Child care is an expensive but necessary service. When it comes to your child, you will only want the best child care. It can be heartbreaking the first time you drop your child off at a childcare facility. During the rough drop offs, it is comforting to know your child is well protected and treated kindly. Before enrolling your child into any daycare, you should ask to visit the facility and meet with the teachers. You can ask the daycare providers what type of services they offer and what to expect when your child is enrolled at their facility. The best child care services include the following five items.
1. Routine Activities
Children need structure to learn and grow. Like adults, when children are left in an unstructured environment, bad things can happen. For example, children may start fighting with other children simply because they are bored. Before you enrol your child into any daycare facility, you should ask what their daily routine is for your child’s age. During the summer time, many childcare facilities are much less structured but continue to include fun and productive activities. For example, in the summertime, the child care facility may offer special field trips and outside activities that cannot be provided in the winter time.
2. Meals
If you are enrolling your child at a daycare facility full-time, they should provide snacks and lunches. Some daycares may be less expensive but do not have qualified and licensed providers running the daycare. They may also require the parent to pack breakfast, lunch, and snacks. You will want to ask the daycare if they include meals or not; it can cost you more money to provide lunches than enrolling your child into a more expensive school that includes meals.
3. Outside Time
The best child care facility will offer outside time to their children. It is a very long day for children when they are dropped off before work and picked up after the end of your workday. Children need outside time to play, explore, and socialize with their peers. Outside time provides many young children the opportunity to get their energy out without causing any disruptive behaviours in the daycare class.
4. Reports
The daycare facility should provide you with quality daily and weekly reports. They will tell you what your child ate, how they played with other children, and other noteworthy behaviours or issues. Older children can speak, but younger children often cannot tell you what they did during their day. Reports, daily check-ins, and weekly check-ins are a very important service for most parents.
5. Learning Opportunities
Learning is not boring. There are many inventive ways to teach children something positive or healthy without reading from a book. For example, a daycare may offer fun videos, singing activities, and class projects that teach children a new concept. Children’s stories often include a general morale such as being honest, trustworthy, and kind to their friends. A daycare may create a plant project, where they can learn about seeds and nature. Arts and crafts can teach children about different cultures, holidays, and traditions. The best daycares offer a curriculum for children as young as toddlers.
