So . . . in just a few more months I'll be back in school so my baby boy will start going to daycare :(. I want to find a really good fit for him. I'm planning on spending days with him at the daycare before I am in classes again so that I can make sure it's a place where he is comfortable as well as stimulated. The problem is, I don't really know what to look for. Daycares, if they're good, can be WONDERFULL places for kids - I am still in touch with my daycare teacher from when I was little (a former teen mama, btw), but I also know that daycares can be awfull if they are not good. I'm still looking into getting vouchers, so I don't know how much cost will play into this.
What do you look for in daycares? What are some "red flags" for you when you visit them? Any advice?
You can get references to call about the daycare provider. I go to an in-home daycare and she is state-certified and also, the state certified that it is a non-smoking home. She's been in the business for over 10 years and no compliants.
I got a list from the state daycare association, called places & setp up appointments to meet them.
NAEYC accredited daycares are sort of the "gold standard" for daycare. It means they meet minimum educational, etc., requirements. there are many. many fine daycares that are not NAEYC accredited(it's a real PITA, and can be expensive), but for us it was a good sorting tool.
The biggest thing for us was whether we would want to be there for eight or ten hours a day. Max was in a daycare that was very regimented and "proper", and while it was fine, we didn't like it much. His current daycare is gorgeously chaotic and creative, full of shabby toys, kids' drawings, second-hand furniture and genuine love for the kids. I love his daycare so much that we donate money through UNited Way to them (they're a non-profit with a sliding scale -- yee-haw!). We kept him out of kindergarten this year because he's blossomed so much there.
University-affiliated daycares are almost uniformly high-quality, but are often more regimented and academically-oriented.
I wish we could clone Max's day care for all mamas.
All I can say is that you should get on it NOW. Waiting lists for really high quality places are usually immense, especially part-time places.
It depends a lot on your preference. Personally, I like the idea of a center better than an in-home place, I feel like it's a more controlled environment. I know liscenced family childcare homes have to follow regulations, but I still think there's a much better chance that shady people could be coming in and out of the home. Also, childcare centers generally requier childhood development classes of their employees, which a daycare home license does not requiere. Sure, some providors will do it anyway, but I've found it rare.
since i know you're in austin, D went to Open Door preschool and i absolutely loved it. they're a non-profit through United Way and have such a great staff who really seem to like their jobs. multicultural, multilingual, openly gay, more gender-balanced than other schools, etc. i ran into one of my kiddo's teachers at both the bob marley festival and the margaret cho performance last summer, heh. the school was started by a mom who wanted her child with Down's Syndrome to be able to go to school with her non-Down's child, and so there's a focus on inclusiveness. there was recently an article about the schools in the Statesman.
http://www.opendoorpreschool.org/
I second the open door. The RK's all went there. Also my bosses kid, etc. I wanna get Cae on that list too. but he'll probably end up at UT.