IG Community: Questions to ask a potential pre-school or daycare

We have been extremely lucky to have help raising our daughter. For the last two years, she has been cared for while we are at work by my mom, my mother in law, and for a short time, a nanny. These women have been so incredible with her. I mean how great is it to have your kid be cared for by the women that raised you and your husband? Dane and I will be forever grateful that our moms were able to do this, and the bond our daughter shares with them both is just the best.

Although we wish that we could keep things as they are until our daughter starts kindergarten, that is just not feasible with another baby coming. Caring for a baby and a toddler at the same time is not something we would want our mothers to do, so we have decided that come January, Ariadne will start pre-school. She will be 2.5, and we are comfortable with her starting at this age. She loves playing with other kiddos and really wants more interaction. She also speaks in full, very descriptive sentences, so we feel confident in her ability to communicate with us about what is happening at school.

All that being said, it is still overwhelming to think about entrusting others with the most important person in our lives, so I turned to my IG community for help in terms of what we should be looking for when choosing a place for our daughter. You guys were so wonderful and gave so many good suggestions for things we might not have even thought of!

I felt like this list was too good not to share, so here is everything that you guys said all in one place. I hope it helps for anyone else who might be in the same boat!

• How often are the children taken outside?
• What is your approach to a child who is not listening or displaying bad behavior?
• How do you prepare bottles? Are you comfortable preparing bottles with breast milk?
• Do we provide snacks and lunch for the children? What is your approach to feeding time?
• Can we see your nap space? How do the children nap? What do you do with kids who do not want to take a nap? 
• What is your plan for emergency situations? 
• Do they have security of any kind? Are there alarm systems in place? 
• Do they allow any outsiders in the building?
• Are there cameras at the school to monitor teachers/classrooms? Can parents view the cameras?
• Will I receive a daily report on what my child is doing? Pictures?
• Is tuition yearly, month to month, weekly? How often does the tuition/monthly price increase? Find out the contract terms.
• Sick policy?
• Cleaning. How do they clean what do they use?
• How do they handle when another kid hurts yours! Specially a repeated offense.
• How much do they pay their workers?
• Are screens used?
• What is their vaccination policy?
• What is the ratio of adults to children?
• Do they have a NAEYC accreditation?
• What is the daily schedule like?
• Do they support potty training?
• What are the rules around drop off and pick up?
• Is there a specific curriculum followed?
• Ask to see diapering/ toileting spaces.
• How often is water provided/ available?
• What constitutes and incident report vs. not letting you know something happened?
• How much advance notice you must give if you decide to leave?
• How strictly they keep a schedule and what they’ll do if your kid isn’t having it?
• The caregivers – how are staff needs being met? Raises; flexible work etc.
• The staff and the surrounding area daycares staff about their needs/ wants/experiences and shows
• A break down of demographics.
• Do they offer scholarships or financial assistance?
• When your child gets sick or gets injured, what steps are taken based on degree of seriousness?
• What is the protocol for an emergency event? How do you get contacted? Etc
• Can parents drop in at any time?
• Do they have vacation weeks?,
• If in diapers -what’s changing policy (only when needed or on timed intervals)?
• What’s their pick up grace period (in case you’re ever running late)?

xx,

Camile