3 Questions To Ask When Choosing A Daycare Provider For Your Child

Are you in need of finding a daycare to send your child to? There are many different facilities out there, so it's important to do some comparing before choosing a facility. Here are a few questions to ask prospective daycare providers when choosing one for your child:

How Is Visitation Handled?

One important thing to find out from prospective daycare providers that you are considering for your child is how visitation is handled. Is there a check-in process that everyone must abide by? Are visitors monitored by staff? Are there any areas of the daycare where visitors are not allowed? What are the steps that are taken if an unauthorized person is found lurking on the daycare property?

Any daycare providers you consider should be able to provide you with their visitation management plan and protocols in writing. They should also be able to honor your visitation requests, such as when you want to have someone else pick your child up from the facility or if you want to ban someone in particular from visiting them there.

Is a Schedule and Menu Plan Provided?

Another question to ask when comparing daycare providers to one another is whether a schedule and menu plan are regularly provided to parents. You should know exactly what your child is doing throughout the day without having to rely on them to tell you. You should also know exactly what types of foods your child will be offered by the daycare whether at snack or lunch time.

Whatever daycare you decide to send your child to, it should provide you with weekly schedules that outline everything that will go on each day, including all activities and naps that are planned. You should also receive a weekly menu that lets you know exactly what foods will be offered each day of the week so you can decide whether to send your child with their own food if necessary.

How Are Personal Items Managed?

Your child will likely be taking personal belongings with them to daycare every day, so it is a good idea to find out how their belongings will be managed at the prospective daycare providers you're thinking about hiring. Is a cubby hole designated just for your child going to be available, or will your child have to keep their stuff with them all day long? Will the belongings be monitored in any way? What is the protocol for when a personal belonging goes missing? The answers to these questions will help you decide what you should and should not send to daycare with your child on any given day.