I am ready to put my son in daycare, but.....?

Question

What questions do I ask the provider? I am a first time mom and I have stayed at home w/ my son until now. He is 11 months old and I am MORE than ready to go back to work.

I am going through the miitary base and using one of their approved home child care providers. I have n "interview" with one on Friday and I really don't know what questions to ask her. I have never done this. Can you help me?

Not to be rude, but for those who oppose...I actually don't care if you agree with me or not on this topic.

I enjoy working and I am not cut out to be a stay at home mom. My husbands income more than supports us, but i need more.

Answer 1

Don't pay attention to toomanycommercials' comments. I hate it when people in this country try to make you feel bad for trying to have a career and a family. Like you can't have both. Day care is a great way to enhance your child's social skills.

One of the best things you can do is stay for the day and monitor the teachers and their interactions with the kids. Ask what the teacher to child ratio is, what their policy is on discipline, medicine administration, illnesses, and parental involvement at school and reinforcing what they teach at home. Discipline seems to be the big question these days.

Answer 2

If possible use the Child Development Center on post. Your son will learn a lot more over the next few years at the CDC rather than at the home child care providers. I have seen some of the so called providers. Some are good and some not so good. Ask the provider if she has lesson plans for the children. They don't have to be detailed or extensive. Just something like this week we will introduce the color red. Also ask to see the daily schedule and other special activities planned. Will she allow you to come visit during your lunch break? Trust me, I am not the stay at home mom type but as a mom you will have that urge to check in with your child and this is very important if she will let you. How many children does she care for? What are their ages? You don't want four 5 year olds around an 11 month old. What types of snacks and lunches does she provide? Does she keep pets in the house/apartment? That's all that I can think of now. Some other people have made some really good suggestions. Good Luck and I hope you find the best child care provider possible.

Answer 3

I have three sons and all have gone to daycare, two are currently in daycare, I would ask how long they have been doing this, make sure they are licensed, ask for references, even for family members for a character reference, ask about a routine, like what do they do with your child all day, see if they will do a progress report for you everyday, My child care provider does this and I love it, she tells me what kind of day they had, if the had a bowel movement, what they ate, it is very helpful, Like you I love my boys but I would not do well with being home full time, I think I am a better mom because I work part time. Good Luck

Answer 4

Please be careful and very picky. Make sure they are licensed. Check out where the children eat and sleep and make sure it is clean. Ask her policy on discipline and watch for how many children she will have at one time. When I was going to put my twins in daycare there were legos all over the floor at one daycare providers house and babies crawling amongst them. I asked her about this and she seemed to think it wasn't a problem. Knowing my son he would have had those in his mouth in no time flat. If you have a gut feeling that the place isn't right go with your gut. I also watched a little girl from the time she was newborn to one and I loved her like my own. The problem was her parents didn't appreciate me and were actually jealous that she was so happy with me. Thank God if your baby is happy and loves your daycare provider when you find one. I still miss that baby and have pictures of her on my refrigerator and that was four years ago!

Answer 5

How many other kids they have and the ages.
How many more they plan on taking. Who is responsible for lining up childcare in the event of the providers illness, etc.
What they menus are like.
what the structure of the day is like.
Sample situations of diciplinary measures.
Are they licensed?
Do they have CPR and first aid.
What happens if there is an emergency.
Have they had criminal records checks done on themselves and anyone else responsible for the care of the children.
WHY they do childcare.
Ask to see the contracts, transportation agreements, etc.
Ask what measures are ion place to protect YOU, the client. What happens when your child is sick and/or ill.
Can you drop in at any time with only a phone call?

Answer 6

First of all, please check on the child to careprovider ratio for your area. Each state is different. So many questions come to mind...#1 number of kids and ages. #2 - How are the younger kids...toddlers separated from the older kids (if any). #3 - Security/safety issues; observe and check out the facilities access to the outside such as, are doors locked, outside gates etc... #4 - other issues would be your own personal parenting questions on disclipine/behavior/general care/diet etc...

It's always nice to give the daycare a test run if you can.. by having your child stay there for one hour a few days in a row, and see how it goes. It's so hard to tell how a child will react..it's always hard that first week...lots of tears. Hang in there. I hope you find a great daycare with loving careproviders.

Answer 7

Everyone had some awesome suggestions for you; but I found out the hard way to ask one question in particular. I put my daughter in a daycare that I thought was really good; until I found out that some of the "teachers" where mentally challenged. These "teachers" couldn't change diapers in an appropriate time frame (my daughter came home with diaper rash on several occasions). And the day I pulled her out, I witnessed one of these "teachers" getting frustrated and she struck a child. Background checks are important but also make sure that the daycare is sure that their caregivers are capable of caring for your child.

Answer 8

I found a few great questions for babysitters on-line. I can't remember the web site, but just type into the search line until you find what you want. I found out more than I wanted to know about a potential babysitter using the questionnaire.
Another important consideration is do you know anyone else using this provider? Ask for references and follow up on them.
Good Luck

Answer 9

Check out the PDF document below for some good ideas. A few they recommend asking about are: experience/training/education/licenses, ratio of staff to children, are they responsive to needs of children, do they have open communication with parents and what are their disciplinary policies.

If you don't have a PDF reader you can download one from the second link. It's a fairly large file, so if you're on a slow connection you could try Download.com and search for "PDF reader" and see if you can find something more suited to your connection.

Answer 10

First time I put my daughter in day care, I put her in for just one half day, to see how it goes. In Australia, we have accredited child care places, so I first wanted to know if the centre was accredited. I also asked if they could accommodate all my daughters needs, like having cows milk etc. I asked what the ratio of child to carers was. I hope this helps. Good Luck.