ADVICE RATING |
 4.74 (Highly recommend) from 8 votes (118 Visits) |
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What to do when looking for childcare. |
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by neets  (October 2008) (rank 500+) |
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First decide do you want family day care or centre based day care? Then find a centre or family carer.
If you choose centre base and have found a centre be sure that they are accredited this way you will know that they must abide by very strict standards.
When you decide that you want to have a look around a centre turn up unannounced during the day but not at sleep time you want to see the children playing and the carers interacting with the children. Remember first impressions last, if you are made to feel welcome that is a great start.
Go prepared with all the questions that you want to ask,
- Their menus are the meals all nutritional?
- What is their discipline policy?
- What is their sun smart policy
- Have a look at the program plan and ask how often the children are observed. (this is to meet their developmental needs)
- If a child has a developmental delay is their services they work with to provide the child with the best possible care?
- If a child has an allergy what will they do to accommodate this child?
When looking around the centre watch the interactions between children and carers are they positive or can you tell they are staged for your benefit.
Is there enough activities out for the children, if there are 10 children in a room you need at least 13 activities.
When you do decide the centre you would like use as much induction as you can, the first time you take your child to the centre stay with the child then slowly let the child stay by themselves. You may find that the child will cry when you leave but in most cases this crying will only last until you get out the front door, and remember you can always phone as many times as you want.
