Questions to ask a potential Daycare!

Your a new parent, your sleep deprived, everything is crazy and now you get to figure out the whole daycare situation. I get a lot of parents that once they get here, can't remember their questions. Here are some important questions to ask when checking out a daycare and WHY.

• What are your adult to kids ratio?

  • We keep a lot ratio, meaning we have 1 adult to up to 5 kids, 2 adults to 9 kids and 3 adults to up to 19 kids. State Licensing requires a minimum of 1 adult to 8 kids (11, if 3 are over 5-years-old) and 2 adults to 19 kids. I've worked at licensed daycares that allow more kids then that state allows and it is just not safe.

    
    

• What meals do you serve?

  • Did you know State Licensing requires that a daycare menu must be visable to parents? I didn't know this until I opened my own daycare. I worked at one prior to opening and they served nothing but junk food.

    
    

• What is your schedule like during the day?

  • This is another thing daycares are required to post. It's nice to know when and what your child will be doing through the day.

    
    

• What is the TV situation like?

  • State Licensing only allows children to watch TV for 1 hour a day, or 5 hours a week. I've seen some daycares that leave the TV on for the babies 24/7!

    
    

• How do sick days/ holidays work with billing?

  • Different daycares charge things differently. Most daycares take PAID vacations, meaning you are still billed for a day they are closed. Chick and Duck Daycare does not take paid days off. If we are closed, you will not be billed for that day. The same goes for sick days. If your child is sick, as long as you let us know they will not be attending daycare that day, you will not be billed for it.

    
    

• Are all employees background checked and trained?

  • Once again, I worked at a daycare the didn't background check me! Not only that, but once I opened my own daycare I learned that I was also required to do training which I never received at that daycare.

    
    

• Look into their records.

  • You can see all daycare's records for 3 years. Don't get too hung up if there is citations. It happens to EVERYONE. If you are in Utah, you can click here to see all of Utah's daycares records.

    
    

• Ask to look around their house. There should be nothing to hide. Look around napping rooms and such. Cameras are not required be the state.