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You are here: Home / Authors / A Guide to Finding Daycare

A Guide to Finding Daycare

June 18, 2008 by Armin Brott Leave a Comment

Q:  My wife and I are shopping around for day care. How can we tell if the facility will offer the proper care? Are there qualifications and credentials I should look for to make sure our child is safe and well cared for?

A: Finding a quality day care center or provider can be incredibly stressful. Here are just a few things to look for in a day-care center:

  • The level of training of the staff. Some have degrees in early childhood education; some aren’t much more than warm bodies.
  • Safety: windows, fences around yards, access to kitchen appliances and utensils (knives, ovens, etc.)
  • Is it licensed by the National Association of Education and Child Care?
  • Overall cleanliness.
  • Caregiver/child ratio. (In California, one licensed caregiver can take care of as many as four infants, in some other states it’s a lot more.)
  • Staff training. Do the people working there have training in early childhood education?
  • Staff consistency. How long have the staff been working there. Is there a lot of turnover?
  • Quality, condition, and number of toys.
  • Security: what precautions are taken to ensure that kids can be picked up only by the person you select? Do strangers have access to the center?

Before you make your final choice, be sure to take a tour. Spend half an hour or so-when all the kids are there-observing. Are the children happy? Are they doing the kinds of activities you expected?

Finally, in the weeks after you pick the perfect day-care center, make a few unannounced visits-just to see what goes on when there aren’t any parents around.

–Armin Brott



A great dad himself, Armin speaks not only as a specialist in parenting, but as a parent himself. He has written several books including The Expectant Father and Fathering Your Toddler.

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Great Dad Talks is a series of conversations with experts on all aspects of the family adventure. With the perspective that “dads don’t always think like moms,” our mission is to support dad voices and our slightly different approaches to parenting. We’ll try to find solutions to every day challenges like getting kids off the couch and making STEM classes available for both boys and girls. But we’ll also tackle bigger issues when they come. The one main theme will be to support dads in the most important role of their lives that of being a great dad. Connect with us at greatdad.com and watch the video version of these podcasts at YouTube.com/greatdadnews

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Whether you’re struggling with household challenges, feeling disconnected from your partner, or just want to strengthen your role as a dad and partner, this episode is for you. 

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