The thought of leaving your child with someone else can be a terrifying and worrying thought for all parents. After all, you can never really trust someone with your child, and if this is tour first child or baby, you get all the more anxious. Thankfully, there are child care centres that promise to take good care of your baby or toddler while you are away at work. And when you start looking, you find plenty of child care centres and facilities running in your area.
When choosing the child care centres for your child, there are some essential things that you should be aware of and insist upon. After all, this is an all-important decision, and the kind of experience and quality of time your child gets during those couple of hours will play an essential role in his development and growth. Not all daycare centres and babysitters are good, even though they claim to be. The onus lies on the parents to look for the right care centres for children.
Locating A Good Child Care Centre
Learn about the child care centres near you and the facilities they offer. Here are some essential tips and guidelines to follow when looking for a suitable child care centre.
READ MORE: What is Child Rearing? The Best Child Rearing Techniques for Your Kids.
1. The experience and reputation
Get referrals from your friends and check out the experience and reputation of the care centre before visiting them. Website will give an idea of child care centres but you should choose the most reputed, take personal suggestions about the center, confirm from friends and family. Look fro the nearest so that you get a better information. Stick to a couple of names and call them one by one to fix an appointment.
2. Pay a visit
When you visit the child care centre, pay close attention to how the staff interacts with the children. Observe how close and comfortable the children are with their caregivers. If you feel that the atmosphere is exceptionally warm and responsive, it means that the child care centre is doing a good job and lives up to its reputation. Study the ratio as the American Academy of Paediatrics recommends one caregiver for every three babies or toddlers.
3. Check their policies and philosophies–
Find out whether the child care centres are aware of the child care policies and are willing to share parenting philosophies. There should be a backup plan ready at the centre for a sick baby or a fussy child and how they take care of any emergency situations.
4. Make an unexpected visit–
It is a good idea to drop in on any time at the child care centre and assess whether it meets your needs. The essential aspects to focus on are the cleanliness of the environment and if the child-care facility is well stocked and childproofed. Ideally, a group of 2 or 3 babies should have their own area and should have the maids to take care of them.
The child care centre you pick should be aware of every need of your baby or child, his teething issues, or any sleep problems. They should offer a detailed report to you as to if he seemed happy or when he napped or the number of diapers used and more.
Finally, just trust your gut, and if you feel that the child care centre is right for your baby, go for it. However, if you feel something is amiss, keep away. Do not be in a rush to select just about any canter for your child care. Investigate other options if you just don’t feel right about a certain child care centre.
