Choosing Child Care

Choosing appropriate child care for your infant or young child can seem as overwhelming as helping your teenager select a college or university. As a parent, it is your responsibility to ensure that your child is safe and happy in a child care environment that is fun, educational, and nurturing. Read on to learn how to go about making such an important decision.

Your Child and Family

About 70% of parents place their young children in some type of daily care. Whether you choose in-home or center-based care, a preschool, or someone else's home for your child's daily care setting, there are specific guidelines you should follow to be sure that your child is receiving quality, professional care suited to his developmental needs.

Most important in determining the type of care your child needs is to know your own child - his temperament, likes and dislikes, health, interests, and behavior. For an infant under 1 year of age, you need to give careful attention to your child's need to be nurtured and held, any special health needs, and the type of person you want to care for your child during the first year of his life. For an older child, his developing play and learning styles, interaction with other children, intellectual curiosity, and need for individualized attention should be considered.

The family's own values and emotional needs should also help to determine the kind of care they choose for their child. Choosing child care depends on the family's comfort level and their type of child. Some parents are overly anxious about leaving their very young child with one person, while others prefer individual care. But by age 3 or 4, it's good for the child to have at least some exposure to other kids and participate in a structured program like preschool or daycare.

Before choosing a care setting, you should be aware of the options available and consider cost, location, and reputation.

What to Look for

The first step you should take is to make a list of qualities you're looking for in a caregiver or day care, such as experience, religious background, discipline beliefs, and flexibility. Also consider any religious or cultural beliefs that you wish a caregiver to impart to your child. The International Nanny Association (INA) recommends that you interview any prospective hire at least twice and that you conduct a criminal background check, which is usually done by most placement agencies.

Approximately 5% of the nannies applying for positions have criminal conviction records, reports the INA. "Undesirable care providers tend to gravitate toward positions offered through newspaper advertisements or to agencies who do not include background investigations, but no combination of checks is completely fail-safe, and parents should remain vigilant when it comes to their children's care," the INA advises.

Besides inquiring about training in early childhood development, you should also ask a potential nanny or au pair:

• Why are you interested in working with young children?
• Why did you leave your last job? (You should always check references; ask that family why the relationship ended and whether they would recommend that caregiver.)
• What is your discipline policy? (Offer "what if" scenarios to elicit responses to situations that could arise. For example, if a child hits another child or throws a tantrum over a toy someone else is playing with, what should the consequences be?)
• How will you provide new experiences to enhance my child's mental and physical development? What are the opportunities you can offer to experience art, music, group and individual play, and indoor and outdoor play?
• How would you handle toilet teaching?
• How would you handle separation anxiety?

If you're considering a day care center or another group setting, you should spend some time observing the center and talking to parents with children in the center. You might also want to ask the following questions in addition to those above:

• Do you have an open-door policy on parent visits?
• What are alternative arrangements for care if the program closes? On what holidays is the center closed?
• What is your policy on caring for sick children?
• How do you monitor children on the playground? How old is the equipment and has it recently been inspected?
• How are children grouped? By age?
• Do you welcome children of varying ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds to the program? Do you include children with special needs?
• What are the educational backgrounds of the teachers?

In evaluating the responses to your questions, carefully consider how his or her philosophy of child rearing, discipline, and nurturing meshes with your personal vision of how your child should be guided and cared for each day.

Finally, do you have a sense of trust in this person or program? Do you believe that your child will be happy and have the opportunity to learn and grow in this environment?

The Dependent Care Connection, a Connecticut agency that coordinates in-home child care, also advises that "if none of the candidates appear to offer what you are looking for, don't pick the best of the worst. Instead, review your job requirements, make any necessary adjustments, and begin your search again, wiser from the experience." You could also ask neighborhood parents or coworkers for recommendations.