Child Care Daycare

Your child is going to a wonderful Day Care. The Day Care is a convenient place to your home, the care providers are friendly and knowledgeable. The care providers have indicated that their goals and values are a match to your own. Your child is always happy to go there and is settling in wonderfully. You thought this was the perfect Day Care.

Then one day

1 - One day as you are picking up your child from the Day Care you notice that the trail mix snack that they are feeding your child has Froot Loops in it. You consider Froot Loops not to be in your nutritious list. Here is what you can do about it. Nutrition is a priority in today's licenced daycares. The government has made mandates towards healthier eating. It is required that Daycare Centres provide healthy options and many are approved by dietitians.

If you are concerned about what is being fed to your child, ask to speak to the supervisor and ask to see their recipes for the foods being provided. The centre should have choices, and you can ask that they feed your child your choice options.

2 - One day as you are picking up your child you see that she is in a diaper again. You have had her comfortably on the potty and she is almost always making it on time. You have her wearing Big Girl Pants, but the daycare provider thought otherwise. Or.. You pickup your child and the daycare provider happily informs you that you son loves sitting on the potty and just peed in the potty for the first time.

As a parent, what to do? None of this fits into the plans you have going on with your child. The important thing to remember is this is your child and you make the decisions.

Usually daycares will discuss their toilet-training procedures at registration. It is the parents' decision when they want their child out of the diaper. So when a problem comes up just ask for a meeting with the supervisor immediately. The daycare should follow your instruction, just be sure they are realistic and in the best interest of your child.

Pushing a child into toiler training is not a good idea.

3 - You put your child to bed at night and then he's out of bed six times, and now he is up well past his eight o'clock bedtime. During the weekends you have started to eliminate his afternoon nap. At the daycare they are still giving your child a nap.

Just ask the daycare to cut out your child's nap. Most daycare providers are happy to help parents out with the nap transition. During nap time, they will likely take your child aside and keep them quietly entertained. Another option would be to cut your child's nap time in half. This sometimes works just as well. It is a good idea to keep your childcare provider informed about your child, to avoid any unnecessary problems. Such as your child was unusually up late, etc.

4 - You are putting your child to bed and you see teeth marks on her arm. Child biting is a very common thing, but that does not make it any less shocking. Biting is a phase that some children go through as they struggle to communicate. Childcare providers work hard at find out why the biting happened. Speak to the childcare provider right away and they will take steps to avoid the biting from happening again. Also if your child has bitten another child, let the child daycare provider know. Biting is a phase most kids have to outgrow.

5 - Are you wondering what your child does at daycare all day? You ask your child but they give you little information. Most daycares provide a daily written report on your child. When your child is no longer in the diaper stage, the daycare only provides a verbal report. Many times the pickup and drop off is rushed, or the provider is unavailable. You end up finding out very little about the progress your child is having.

Talk to the daycare provider and suggest including periodic written reports. Many daycare providers keep logs on each child and any provider may pick it up to inform you and answer your questions. Other daycares post everything a child has done or made on their bulletin board . Make sure you take the time to view the room. You'll see photos, artwork, menus and notices. Schedule time to talk to the daycare provider. Phone, face to face, or even email. They will appreciate your input. After all, you know your child better than anyone.