play with, not all just the same things we can have at home! with this I am also very observant of the outdoor environment, I Love to see lots that children play with when there are less toys out, such as Rocks to climb,Trees to read under, bike track to ride a bike or run around on, or even play structures or sandpits.

6. Child Involvement in everyday activities- Can children help to fold washing, Bring dishes to the kitchen, Clean up after meals, Pack away beds.. I love children to learn real life skills, and I try to get Layla to help me at home with these jobs so it is a huge bonus when a daycare also encourages this.

6. Yes, this is super picky of me but Food must be prepared on site by a chef!

I have worked in Three different centres with three different food services, first one being Lunch boxes, I can’t fault this as you decide what to pack. Second being Chef prepared on site: this was by far the best method, food was always amazing, Staff were welcomed to sit and enjoy their meal alongside the children and all the children ate so much! And third being meals provided from an external service- look I was pregnant most of my time working at this centre but the smell of reheating this food made me feel sick! there was never enough, and most children would refuse- and I really could not blame them. For this reason, I will not send Layla to a service that provides food off site without going in for a visit at lunch time, to see what it is really like.

And that's all, I hope this helps a little bit and can assist you in choosing a daycare centre that provides everything you are after for your little one.. I promise Amazing daycares centres do exist, and you don't have to settle for less! also if your child is currently in a centre and you are not happy about something, speak up, nothing changes if you don't inform someone of your concerns, a centre should love parent input ( they get rated on it ) , and be actively working towards the best they can be.