Are you a working parent? Have you ever considered putting your child/children in daycare, but felt overwhelmed by the number of options out there? I understand your dilemma. Daycare is not only expensive, but the number of options to choose from can be utterly overwhelming, if not stressful to try and sort through.

As a former daycare/preschool teacher, I have experience with several of the daycare brands that exist and have a pretty good understanding of what makes a daycare center worth the money invested in it each month. To help you sort through the mess of daycare brands and cut through the advertising noise, I’m going to use this post to narrow down exactly what a parent should look for in a quality daycare center.

Ready? Let’s get started!

#1) Curriculum: Any daycare/preschool you enroll your child in should have a quality curriculum that will help your child prepare for kindergarten. For example, as a preschooler, aged 2.5-4 years old, your child should be learning to recognize and write their letters and numbers. The recognition process should begin as a toddler around 1.5-2 years old. So, when touring a daycare center, make sure to ask about their curriculum and look for things that promote reading, writing, and mathematical readiness within the curriculum. If you don’t see those things, the daycare likely isn’t worth your money.

#2) Engaged staff & administration: Yes, you want to be watching the staff and administration when you tour a daycare. Are the teachers in the classrooms actively engaging with the kids? Does the administration (i.e., director & assistant director) seem to genuinely care about not just their students & families, but also their staff? Do the director & assistant director know their students & staff by name? Engaged teachers and a caring & engaged administration makes for a much happier atmosphere within the daycare center which will make being there a more pleasant experience for your child.

#3) The kids: This may sound weird, but I truly believe the children within a daycare center can be the best indicator of a quality center. My mom once told me a story about when she and my dad were looking for a daycare for me. She said that, while they were touring a center, she asked a passing child, “Do you like it here?” The child responded with a very happy, “Yes! I belong here.” That one interaction helped my parents decide to enroll me in that daycare. Children are very open and honest with how they feel about things, so taking notice of the kids in the centers you tour – maybe even following my mom’s lead – will help you determine the quality of each daycare.

#4) Cleanliness: This may seem like common sense. I mean, who doesn’t want their child/children to attend a clean preschool/daycare, right? Well, you’d be surprised at how much can go unnoticed. Daycare in general is not the most profitable field of work for someone to enter into, even as an owner of a center, so as a way of conserving funds, some centers might go cheap on the cleaning. That being said, any daycare center that is worth your money is going to take pride in the appearance of the interior and exterior. So, as a potential customer, make sure you pay attention, especially if you’re touring early in the day. If it’s early enough in the day, the only meal that will have been served is breakfast, which means there should not be piles of cracker crumbs on the floor.

Of these four items, curriculum is, in my mind, the most important, especially if you’re enrolling a toddler or preschool aged child. If you’re looking at before and after school care, you might also consider asking about what each daycare’s policy is on homework. When I was a school-aged child in before & after school care, my parents felt it was important that I have help getting started on my homework in the afternoons. By mentioning this to the administration and school-age classroom teachers, my parents inspired the center I attended to start a homework club where, for an hour or so each afternoon, school-aged children with homework would sit down and begin their homework for that day. Field trips and summer camps are also good things to inquire about for school-aged children, especially if you intend to have you school-aged child attend during the summer months.

This is by no means an extensive list of things to look for when searching for childcare, but I hope it’s enough to at least get you started. If you’d like to read more about daycare/preschool insights and advice, check back for my next post where I’ll discuss which daycare brands I feel have the most to offer. Thanks for reading and don’t forget subscribe!

Article published on Medium.