How to Choose the Right Daycare Facility

You’ve spent the time since your baby’s birth bonding and enjoying one another; as much as you’d like to continue staying at home, the reality is that you’re heading back to work soon. How do you decide who to trust with your most precious treasure? Picking a daycare can feel a bit overwhelming at first, but keeping a few tips and questions in mind will bring its panic-inducement potential under control.


Decide What Matters
Before you look at a single daycare website or ask a single friend or family member for recommendations, you need to determine exactly what you’re looking for in a daycare facility. Knowing your early childhood education goals will help you find the best fit for your family.

Bethany Todd, of eMerging Consulting, suggests you start by asking yourself, “What are my long-term priorities: play, academic learning, social interaction, community, or something else?” For some families, especially those with newborn infants, the focus may be learning to be comfortable with adults and children outside the family, so a center emphasizing play would be most appropriate. Other families may want to accelerate literacy and language learning; in that situation, a center with literacy, math, and/or science curricula would make a great fit.

Next, consider the logistics of your home-to-daycare-to-work commute. Think about not only the distance, but the traffic patterns and flow at the times you would be dropping off and picking up your child. Can you get from the office to the daycare facility by their closing time? If it would be “cutting it close” every day, a different location might be the better choice.


Research: Read and Ask Questions
Now that you’ve figured out your priorities and matched all the possibilities, it’s time to narrow your choices. Jeffrey Thomas, owner of EZChildTrack, suggests that you read the websites of the facilities, read online reviews, and ask friends and family members what they know about the different centers. Check for licensing and accreditations listed on the centers’ websites, along with any family events that the facility might offer to build a community. Read their mission and core values statements to determine how closely they align with your own.


Visit and Observe
You’re ready to get “hands on” now, with visits to your top choices. Take a tour while the children are there; meet the teachers and watch how the children interact with one another and with staff members. Ask questions, like “What do you do to make sure all children are included in activities?” or “How would you handle it if my child hit or bit another person?” Find out about the beginning and ending procedures, security precautions, and what, if any, curricula the teachers use with the children.

Diana Rauner, president of Ounce of Prevention Fund, recommends checking for the following:


• Do the teachers have four-year degrees with specific training in early childhood education?


• How many children are assigned to each classroom? Ideally, you want no more than eight infants or 20 preschoolers per classroom.


• What is the teacher: child ratio? Again, you want to see no more than three infants or 10 preschoolers to every teacher in the class.


• Do the teachers kneel or crouch to be at eye-level with the children? Do they hug them, show affection, and speak directly to the kids?


• Are the materials and toys at children’s eye-level (including wall displays)?


• Is the center well-equipped? You want to see plenty of well-maintained, gently loved toys and books.


• Do you observe frequent hand-washing on the part of both staff and students, especially when food or bathroom breaks are involved?


• Are the children actively engaged and participating in individual, small group, and large group activities? Are those activities age-appropriate?


• Does the facility have structured times for breakfast, lunch, and naps?


• Do the activities encompass a wide range of stimuli, both indoors and out, that includes literacy, math, science, art, movement, music, and dramatic play? Are the children allowed to be creative, or is everyone expected to “color within the lines?”Rauner also points out several things you do not want to see:


• Unengaged teachers: Adults should not be sitting around the edges of the room, just observing the children; they should be actively engaged and interacting with them. (The exception, obviously, would be during nap time.)


• Adults shouting or swearing or engaging in any kind of hostile discipline. Correction should be calm and quiet and near the child – not at top volume from across the room.


• Crying infants who are not being attended: Children are going to cry; that’s not automatically a bad sign. What you should not see, however, is staff members ignoring the cries of infants.


• Television and videos as frequent “kid minders”: Children should be active and engaged, either in play or learning activities. Playing a video at low volume at nap time to entertain those who no longer sleep during the day is one thing; plopping all the kids in front of a screen for multiple hours should be happening.


• Children wandering unsupervised: Preschoolers should be allowed time for independent play, which may include moving somewhat randomly from one center or play area to another; however, an adult should always be aware of the movement and should also be monitoring for aggressive behaviors and for safety. On the flip side, you also should not see children in high chairs or car seats other than at meal times.


• Structure that is not age-appropriate: It is reasonable to expect littles to sit calmly during circle time, to use “inside voices” during indoor play, or even to form more or less straight and quiet lines to transition between activities. If preschoolers are required to sit still in lines of desks, without normal squirming and wiggling, a different daycare environment is a better option.


• Inability or refusal to provide references: A reputable center will be able to provide you with names and contact information for current or past families willing to act as references. Walk away if the staff can’t or won’t do so.


David L. Kirp, professor at the University of California at Berkley and senior fellow at the Learning Policy Institute summed it up best: For parents, the bottom line is simple: Watch closely what’s happening in the classroom, pick a preschool that you wish you had gone to, and your child will do just fine."



Pam Martin has been writing professionally since the early 1980s, on a wide variety of topics. She brings 20 years of classroom teaching and tutoring experience to the party, including early elementary classes and courses in writing, reading and literature, history, geography and government at middle and high schools. She is also accomplished in crafting and in writing about projects, including her blogs, Roots and Wings From the Village, The Corner Classroom, and Sassy Scribbler, which encompass crafting, cooking, lesson plans, and professional writing advice.