Finding Day Care
Dear MrDad: My wife and I are shopping
around for day care. How can we tell if the
facility will offer the proper care?
A: Finding a quality daycare center or
provider can be incredibly stressful. Here are just
a few things to look for in a day-care center:
- The level of training of the staff. Some
have degrees in early childhood education; some
arent much more than warm bodies.
- Safety: windows, fences around yards, access
to kitchen appliances and utensils (knives,
ovens, etc.)
- Is it licensed by the National Association
of Education and Child Care?
- Overall cleanliness.
- Caregiver/child ratio. (In California, one
licensed caregiver can take care of as many as
four infants, in some other states it's a lot
more.)
- Staff training. Do the people working there
have training in early childhood education?
- Staff consistency. How long have the staff
been working there. Is there a lot of
turnover?
- Quality, condition, and number of toys.
- Security: what precautions are taken to
ensure that kids can be picked up only by the
person you select? Do strangers have access to
the center?
Before you make your final choice, be sure to
take a tour. Spend half an hour or sowhen all
the kids are thereobserving. Are the children
happy? Are they doing the kinds of activities you
expected?
Finally, in the weeks after you pick the perfect
day-care center, make a few unannounced
visitsjust to see what goes on when there
arent any parents around.
©2008, Armin Brott
* * *
It's clear that most American children suffer
too much mother and too little father. - Gloria
Steinem

A
nationally recognized parenting expert, Armin Brott
is the author of Blueprint
for Men's Health: A guide to a health
lifestyle,
The
Expectant Father: Facts, Tips, and Advice for
Dads-to-Be;
The
New Father: A Dad's Guide to the First
Year, A
Dad's Guide to the Toddler
Years, Throwaway
Dads, The
Single Father: A Dad's Guide to Parenting without a
Partner and Father for
Life. He has written on parenting and fatherhood
for the New York Times Magazine, The
Washington Post, Newsweek and dozens of
other periodicals. He also hosts Positive
Parenting, a nationally distributed, weekly
talk show, and lives with his family in Oakland,
California. Visit Armin at www.mrdad.com


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