Monitoring Your Child's Daycare

Making Sure Your Day Care is Safe Takes Ongoing Effort

Jan 25, 2008

A Daycare Should Be Safe for Your Child, photo by Ferurbina,www.morguefile.com

The health and safety of your baby, toddler or preschooler may require you to make an extra effort to develop relationships with child care providers.

You have painstakingly visited and evaluated several day care centers and are sure that you have found the right one. You like the staff, feel comfortable with safety measures and are ready to head off to work, confident your child is well cared for.

But how do you monitor the center on an ongoing basis? What can you do to make sure your child stays safe, protected and nurtured?

Be Involved in the Day Care Center

Make unplanned visits to the day care at various times of the day. If possible, pick up your child at a different time once in a while. This will help you to know that staff is not being attentive just because they are expecting you momentarily.
Develop relationships with other parents. Although you don’t want to engage in gossip about staff or develop a sense of fear based on problems other parents may have or may complain about (some people just naturally complain), you do want to be alerted to any potential problems.
Volunteer to come in and help with parties at the center. This will give you an opportunity to join your child where they spend their days as well as observe the interactions of staff and children.
Develop a relationship with the staff at the center. Stop to speak with them for a few minutes when you are dropping off or picking up your child. Make sure to compliment them if you feel they are doing a great job and take the time to notice when they do something special for your child, or even when it isn’t something “special” but have gone out of their way to make your child feel comfortable.
If your child is old enough, talk with them every day about what happened during the day. Ask specific questions, such as, “What did you make in art today?” rather than general questions about their day. The more specific your questions are, the more specific their answers will be.
Make a point to stay a few minutes longer once in a while when picking up your child to help clean up the room. The staff will appreciate your extra effort, your child will like having you involved in their “school” and you will be able to get to know the staff a little better.
If the center provides evening workshops, training or meetings for parents, be sure to attend. If not, suggest to the director implementing a program of workshops where parents can learn about educational programs, discipline methods, first aid or other child related topics.

Be Aware of Warning Signs:

When you ask questions, the staff gives vague answers or avoids answering your questions.
If you have concerns, they are dismissed quickly or not addressed at all.
Your child complains, is not happy or talks about problems that have occurred during the day.
Your children, or other children, seem to have accidents more frequently than expected and they are not explained adequately.
You have not been provided with written policies regarding discipline, medication or any other general or safety policies.
Your child's teacher or other staff change frequently.
Other parents are complaining often about concerns they have with the care of their children.
If you feel there are problems in the center, do not automatically dismiss them. Investigate to find out whether your concerns are warranted.
The center is not kept clean, bathrooms and sinks look dirty.
The required license is not prominently displayed.
If there are problems or concerns, contact the agency responsible for licensing and discuss your concerns with them.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has created a Quality Rating Systems for Early Care and Education. Their site provides information on the different states that have adopted a rating system.

The care of your child is of utmost importance. Although you don’t want to jump to conclusions without finding out the facts or harshly judge the staff any time something goes wrong, you also don’t want to dismiss that nagging feeling that something just isn’t right. Staying involved will help you know when there is something wrong. Don’t feel bad if you decide this is not the right day care center for your child; begin visiting other centers until you find the best possible place to help nurture your child.