Day care questions

Hi

I'm starting a new job at the end of March, and my plan is to put Jessica
into a nursery part time. She'll be starting daycare before I start my job
to make sure she settles in ok, and I've got a couple of places lined up to
see this week.

Having never done this before, I was just wondering what sort of questions I
should ask them. The ones I'm viewing all appear to have good OFSTED
reports, and the two I'm most intested in have a room for 1-2 year olds
(she's 20 months), which I like the idea of. The one I'm most interested in
though is in the same road as the new job, which means I can get there
straight away should there be a problem. Both of go up to school age, and
seem to have a varied mix of activities. They provide a snack mid afternoon
and a dinner too (she'll just be in there in afternoons).

I've got a feeling I'll go for the one in the same road, but I don't want to
go in there ready to sign the paper straight off, I want them to convince
me, hence my request for question suggestions

Thanks

Lucy x

You definitely want to ask about nap times, this was a problem for us
with one nursery, they basically waited for the children to fall asleep,
then moved them into the sleep room - this might work for some children,
but for us it meant DS never slept.

Another thing you can ask about is how long each of the staff have been
their, a high turnover of staff is not a good sign.

You should also try and observe how they handle drop off, do the staff
make an effort to greet the child and help them settle in each day, it's
really hard to drop a child off if you are just dumping them in the
room, most children need welcoming and directing, e.g. "Hi, Ada, how are
you today, do you want to come and play with these bricks".

Hope this helps

Anne

On Feb 26, 11:25 am, "lu-lu" wrote:
Hi

I'm starting a new job at the end of March, and my plan is to put Jessica
into a nursery part time. She'll be starting daycare before I start my job
to make sure she settles in ok, and I've got a couple of places lined up to
see this week.

Having never done this before, I was just wondering what sort of questions I
should ask them. The ones I'm viewing all appear to have good OFSTED
reports, and the two I'm most intested in have a room for 1-2 year olds
(she's 20 months), which I like the idea of. The one I'm most interested in
though is in the same road as the new job, which means I can get there
straight away should there be a problem. Both of go up to school age, and
seem to have a varied mix of activities. They provide a snack mid afternoon
and a dinner too (she'll just be in there in afternoons).

I've got a feeling I'll go for the one in the same road, but I don't want to
go in there ready to sign the paper straight off, I want them to convince
me, hence my request for question suggestions

Anything particularly important to you, ask about that -- food issues,
nap issues, how do they handle biting, whatever. The biggest thing
though in visiting daycares is to try to go with an open mind so you
can gauge your gut reaction to a place. Just watch the carers in
action with the kids. You may find one place just seems much more
right than the other. We had to find nursery school when the Bug was
turning two on very short notice so were only able to look at a few
places. One sounded great on paper and was the top of my list. But
when I visited it felt like the people there didn't really care much
about the kids or the school -- they were just putting in their time
and getting a paycheck. Nix that.

Kate, ignorant foot soldier of the medical cartel
and the Bug, 4 and a half
and something brewing, 4/08

"Anne Rogers" wrote in message
. ..
You definitely want to ask about nap times, this was a problem for us
with one nursery, they basically waited for the children to fall asleep,
then moved them into the sleep room - this might work for some children,
but for us it meant DS never slept.

Another thing you can ask about is how long each of the staff have been
their, a high turnover of staff is not a good sign.

You should also try and observe how they handle drop off, do the staff
make an effort to greet the child and help them settle in each day, it's
really hard to drop a child off if you are just dumping them in the
room, most children need welcoming and directing, e.g. "Hi, Ada, how are
you today, do you want to come and play with these bricks".

Hope this helps

Anne

Hiya

Thanks for the nap idea. It's something that's bothering me, as sometimes
she'll sleep for two hours, sometimes she won't sleep at all, but I'm not
sure how much she'll sleep at somewhere new, after charging around with
loads of kids. Also we cuddle her to sleep with her milk, so I'm not sure
they'll do that.

I'm having a hard time with this tbh. We don't use babysiters a lot and when
we do, it's only ever one of two couples that she's known since she was
born, that's why I want to start her there early. But, that said, she needs
to start having time away from me, and she needs more interaction with other
children - I also need the break as I'm getting a bit stir crazy.

Kids, eh!

Lucy x

"Akuvikate" wrote in message
...
On Feb 26, 11:25 am, "lu-lu" wrote:
Hi

I'm starting a new job at the end of March, and my plan is to put
Jessica
into a nursery part time. She'll be starting daycare before I start my
job
to make sure she settles in ok, and I've got a couple of places lined up
to
see this week.

Having never done this before, I was just wondering what sort of
questions I
should ask them. The ones I'm viewing all appear to have good OFSTED
reports, and the two I'm most intested in have a room for 1-2 year olds
(she's 20 months), which I like the idea of. The one I'm most interested
in
though is in the same road as the new job, which means I can get there
straight away should there be a problem. Both of go up to school age,
and
seem to have a varied mix of activities. They provide a snack mid
afternoon
and a dinner too (she'll just be in there in afternoons).

I've got a feeling I'll go for the one in the same road, but I don't
want to
go in there ready to sign the paper straight off, I want them to
convince
me, hence my request for question suggestions

Anything particularly important to you, ask about that -- food issues,
nap issues, how do they handle biting, whatever. The biggest thing
though in visiting daycares is to try to go with an open mind so you
can gauge your gut reaction to a place. Just watch the carers in
action with the kids. You may find one place just seems much more
right than the other. We had to find nursery school when the Bug was
turning two on very short notice so were only able to look at a few
places. One sounded great on paper and was the top of my list. But
when I visited it felt like the people there didn't really care much
about the kids or the school -- they were just putting in their time
and getting a paycheck. Nix that.

Kate, ignorant foot soldier of the medical cartel
and the Bug, 4 and a half
and something brewing, 4/08

It's intereesting you say that - my favourite at the moment just feels the
best. Yes, it has factors like it's open later, it's close to work, etc, but
when I spoke to them on the phone, they just felt like the nicest. One of
the others put me off when I asked to visit to look round - I asked if I
needed an appointment "Nah, Just turn up love, S'alright anytime". Well,
that didn't exactly make me feel secure about my child's safety when anyone
could just walk in at anytime. The favourite one invited me to make an
appointment to view them, and suggested a day and time. Others that I rang
went a bit stupid when I asked them things like session times, prices, meal
details etc - that didn't inspire confidence. And more over, the woman I
spoke to on the phone was nice.

Thanks

Lucy x

lu-lu schrieb:

It's intereesting you say that - my favourite at the moment just feels the
best. Yes, it has factors like it's open later, it's close to work, etc, but
when I spoke to them on the phone, they just felt like the nicest. One of
the others put me off when I asked to visit to look round - I asked if I
needed an appointment "Nah, Just turn up love, S'alright anytime". Well,
that didn't exactly make me feel secure about my child's safety when anyone
could just walk in at anytime. The favourite one invited me to make an

Well, it also means they're not afraid that you might walk in while
they're not perfectly organized.
Friends of mine recently moved to the states and the first few daycares
they looked at had the "babies" sitting in their strollers in front of a
TV or variations of this. Those places were very clean and tidy and
quiet, but I would not want my children there and from my friends
description she was quite disgusted... They've found a daycare for their
two boys now and while it still has a TV in the room (pretty much
unheard of in german daycares) it's not on all the time.

appointment to view them, and suggested a day and time. Others that I rang
went a bit stupid when I asked them things like session times, prices, meal
details etc - that didn't inspire confidence. And more over, the woman I
spoke to on the phone was nice.

Just look around, ask if you can come back "sometime next week" or "when
I'm in the area anyway" and make sure that once Jessica actually goes
there regularly that you drop in unannounced every once in a while.

cu
nicole

"lu-lu" wrote in message
It's intereesting you say that - my favourite at the moment just feels the
best. Yes, it has factors like it's open later, it's close to work, etc,
but
when I spoke to them on the phone, they just felt like the nicest. One of
the others put me off when I asked to visit to look round - I asked if I
needed an appointment "Nah, Just turn up love, S'alright anytime". Well,
that didn't exactly make me feel secure about my child's safety when
anyone
could just walk in at anytime.

Just because they are happy for you to come anytime doesn't mean they don't
have security measures in place. I would be more happier with a place that
said to come anytime than one that wanted an appointment. If the one that
said to come anytime, means they are secure enough in their practice that
they can have people come in at any point.
--
Sue (mom to three girls)

It's intereesting you say that - my favourite at the moment just feels the
best. Yes, it has factors like it's open later, it's close to work, etc, but
when I spoke to them on the phone, they just felt like the nicest. One of
the others put me off when I asked to visit to look round - I asked if I
needed an appointment "Nah, Just turn up love, S'alright anytime". Well,
that didn't exactly make me feel secure about my child's safety when anyone
could just walk in at anytime. The favourite one invited me to make an
appointment to view them, and suggested a day and time. Others that I rang
went a bit stupid when I asked them things like session times, prices, meal
details etc - that didn't inspire confidence. And more over, the woman I
spoke to on the phone was nice.

You could view that the exact opposite, one wanted you there at a
specific time, which doesn't give you a chance to see it any time. The
other was prepared to accept you would visit randomly, which means they
are happy with you seeing what they are doing any time of day.

I agree you do need to work out what the security issues are with this,
because you don't just want anyone walking in, but all daycares we've
been involved with have ways around this, like their being a door code
which parents have, but you wouldn't have, so you'd have to ring a bell
and be met at the door - so you're coming in any time, but not entering
without supervision.

Hopefully they'd want you to talk to someone senior, so I think it is
reasonable to have to schedule, because they can't be available for
tours all the time. But I'd worry if they weren't happy with me coming
any time, I'd make an appointment, but also ask, would it be ok if I
drop in at a different time of day sometime to see that part of the day.
To me, the only reason to legitimately prevent that would be if they
have a nap schedule and all the children will be napping, so they could
say please don't come between 1 and 3, any other time is fine...

Anne