PARENTS and BUSINESS OWNERS I need Day care tips and ideas?
I am opening a day care center in the near future and I wanted to know from parents what they want or expect out of day care centers? anything that could help improve day care centers? from business owners I would appreciate any tips or any helpful informationyou can provide.
Thanks so much! :o) Here's the best of the daycares we've been to:
-Excellent staff. Not a lot of turnover! It's so hard on the kids! You want staff that don't sit on their tushes and watch from the couch. Active playful staff.
-NO TV. What do I pay you for?!
-therefore, excellent activities and crafts. I love all the projects my kids bring home. I don't have a room big enough to hold all of them. I just can't seem to throw anything away. (And not just coloring!)
-polaroids of the kids every quarter. SHows how much they're growing!!! They usually give a polaroid with their name in a crafty frame or a construction paper frame.
-Toys and toys. But also exercising and dance activities.
-Music class. I never learned so many funny songs in my life.
-ALL INCLUSIVE BILL. I sent my kids to daycare. they had reading and music and etc. This one itemizes everything. Music is optional and reading is optional because they're EXTRA. I pay for all the extras but feel so bad for the ones that don't go. The first daycare, it was all included. ALL THE KIDS PARTICIPATED.
-i loved that the last one was an old car dealership. The owner paid a college student to paint murals and cartoon characters on the glass walls EVERY FOUR MONTHS. My kids would always be pointing to the daycare as we pulled up. Something new all the time.
-Change up the toys. Rotate so the kids don't get bored. Puzzles blocks, you name it.
-computer learning. Though i don't want them glued to the monitor.
-clean, clean clean. NOT overpowering chlorox clean. But clean. don't let me walk into the baby room and smell that diaper smell. Come on get rid of it fast. Open a window!
-EXCELLENT EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM. Should offer prek work.
-EXCELLENT communication from staff to parents and vice versa.
-ALWAYS someone at the main entrance. I hate it when parents hold the door for other people. I only do it when my kid says "Thats Melissa's Mom."
-ALWAYS a director there or someone that can answer questions about billing or whatever. It shouldn't be "We'll just leave her a message." Come on, who's in charge here. Obviously noone that can make decisions is at the daycare. Not really satisfying.
-This daycare staff has to speak well. Perfect English and sentences. I almost hit the floor when my kids said "Honkey Donkey", or swore like "darn it" Or "I have went to the bathroom". UGH!!!! "Nobody is not here." YIKES. Makes my blood boil. These are impressionable kids. The workers should have PERFECT grammar.
-the daycare workers need to know when kindergarten schools start in the area interms of registration dates and where.
-I love that our daycare has before and afterschool transportation to multiple schools and back to daycare.
I hope that you think this is reasonable. The first daycare we went to had most if not all these characteristics. This last one has less than but we're still happy. I miss my old one but we moved. We all cried when we left and I must have sent them a million kids.
-our new daycare credits us $200 for each referral. BONUS.
GOod luck. Remember, parents will pretty much pay anything when it comes to the safety and happiness of their kids. I expect a clean, kid-friendly environment that is in a safe close-by area. It should have a fairly large fenced outdoor area. The fee should be reasonable. There should not be too many children; as many staff as needed to care for each individual child. Children should be served nutritious meals and activities should be both fun and educational. More importantly staff should be qualified to give the best quality childcare. I would expect :
~The Environment to be ; clean, safe, smoke-free..
~Noone is allowed to take care of my child besides the daycare provider.. I have heard of alot of daycare providers leaving the kids with an older child or their husband while they ran around to garage sales and such..
~ I expect when I walk in that I see it clean and organized, caregivers having fun with the children and respecting the parents and children. I once walked into a daycare and saw one of teachers grabbing a little girl by the arm and pulling her across the room. I never went there again for daycare or anything else for that matter. It needs to be super, super clean! Good luck! our daycare has web cams that we can access at any time during the day (with passwords) so we can check on our kids. Its an awesome bonus. I am a very concern parent of a 10 month old baby. I expect it to be the cleanest location and if my baby gets a rash that means they dont do the job right so yeah thats all....and more but I have to go...ta ta! I want a Day Care to be:
Spotlessly clean. Nothing is worse than walking in to drop off/ pick up your child and find it a dirty mess.
Tastefully and Playfully decorated. I refused to put my child in the Day Care across the street because it looked like a ghetto outside and was just as bad on the inside. I love the idea of murals but more often than not they end up looking terrible. I would love to see some framed art from the kids or something tastefully.
Safe and Secure. I love the idea of being able to check in on my child via the Internet. It makes me feel so much better to be able to log on and see what is happening in the class. I also liked that my last center recorded and saved several weeks worth of video from each class, each room, and play areas. I had an incident where I was able to go back and look at video which made me feel better. Also, I would like to see access cards or specialized access codes to get into the building for parents.
Drop off and Parking: I like a covered area to pull up to when the weather is bad. At my last center, I hated that the employees took all of the up front spaces and all the parents had to walk from the rear of the parking lot to drop the kids off. Employees should park in the farthest areas.
Daily updates: I love being informed of my child's day. From the activities she did, snacks and meals she ate (and how much she ate), any problems she had...everything. My last center gave me a sheet each day that they filled in just for her.
Education: My last center really educated my daughter while she was there. Teaching her, in a fun way, reading, writing, colors, and so much more...she is sooooo smart!
There are a million things I could think of...I think Day Care centers are laking in some of the most important areas and my above suggestions are just a few. If you are smart enough to think about what the parents want and kids need...you should do well in the business. Cleanliness is very important. Also having caring, competent and patient caregivers. Having a good routine that you follow daily and age appropriate activities is also important to me.
I'm not sure if all places do this but mine provides me with a report card each day telling me what he ate and when, when and what the diapers changes were, and what time he napped and for how long. She also has a section where she tells his mood for the day..."today I was -happy -okay -fussy" On the card she also lists any supplies we need...formula, food, diapers, wipes, etc. I really like this because even though I can't be there I at least get a pretty detailed description of how his day was. Defintely a clean, organized and child proofed environment with enough adults per number of children. I expect anyplace I leave my children to have employees that really love to be with kids. Daily activities that keep the kids busy so they don't get bored or have to entertain themselves for more then a few hours a day. A large fenced in play area with room for older kids to ride bikes and scooters as well as the younger ones to run around without being trampled by the big kids. A security system and staff that will ID anyone coming into the building unless they know them by name. Nutritional meals and snacks in the morning and afternoon are important. Price, hours and location are definitely important also.
Also, my kids were not "nappers" after the age of 4...I once had to take them out of a daycare center (by my own choice) because they were made to lie down even though they could not sleep and got time outs and lost privileges due to NOT sleeping. If possible, I recommend having an area for children that don't sleep during the day to play quietly so they don't get yelled at. It's important to be flexible to the kids home schedule and not disrupt it to much.
Daily logs of what the kids did, how they behaved and what and when they ate are wonderful! Also, employees that are willing to talk to the parents about any problems while still having the ability to not make the child out to be a monster. More points to providers who are trained or have experience with kids who have behavioral problems like ADHD. The most important thing is as loving environment. That you enjoy children, that you provide a clean, fun, happy and safe environment for my kids. Educational, as well, if possible. Lots of songs and stories, crafts and educational toys. Other kids who aren't aggressive or mean. Those are the main things. I am an owner of a daycare. I have 15 children enrolled, it is not in my home but in another building. I have 6 staff members and I have owned the daycare for almost 5 years. Okay so I am going to tell you first the business aspect; for me, it really isn't a money making business. I have to pay employees well or you don't get good workers and I am limited to how many kids I can have so in return I do not make a lot of money. It is also time consuming and a lot of hard work if you really care about it! At times I would be working almost 60 hours per week. I would say employees are a major stressor - who calls out, who doesn't want to work, who just sits there, so I am constantly having staff meetings to keep the lines of communication open with them.
Okay now for daycare; you must have a CLEAN daycare; I meant spotless - I mop, vacuum and clean toys daily. Have an educational program, my kids learn from infancy everything from counting in spanish, colors, shapes, days of the week, months of the year, letters and so on. We provide notes home every night that tells the parent what he/she did that day. We change them on demand and every 2 hours. I provide all meals and snacks - that's up to you to do, it gets hard to food shop after awhile, I have to fill up 3 carts of food every 6 weeks. You just have to want to work hard, really love working with kids and be educated in the field. I had NO idea how hard it was going to be!! But I am proud of the work and love that I provide for these kids the best care that I can give and I know I am doing something that is changing lives!
Good luck and sorry if this is so long.
You can check out my site @ littleduckiesdaycare.metrodaycare.com |
