How to choose a good Child Day Care Center?

December 26, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment 

Ron Michael Knight asked:


In finding the right day care center, consider your child’s safety, how much you can afford to pay and your daily routine.  Look for the following:

Safety: check if the child care is licensed with your state and country.  Find out if it is well equipped to handle emergencies and if the staff is trained in first aid.  If required, get feedbacks from parents of other children attending the child care. Staff:  the members of the staff are responsible for the care and learning of your child when you are away.  Make sure your child is in good hands through the day.  Watch how the staff works with the children and check if they are kind and caring.  Make sure there are enough staff members to give personalized attention to the kids. Learning programs:  Find what kind of learning programs and activities the center is offering.  Check if they are on lines of your child’s interests and are apt for your child’s age.  You should also consider whether the programs fit with your family values and inculcate the right spirit in your child. Affordable: Check your finances to see whether it fits the fee charged by the child care.  Determine whether the services at the child care is worthy of the fees that you pay. Convenient:  Think about the location of the care center, if it is convenient for you to drop and pick up the child everyday and if you can reach the place easily in case of emergency. Peer:  the age of children at the child care center is a crucial aspect that most parents tend to ignore.  Make sure your child gels well with other children at the center and are happy at the end of the day.

Bottom line, the child day care center should be a pleasant and enriching experience for your child.  It should be a place where your child can learn, play and be well taken care of.



Overcoming Staff Hiring Issues When Starting A Child Care

October 4, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment 

Sean Tan asked:


Whether you are starting a daycare because you enjoy spending time with kids or because you want to get into a wonderfully profitable business opportunity, you will need to employ some people to help you out. Yes, it is true that the child business is extremely profitable, because with both parents working in most houses, it becomes extremely important to enroll their kids in a daycare.

Parents would select daycare centers that are close to their homes, or on the way to their offices, so that they can easily drop and pick up the kids when they are en route to their workplace. But, even for the chidcare operators, such as you, this can be a very exciting experience, you get to spend time with some angelic kids and get good money for that too! Of course, there are responsibilities of handling the kids and keeping them engaged, but I would say that is better than most of the jobs on the planet.

Let’s talk about the staffing issues now. When starter kits, you cannot avoid hiring a few people as your staff members. Selecting them is important, because you will be entrusting to their care some very impressible children. Look into the following points:

1. Actually speaking, whether a person has experience or not in the day care kids business doesn’t really matter that much, because all humans have an inherent tendency of looking after kids. But what is more important is the past history of the person. Do not hire anyone without performing some background checks on them. Ask for references, and double-check them.

2. Start with short term contracts with your staff members, because you need to look into their methods of working. But, it is better to sign a long term contract as soon as possible, as the kids in the home business get used to people soon and don’t like changes. Changing staff continually will make kids and their parents worried. It is advisable to make long period contracts with people whom you have probated for a while.

3. Clearly explain the way your childcare operates to all new recruits, at the very start. The rules and regulation of your daycare, their job timings, and modes of payment everything should be made clear to them. This prevents a lot of uneasiness later on.

It is advisable to advertise your starter kit only after you have your staff in place. That makes your business much more credible. When people have meetings with you about whether to use your daycare or not, they will definitely ask about your staff. In fact, that is an indicator of how important a good staff is to your child center.