A question about where your child starts going into life is decisive. Remember choosing a childcare center can be a difficult process. Class schedule, room space, and even cleaning dishes will affect the comfort and development of children.
Looking for a good kindergarten is challenging for many parents. You have to pay attention to many things, but it is almost impossible to foresee everything without experience. We want to tell you what you should pay attention to and what questions to ask.
Finding the Right Daycare
A kindergarten is not a place where your child just spends time, eats, and sleeps. Kindergarten is a place where a child works on basic life skills and principles for future personality building. Thus, it is very important that he feels himself in the garden in a safe, comfortable environment.
The educators often emphasize the trust between the kids and their tutors and nannies. There are many Montessori-oriented daycares that provide the opinion of the child-adult interaction importance.
Kindergarten becomes the first place where a child learns to live without a mother. Not only his future knowledge but also his physical and mental health depend on who and what will surround him.
It is convenient for most parents to send their child to a kindergarten near their home, but it shouldn’t be the most important aspect.
Things to Look for in a Daycare
First of all, it is worth focusing on the atmosphere that you see in kindergarten. This is obvious from the children who are there. If the children are cheerful, free, and noisy, then they feel quite comfortable. As a rule, you can easily notice if the children feel calm and confident or shy and banned to do something.
What do parents look for in a daycare? We mention the major values!
- Institution values
Not all daycares provide a good base for the child and parents should be really careful. Each kindergarten is a separate family with its own rules and principles. In any place, you can meet both good and bad teachers. You need to communicate with people and focus on their values.
- Level of education of employees
Right after the first meeting, you will understand what kind of people will raise your child. Pay attention to speech and behavior, because these are the people who will spend almost half the day with your child. Speech manners are formed at preschool age, so children will learn to speak from teachers.
- Classes program
Many parents enroll their children in some kindergartens with modern educational programs. This is extremely important because our world is rapidly changing every year. We simply cannot afford to have our children brought up according to some materials that are 20-40 years old.
Seven Points for Choosing the Right Child Care
Ask educators how children spend their day in the kindergarten
Do they have free time when they can contact other children? Do they have the opportunity to choose an activity by interest, or is it always up to the teacher? How can a child take initiative? How can he show his creativity?
Based on the answers to these questions, it will be clear which educational model the kindergarten adheres to — directive or democratic.
Find out how conflicts are resolved
Ask the teacher what they usually do in the garden if the children have a fight or one is trying to take something from the other. If the teacher can’t really say anything, then most likely conflicts are resolved by the common method: “give it back and get out of here!” or “you both are bad!”.
That is, the child doesn’t see a correct model of behavior in a conflict. But it could be a positive example for making his further relations with the world.
How do they develop independence in the daycare (if they do)
Pay special attention to how much time during the day child spends with activities that help to become independent. The educational process must be built in such a way that the child has many opportunities to show independence.
Pay attention to the class schedule
Is there something there that contributes to the development of skills of self-sufficiency, responsibility, communication with others? Does the child have a choice, and what is it?
For example, if every hour children are supposed to have classes, this means that kids work only on instructions and are deprived of freedom of choice. If the child is constantly busy, this is not bad, because he is most likely not bored. But at the same time, even if he becomes smarter, he does not get communication skills. It is unlikely that he will gain self-confidence.
Consider the area of the rooms
How to find a good daycare? Come into the room. If the rooms are small, then even ten children will feel uncomfortable being there all day. The kindergarten area should be spacious enough for kids to feel free.
Is there any feedback from parents?
Find out how the teachers give feedback to parents. Some general words or regular parent meetings don’t work well.
The teacher should give parents detailed feedback on how their child is developing, where he is moving, what’s about his development. F
For example, some daycares like Little Scholars in the US made a special app for the parents’ community to keep in touch with them and provide the info.
Ask teachers about how often and what they talk to children about
If the communication is directive, there are only instructions and rules, this means that the child has little chance of trusting these teachers and this place. It is unlikely that he will be able to find happiness and comfort there. A teacher will always be only a tutor and not a friend. For sure, it is not what you are looking for.
Tip!
It is worth noting that in many kindergartens there is an opportunity to spend a welcoming day. So, take advantage of this opportunity. Don’t forget there are many good daycares in the area. If you feel that your child is uncomfortable somewhere, you can always find another one!
