Child care is a crucial part of the lives of working families. We all want to leave our kids in good hands while at work, but it can be hard to know how safe child care is. Here are five tips to help you feel more confident about your child’s daycare safety while you’re away.
Meet The Licensing Standards
A license shows that a child care centre meets provincial standards for safety, nutrition, and other requirements. The first step to finding out if a child care centre or home is licensed is to ask the child care provider. If you can’t find out from them, look online for their license and compliance. If you still don’t have enough reliable information about the centre, consider looking for another facility.
Hygiene and Allergy Prevention
As a parent, you want to ensure the safety of your child. Here are some tips to help you know that your child’s daycare provider has followed health and safety practices:
- Hand washing – Supervisors must wash their hands before handling children and immediately after changing diapers.
- Clean surfaces – Clean surfaces such as tables and chairs before meals or playtime begins.
- Clean clothes – Change children’s clothes as often as needed throughout the day, so they don’t get too dirty or spread germs around the room.
Experience & Qualifications of the Staff
The qualifications and experience of the staff are essential in determining whether a child care program is comprehensive.
The staff should have the following capabilities:
- First aid training
- Fire safety training (to prevent injury or death)
- Child development training (childcare workers must understand children’s developmental stages, including knowing when to send children home from school if they are sick)
- Nutrition training (to ensure that meals served to meet nutritional needs)
Talk to Other Parents
There are many ways to talk to other parents to see if the facility you’re looking at is suitable for your child.
Here are some conversation starters:
- Ask if they are happy with their childcare experience.
- Ask if they have any concerns about the centre or staff members. What could be improved? What do they think makes this centre unique?
- Ask if there’s anything you should know before dropping off your child for the first time.
Other questions include:
- Do you have any stories about how your child has learned something new from their teacher? Would you recommend this daycare centre to others?
How is the Whole Community And the Environment?
If you’ve ever been to a daycare centre, you know that they come in all shapes and sizes. Some have playgrounds and colourful murals on the walls, while others have little more than cramped rooms with scattered toys.
It can be difficult to tell if a daycare centre is good just by looking at it. Instead of focusing on aesthetics, ask questions about how the children are treated and what activities they do during the day. Daycare centres should also be clean and safe.
A good child care centre in Melbourne will have a policy for dealing with accidents and illnesses and a plan for removing hazards from the grounds.
It will also have a system for dealing with bad behaviour, such as sending children who are misbehaving to the principal’s office or another quiet area. A good daycare centre will have staff trained in first aid and CPR, as well as someone who is certified in child development.
Conclusion
We hope these tips have been helpful in your search for quality child care. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you want more information about our services or feel free to visit our centre for a tour of our facilities. We look forward to hearing from you!