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Part three of our Choosing Quality Child Care series will discuss how to assess the program portion of the child care setting:
Contracts: Is there a contract that clearly spells out policies, procedures, fees, and expectations?
Predictable routines: Not a rigid schedule (0800 report for snack!), but rather can children generally know what to expect? For example, naptime comes after lunch every day, and outdoor time comes after naptime, snack comes after outdoor time, etc.
Décor: Are things at children’s eye level? Is their own artwork posted where they can see it? Can children reach things with a fair amount of independence and autonomy?
Age appropriate activities: For infant programs, are there mirrors at the child’s eye level? For all ages, are there activities that support emerging developmental stages (i.e. items for infants to pull up on as they learn to stand and walk; items labeled with words and pictures to support sight reading skills and language acquisition, etc.)
Designed with children in mind: For example, toddlers often bite because they do not have the language yet to communicate needs. Therefore, does the program offer a learning environment with this in mind? There would be fewer selections so as not to overstimulate a child, yet more than one of each selection so that infants and toddlers who cannot yet share would not compete for toys, thus bite or hit, etc.
Program philosophy: Does the program match the parent’s educational philosophy and the child’s needs? Some programs focus on sensory awareness, some are more academic in nature, some help build pro-social skills.
Are transitional objects allowed?: Some children still need lovies, binkies and the like. Some programs discourage this, others understand that these items represent security to children in an unfamiliar environment.
Anti-Bias Curriculum (ABC): ABC dictates that there be a balance of books and decorations that depict various ethnicities and genders performing a variety of work (women construction workers, male nurses, etc.). This becomes particularly crucial for trans-racially adopted children, to help support them in seeing others “like them.”
Parent/Provider Communication: Often programs will have a daily logbook for each child wherein the parents and providers can communicate. Not replacing face-to-face communication, but because drop-off and pick-up times can be hectic and busy, there may be issues parents and/or providers want to make sure the other knows. For example, a child might be teething, thus a little cranky. Perhaps a child fell during outdoor time and scraped a knee. By the same token, are the providers people that you feel you can communicate with one-on-one should the need arise?
Child-Initiated vs. Teacher Directed: Some programs have areas dedicated to free play, tactile/sensory awareness, art, reading or quiet area, etc. The children are allowed to choose the areas they wish to explore and the areas are updated frequently to provide a variety of learning experiences. Other programs are very teacher directed meaning the children do what the teacher has decided that they will do. Children learn best when they are involved in activities they find engaging.
Do the caregivers enjoy children?: In addition to required Early Childhood Education units, CPR, fingerprint checks, etc. do the providers truly enjoy interacting with children?
Gut Reaction: Follow your gut instinct. Often your parental instincts are correct. By the same token, don’t allow biases to color your perception. For example, many parents in programs I worked in did not want their children around male caregivers, because of a “***” stereotype. This completely discounted the fact that their children had fathers, most of whom were active, loving, co-parenting partners in child care, and that those same children would grow up to be loving fathers (or partners of fathers).
Hopefully this series has helped you assess various child care options and programs, and assisted you in choosing a quality program for your child.
