No rationally thinking parent would willingly place a child in a daycare environment known to be unsafe and unhealthy. And yet, such environments exist. Parents who place their children in them do so ignorantly, not fully understanding the risks involved. The good news is that it does not have to be this way.
A bit of curiosity and some diligent questioning can help parents identify the safest and healthiest daycare environments. Ask the right questions and you can learn all about the small in-home childcare provider in your neighborhood as well as the big commercial operation your friends recommend.
So, what constitutes a safe and healthy daycare environment? Below are the key things parents should be asking about:
Licensing
It should be obvious that licensing is at the top of the list. In order to be a licensed daycare provider in any state, operators must demonstrate they meet or exceed minimum requirements. In just about every state, those legal requirements involved health and safety. There may be some states that do not require in-home daycare providers to be licensed, but every state does have minimum requirements for those providers that are licensed.
Building Security
Next up is building security. Unfortunately, there is no truly safe space left in America. Daycare centers should be taking every precaution against outside intrusion, including keeping the doors locked and having all entrances monitored in some way.
Hand-in-hand with secure doors are consistent policies regarding pickup, drop off, and visits. Having an open-door policy that encourages regular visits by parents and others is not necessarily a bad thing but building access should be controlled at all times.
Staff Training
Staff training in health and safety procedures can be a mixed bag from state to state. At any rate, parents should be asking whether staff members have been fully trained in first aid, CPR, and other safety procedures. And in states where such training is mandated, it is perfectly acceptable for parents to ask for documentation proving that all training is complete and up to date.
Teacher-to-Child Ratios
You have undoubtedly heard the old proverb that states there is safety in numbers. This is true in the daycare setting, but in a different way than what is normally understood. Simply put, most states regulate teacher-to-child ratios with the understanding that putting too many children with too few teachers increases safety risks.
Ivy School, a California startup committed to developing affordable and quality daycare solutions, recommends parents ask about teacher-to-child ratios. In conjunction with such questions, they should also be asking how children are supervised and tracked. Both teachers and management need to know what is going on with each child at every point during the day.
Facility Maintenance
One thing that is not easy to slip past parents is a facility that isn’t properly maintained. Parents can walk through the door of a daycare center and quickly identify dirty floors, broken doorknobs, and the like. And yes, poorly maintained facilities do exist.
Poor maintenance is a problem on many levels. First and foremost, there are many maintenance issues that pose a physical danger to children. These are unacceptable in every case. In addition, a daycare provided that does not properly maintain its facilities shows a disregard for the children. This is not the kind of environment parents want for their kids.
It is not difficult to find a safe and healthy daycare environment if you are willing to dig around. All it takes is a bit of curiosity, a willingness to ask questions, and a commitment to not rest until such questions are answered.
