Child Care: What's Best for Your Child?

–A Visit to a Child Care Center–

There were so many little people in the room, I thought I was in Munchkin Land (from the Wizard of Oz). But these little people were babies. One was being held by a young woman; others were walking, creeping, wandering from room to room in the small ranch house.

I was visiting a potential childcare setting (for infants to five-year-olds) to explore the kinds of childcare services that were available to care for my granddaughter while my daughter works.
A tour of the house revealed an empty crib in each room. Yet one six-month-old baby was lying on his back on the double bed in the master bedroom gazing at television. "He can turn from his stomach to his back, but not the other way," explained the caregiver, "so he’s safe in the middle of the bed." We left him there alone, as we continued on our tour. I felt troubled and I thought, What if today is the day he learns to turn onto his stomach? And what if he keeps rolling right off the bed?

In the poorly lit basement, a tangle of toys on the floor was the "playroom" with two four-year-old boys watching a cooking program on TV. There were no adults downstairs supervising them. All the adult supervision was handled by these two caregivers, one of whom was holding the infant on the first floor, and the other, giving us the tour.

Out in the backyard, four toddlers were unsupervised, in an area that contained climbers and a sandbox, out of sights of the caregivers.
Although the two women seemed relaxed and responded kindly to the children, the setting was unacceptable in terms of physical setup, safety, supervision, and the number of adults available to care for the children.

What You Need to Know About Choosing Quality Child Care for Your Preschooler

When you look at which childcare program is best for your child, there are several considerations.

1. You want a place where: your child will be happy, safe, and lovingly cared for; your preschooler will learn to get along with other children; your youngster will participate in interesting and creative activities
2. You need a program that is: convenient to your home or business; affordable
3. You want to find the type of setting that suits you best: when you need all-day childcare, look at group day-care, family day-care, or in-home daycare; if you want your child to be in a preschool program for just a few hours a day, search for a nursery school or parent cooperative to fill your need