Moms

It’s the time for a daycare tour!  Which means that you’re ready to visit those potential daycares that are still on your list.

Make sure to read and complete the previous two parts of this blog post series: How to find a daycare and Find a daycare near you, if you haven’t done so yet.

Touring a daycare is more than visiting a facility. It’s an opportunity to:

• confirm the good impression you had during the pre-screening process
• make sure that it is a good fit for you and your kids
• ask open-ended questions

Instead of looking at it as a daycare tour, think of it as a person-to-person interview and daycare inspection. After all, you’re hiring the person that will take care of your baby.

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Tips to maximize your time at the daycare tour

Don’t schedule a tour

Many of us have done it. We have fixed our house before friends arrive or have fixed our work area before a visitor from the headquarters comes for a tour. And that’s okay. But in this case, since you are planning to leave your baby at the daycare on a regular basis, you want to see how things run on a normal day. So, don’t feel the pressure to schedule a tour. Just show up.

Plan ahead of time

Your plan should depend on a number of the number of daycares on your list, your availability, and energy. If you are an overachiever, you may want to tackle them all in one day. But, the best way is to visit only a few daycares per day. In that way, you can dedicate quality time to each daycare tour instead of rushing the tour in order to go to the next. An option could be to separate the daycares by area and visit one area per day.

Schedule your visits

Set aside some time in your calendar so you can spend a good amount of time at each daycare you visit. And don’t try to rush your tour since you want to have all your questions answered at the end. That will help you make the best decision for your baby. Another tip: plan the daycare tour during a time that you are not hungry or too tired.

Also, if you are touring a daycare while pregnant (like I did) wear comfortable shoes, stay hydrated, keep snacks handy, and don’t plan too many tours in one day.

Ask enough questions

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. In order to find the right daycare for your baby, you need to clearly understand what they offer to make sure it matches your needs and parenting style.

Let them talk

Don’t just ask questions but listen to the answers by paying attention, without interrupting or completing their sentences. Let them fill the silence gaps. Remember that you are trying to learn all that you can from each daycare.

Visit your child’s room

Visit the area where your child will be and pay attention to all the details in the room; its decoration, organization, type of toys available, the condition of the cribs and mattresses, etc.  Look around the room and make sure that your baby will feel comfortable in it.

Look for signs of happy kids

Take some time to visit the areas for older kids even if you are enrolling a baby. Older kids can give you a better idea of how they feel towards the daycare. Do they look happy to be there? Do you see them playing, laughing, and/or enjoying their time?

Committed daycare staff

Keep an eye out for the interaction between kids and staff. You don’t want a staff that is physically there but that are not taking care of the kids’ needs. I immediately eliminated a daycare from my list after seeing that a little one had spilled his cereal with milk all over the tray of his high chair. He was playing with the mess while the three employees in charge kept chit-chatting with each other.

Daycare cleaning procedures

Somes staff members automatically cover the cleaning procedures during the daycare tour. But if it’s not mentioned, feel free to ask them. Especially while visiting your baby’s area. It’s always good to know how often they are disinfecting and sanitizing toys, cribs, crib mattresses, high chairs, etc.

Daycare Organization

Keeping organization inside the daycare is crucial to avoid safety hazards. When that same daycare mentioned above showed me the inside of the refrigerator located in the kids’ area, it was extremely messy. It could easily cause other issues such as overlooking expired food or even grabbing the wrong food or milk for a child.

Safety in the daycare

You attend safety trainings at work and take safety precautions at home to keep your family safe. But, what about the safety in the daycare? During the daycare tour, check for things like uncovered outlets, hanging cables, unattended objects on the floors, and unlocked gates.

Questions to ask on a daycare tour

Ask questions related to your daycare needs especially the must-have needs that you identified during the first section of this series, Find a daycare.

Below are some questions that you may want to ask during your tour:

What’s the daycare visitation policy?

Even if you are not able to get out of work to visit your baby, make sure to ask them about their visitation policy. I would not feel comfortable leaving my daughters in a place where I can only visit them at certain times. You want a daycare with an “open” visitation policy similar to the open door policy at work. In other words, you should be able to visit your child whenever you want to.

What’s the sick child policy?

In the same way that Pediatrics offices have the sick and well-waiting rooms separated, there are daycares with a room designed for sick kids. The purpose is to prevent well kids from getting sick while the staff notifies you and waits for the child to be picked up.

The policy normally explains the process to follow if your child becomes sick with details like how you will be notified when your child can return to the daycare after being sick, and if a doctor’s note is needed upon return.

What is the daycare curriculum for your child’s age?

A daycare curriculum varies by kids’ age and from daycare to daycare. But, most of the time it includes educational, creative, and physical programs. Daycares normally go into details about those programs during the tour and even share the latest projects that kids have worked on.

What is their child to staff ratio for your child’s room?

The ratios are standards established by each state. The child-staff ratio works like the student-teacher ratio at schools. A teacher in charge of fewer students can dedicate more time to each student than a teacher with a larger number of students. The maximum ratio requirements depend on different factors such as the state, type of daycare, and age group.

Which days is the daycare closed?

It’s easier to plan ahead of time if you know what days your daycare will be closed. That will give you enough time to find another caregiver for those days or to make arrangements at work like submitting an early request for paid time off {and there’s my HR side again 🙂 }. While some daycares are more independent, others follow the closest ISD schools closures. Check with them during the daycare tour and you may be able to get a printed list with their closing dates.

What’s daycare procedure during inclement weather and emergencies?

Daycares should be prepared to take care of your child during an emergency, including an inclement weather. Both, daycare centers and home daycares should have a procedure in place. I went through the experience of having to hide at my then work’s tornado shelter while my little one was at her daycare. Knowing that she was safe at her daycare’s tornado shelter made me feel a lot better.

Is there a daycare vacation policy?

There are daycares centers that allow families to have a certain number of vacation days per year. Meaning that your child is allowed to be absent for 5 consecutive days every year. You may still be required to pay part of the weekly fees. Either way, you need to make sure you understand the daycare vacation policy.

It’s a little bit different with home daycares. Most of the time you need to pay even if your child is absent the whole week. Plus, they may have what is called paid vacation time where the staff is off few days or weeks per year. The daycare is closed during those days but you are still responsible to pay your regular weekly fees. Again, ask the daycare so you can plan ahead of time.

What type of communication do you have with parents on a regular basis?

Communication between parents and daycare is extremely important. A good communication benefits both sides and builds a stronger relationship between you and your daycare provider.

Daycares use one or more ways to communicate with parents. I have experienced the following types of communication:

• One-on-one: where the caregiver gives you daily updates of what has happened with your baby during the day.
• Written communication: in this case, the daycare gives you a paper with information specific to your baby or a generic one to let you know what they are/will be working on, reminders, and any other important information
• App: daycare uses it to send you notifications, updates, pictures, and reminders throughout the day

After the daycare tour

Once you are done touring a daycare, write your thoughts and observations before you forget. I normally go to any safe place near the daycare where I can rate the daycare and write my comments before heading to the next one.

The daycare worksheets include a form that makes it easier to complete an evaluation of what you observed during the daycare tour. Since it is based on a ranking system, you can evaluate a daycare in a better, faster, and consistent way. 

It’s your turn

In this section, you learned tips to maximize your time while touring a daycare. Tips such as planning your visits, making observations, and not being afraid to ask questions. Now, you should also feel more comfortable with what questions to ask on a daycare tour.

But, most importantly, make the purpose to learn as much as you can about the daycare. The more you know about their policies and procedures, the better it will be at the time of choosing a daycare which we will discuss in the last part of this blog series, How to Choose a Daycare.

Take me to Part 4: Choose a Daycare >

It’s time to show you a pre-screening process to help you find a daycare near you. This pre-screening process is the second part of the series on how to find a daycare for your baby.

On the first part of this series, we went over your daycare options, when to start looking for a daycare, and what to look for in a daycare, which included steps like identifying your needs and sorting those needs by must-have, want to have, and nice to have.

It’s better to create your list of daycare needs before pre-screening a daycare. If you haven’t identified your needs yet, I suggest you going back to the previous post on how to find a daycare.

The pre-screening process

The term “pre-screening” may sound weird, especially if you’re just trying to find a daycare, not a job. But, besides my human resources background, this pre-screening process has its benefits.

When you pre-screen, you are conducting a quick research to eliminate those daycares that are not a good fit for your needs. It’s an easy process that saves you time (and gasoline) during the interview or touring process.

But first, we need to make a list of possible daycares to pre-screen. To start building your list, do the following:

• Brain Dump – Write those daycares that you already have in mind; those that have caught your attention while driving.
• Word of Mouth – Ask family members, friends, and even co-workers for referrals. Referrals are always a great way to go. It eliminates the guessing part and reduces the time spent pre-screening those daycares.
• Google it – Yes, use Google to find a daycare near you. I normally search for the following:
  • “daycares near me”
  • “daycares near zip code” – replace the words “zip code” with your real home or work zip code   (i.e. “daycares near 95210”)
  • “child cares near me”
  • “child cares near zip code” – remember to replace the words zip code.

Now, with a list of possible daycares, you are ready to start the pre-screening process…

Visit the daycare’s website

In order to find a daycare near you, we need to go online.

Don’t limit your search thinking that only daycare centers have a web page. Nowadays, it’s easier and affordable to build a website which allows home daycares to have their online presence too.

When you visit a company’s website, you get a sense of the brand and its culture. And that’s also true with daycares. It doesn’t matter how big or small the website is, but the way it makes you feel. Play around on their website, look at their photos, read the information posted, and think about if you can picture your baby there.

A home daycare that I used had a website with information about the daycare and its staff. They also had a section with pictures of thank you notes they received from previous moms. Those notes showed me the type of relationships they built with the kids and the kids’ moms. And that was a huge plus for me! That’s information I learned even before meeting them.

If you like what you see while visiting their website, make sure to write their phone number and address. It will save you time later on when you get ready to tour the daycare.

Free Worksheets

These worksheets help you follow a step-by-step process to evaluate, and choose the best daycare for your child.

CLICK THERE TO DOWNLOAD

Search the internet

Type the daycare name on your browser’s search bar and see what comes up. You can’t believe everything you find online but you may need to reconsider a daycare that shows a large number of complaints.

Make sure to read their online reviews. Especially those with three stars or under. Remember, you want to find a daycare near you but you also want to find the right one.

Search for their location(s) if you haven’t yet. By using the street view from Google Maps, I feel like I am right there in front of the daycare without leaving my home. If you haven’t used it yet, go to Instant Street View and enter the daycare’s address.

Take advantage of social media

Go to their social media pages and take a look at what other people are saying.

Just by checking the daycare’s Facebook page, you get an idea of what type of information that daycare is sharing with the public, how fast they respond to questions or comments, and how other people feel about them.

I prefer to use Facebook pages but you don’t have to. You can visit their other social media pages to see what they are tweeting about or what pictures they are posting on Instagram.

Check their inspection records

This great resource is one of the most important tasks that you need to complete in order to find a daycare near you. I strongly encourage you not to skip this step.

Your state’s government office has a database that includes most of the child cares in your area. That database includes the results of regular inspections that they conduct to the child cares. Depending on the state, you can find inspection dates, reports, citations, violations, risk levels, correction actions, revoked licenses, and much more. And guess what? All that information is easy to access and completely free!

But, where should you start?

There is a specific government’s department within your state that handles that area of child care services. I can’t give you the exact department name in your state because each state calls it in a different way. For example, in:

• Texas, it’s called the Department of Family and Protective Services.
• California, it’s the Department of Social Services
• Florida, it’s named the Department of Children and Families
• Iowa, it’s the Department of Human Services
• Georgia, they call it the Department of Early Care and Learning

Yes, they are all different. But with Google’s help, you should be able to find it within seconds. Actually, that’s how I found those other department’s names outside of Texas. For instance, I did a quick search for “California department find child care”, and I immediately got the correct information.

The government department is normally one of the first results you get. If you are not sure, look for a “.gov” (instead of .com) on their URL or address link. That’s the case of Georgia:

Keep in mind that some states like Texas may not have the “.gov”:

Keep in mind while reviewing the records

While checking the inspection records, don’t be surprised if you see quite a few daycares with violations.

With my second daughter, I remember feeling frustrated thinking that I would not be able to find a daycare near me. Then, I found a licensed home daycare that had been in business for years, inspected several times, and had zero violations.

Thinking that it was too good to be true, I pushed it to the end of the list of daycares to visit. When I finally visited that home daycare, I immediately fell in love with the sweet caregivers, beautiful environment, and how happy the kids were.

I know that I said it before but take your time to complete this step. Seriously. Pay attention to what’s included in those records. Nothing can ever prevent every single problem but it should at least avoid you many headaches down the road.

And before moving to the next step, make it a priority to not only find a daycare near you but to find a licensed daycare. Here in Texas, the government sorts the daycares by licensed child care center, licensed child care home, registered child care home, and listed family home.

Why do I prefer a licensed daycare? Because they are regularly inspected by the government to ensure they meet the minimum standards. Registered child care homes are inspected less often than a licensed daycare. And listed family homes are not inspected at all unless the government is alerted to a negative situation.

Give them a call

Call those daycares that remain on your list.

There are two main reasons to call them. First, you want to know how they handle the conversation over the phone. Second, you want to get basic but key information before moving forward. That will save you time.

While you have the caregiver or representative on the phone, pay attention to details such as:

• Professionalism: How did she answer the phone? Did she sound mad or frustrated? Is she talking to other people while you are asking questions?
• Friendliness: Being a child care provider is a difficult and busy job with a huge responsibility. But, is she still trying to be helpful? Is she answering all your questions? Is she rushing you to finish? Does she sound annoyed by your questions?
• Background: Were babies crying in the background and nobody seemed to be calming them down? Do the kids sound happy, playing, talking or even singing?

What questions to ask during the call

Make a list of five to seven basic questions and have it ready before calling the daycare. Ask questions with the purpose to get important information that can help you decide if that daycare should stay on your list or not.

Those basic questions should be short but important to you. Use closed questions for this step and leave the open-ended questions for later. After all, they are taking care of kids so we don’t want to keep them on the phone for too long.

I normally ask questions like:

• Do you have any openings for infants?
• What’s the weekly fee for an infant?
• When does the weekly fee drop? And what would be the new rate?
• Is there any registration fee?
• Do I have to pay any additional fee such as supply fee?
• Do you provide discounts? (i.e. Corporate discount, family discount, military discount)
• What are the hours of operations? (if you didn’t see them online)

Use those questions as a guide to come up with key questions for your own situation. Make sure to write down the answers so, in the end, you will be able to compare daycares and refer to your notes if you need to. Once you are done with your questions, thank them for their time and call the next daycare on your list.