A Daycare Checklist for Parents: Tips for Finding Child Care
Some proactive parents will have had their daycare in North Vancouver picked out and ready before they even became pregnant, but how about the rest of us? If you’re looking to find the best childcare for your baby, where should you begin in your search for finding the right daycare for you and your child’s needs?
These are all the things that you should consider when looking around for a daycare.
Begin your search as early as you can. This means that, if possible, you should be looking as soon as you know that you’re pregnant. You can definitely still find high-quality childcare at a later date, but it can interfere with your search. You should take tours of daycare centres in your area and ask about their open house dates.
Another thing that you should look for are properly licensed childcare centres in North Vancouver. Only licensed daycares and child care facilities need to comply with provincial regulations in regard to staff certifications and qualifications. They will understand caregiver-to-child ratios, conduct criminal record checks on anyone in the building, have the space and equipment, activities, food and handling, smoking, discipline and emergency procedures.
When looking at at-home daycare options, you should be extra vigilant and careful. Home-based child care can be a great option, but not all are run equally. And they will not be as rigorously evaluated as daycare centres. Consulting umbrella agencies that monitor their in-home daycare members can help certify the legitimacy of the at-home caregiver and give you some peace of mind. With that being said, don’t completely rule out the option of going with an independent home daycare. Some home childcare providers that are not with a regulated agency are still excellent options. Some might be so in demand that they do not need to be part of a membership agency. It’s important that you do your homework, whatever option that you go with.
Always ask for references. Daycares, and especially in-home daycares, should be able to give you contact information of past parents and children that they worked with so you can ask them about how their experience was.
Register with a few different facilities. Some daycares will have fees involved with being put on their waiting list, so you can opt to not be on every single list in the area. But it does make sense to have at least three different options when it comes to your child’s care just in case one falls through.
You should ask them how long the waiting list is, and how likely your child will be to get a spot in. This can give you a better idea on how many daycares you should register with.
Always evaluate the cleanliness and safety of the best daycares in North Vancouver when you are touring them. Do things look clean and safe? Is the room child-proofed? Ask them about their cleaning and sanitization schedules, and if you can see their equipment when it comes to play time and nap time.
