The following Child Care FAQ is reprinted from the USENET newsgroup alt.childcare.
Where can I find child care in my area?
In the United States, try the National Association of Child Care Resource
and Referral Agencies at
http://www.yahoo.com/promotions/yourchild/search.html. For information on
your state's child care profile, please see http://nccic.org/statepro.html.
Where can I find information on company-sponsored child care?
There are several chains of child care centers that work with corporations
and government agencies to provide on-site child care centers. Among the
chains are: La Petite, Children's World, Kindercare, and Bright Horizons.
Alt.childcare offers no opinion or endorsement of any of these chain
centers.
Where can I find my state's child care regulation?
Arkansas http://nrc.uchsc.edu/ar/index.html
Mississippi http://nrc.uchsc.edu/miss/miss.htm
Tennessee http://nrc.uchsc.edu/tenn/tenn.htm
What do I look for in a licensed home/center?
Finding the right kind of child care takes time. If possible, begin looking
a few months before your child will need care. Allow several weeks for
visiting different child care centers and family day care homes.
When looking for child care, it is important to visit a child care facility
when children are involved in program activities. That will give you an
opportunity to see if the children like the program and how they get along
with program staff. This may also give you an idea of how well the program
suits your child. If you find a facility you think is suitable, try to come
back for a second visit and take your child. Does your child seem
comfortable there? After the visit, try to find out from your child
how he or she felt about the facility.
Before you visit any child care setting, you should call and talk with the
family day care provider or center director to get some basic information.
Here are some questions you may want to ask:
What time do you open and close?
How much do you charge, and when are payments made? Weekly? Monthly?
Does the price include meals and snacks, or do I need to bring food for
my child?
How many other children are in your program, and what are their ages?
Are your services and fees written down in the form of a contract or
service agreement?
If you are uncomfortable with the answers to any of these questions, the
facility is probably not the right one for you.
When you visit the facility, there are three main things you should look for
to make sure the program is the right one for you and your child. These
three things are:
The caregiver
The children
The space within the
facility which is used for child care.
1. Look at the Caregiver
Can you talk easily with the caregiver? Are you comfortable with the
person?
Do you feel you can trust the caregiver?
Does the caregiver seem to enjoy being with the children? Is he/she
really listening and responding to them?
Is the caregiver able to keep up with the children, or does he/she seem
overly tired?
Are the children supervised at all times?
How does the caregiver discipline the children?
Does the caregiver use a calm voice? Does he/she speak to the children
on their own level?
Does the program have written policies and procedures? If so, do parents
receive copies?
2. Look at the Children
Do the children seem to enjoy being with the caregiver?
Are the children given a chance to make choices? Are they able to
"explore" on their own?
Do the children seem to understand and follow the program's rules and
routines?
3. Look at the Space Used for Child Care
Is the provider's child care license or registration displayed? Is it
current?
Does the program area look clean and safe?
Do the children wash their hands before eating and after using the
toilet?
Are cleaning supplies, sharp objects, medicines, and other dangerous
items put away out of the children's reach?
Is there enough space indoors and outdoors so all the children have room
to play? Is the outdoor play area safe?
Is there enough heat, light, and ventilation?
Are there fire extinguishers and smoke detectors?
Are all toys and materials in good condition? Are they suitable for the
children's ages? Can the children reach them easily?
If meals and snacks are provided by the program, are they nutritious?
Are they the kinds of food you want your child to eat?
In general, does the program have a safe, healthy, and happy "feel" to
it?
Is it a place where children can be children?
If you can answer "yes" to all these questions after your visit, you
probably found the right facility for you and your child. But you also have
to listen to your instincts: if you feel uncomfortable with the facility for
any reason, you should look for another one.
Why does my child do this ?
Children are wondrous, unique, but extremely self-centered creatures. There
is no singular reason or definition of behavior, but there may be
overlapping consistencies. As child care professionals, we can only guess
as to why a child does what she does, so please understand if you receive
multiple responses and theories, all of which may make sense.
As an alternative, check out http://www.iamyourchild.org/pq-title.html to
see if your child's behavior fits into any of these categories. You might
just find the answer to your question.
What are some benefits of an early childhood program?
An early childhood program provides opportunities for your child to learn to
play and work with other children, to develop skills needed for success in
school and to participate in enjoyable activities which will enrich their
preschool years. Our primary aim is to involve your child in a learning
readiness program that helps children function successfully as group
members, and gives them the feeling that learning is fun, exciting,
challenging, and rewarding.
Some specific benefits of an early childhood program are:
-- expanding communication skills through conversations and classroom
experiences such as art, music, science, social studies, block building,
dramatic play, etc.
-- encouraging original and imaginative though processes and express
them in creative multi-media activities.
-- developing the ability to listen, follow directions, take turns, and
respect the property rights of others.
-- developing enjoyment and appreciation of music through listening,
singing, dramatizing, rhythm, creative movement.
-- discovering the community & its people through walks and special
guests
-- enhancing and increasing manual dexterity through art, block play,
Lego, and other manipulative materials.
-- experiencing success through achievement, rather than through
expectancy.
Some specific skills your child will develop include:
-- visual, auditory discrimination and comprehension
-- fine motor skills: cutting, pasting, lacing
-- gross motor skills: climbing, jumping
-- eye-hand coordination
-- left to right progression (pre-reading skill)
-- one to one correspondence
-- recognition of shapes, colors, alphabet, numerals, and safety signs
-- math concepts: measuring, comparisons, sequence, classification, etc.
-- scientific ideas: cause/effect, weather, time
-- socialization skills: group living, sharing
-- family-style dining: setting tables, pouring, serving, cleaning up
after self
-- nutrition, good eating habits, new foods, manners, politeness,
personal hygiene
-- language development: vocabulary, pre-reading/readiness skills,
letter sounds
Why doesn't my child do dittos when at day care?
Many parents put unusual emphasis on dittos, worksheets, or bringing
homework from school. This concept is not what Early Childhood is all
about, for everything your child does in preschool is work. Every time
your child builds with blocks or sifts sand, he is working. Art is work.
Creative movement is work. A ditto is only a representation of busy work
and is too frustrating and not stimulating to a young child. Coloring
between the lines of what another has drawn does not develop the
skills that your child needs at this early age. There are no valuable
skills developed by the use of dittos.
