How to select a childcare or daycare center

Here's our list of handy hints and tips for selecting a daycare or childcare center for your child. We split our list of essentials into two parts - firstly things you should consider when selecting the center, secondly things the daycare staff should tell you about. Here it goes ...

1) What to look for in a childcare / daycare center:

• Safe location – is it in a safe neighbourhood / near a busy street?


• Safe building – is it clean and child-safe (by regulation, it has to be)? Or is it old and rundown?


• What are the play areas and toys like (new, old, dirty, clean)?


• Is there a pleasant outdoor area available, with appropriate shelter from sun and rain?


• Can the dropping off and picking up of your child be organised safely and with relative ease?


• What is the teaching and childcare philosophy? What are their policies and procedures e.g., about noise, behaviour, TV watching, sleeps, and so on?


• Staff ratio – are there enough people to take care of the children at ALL TIMES?


• Staff abilities – are they trained and qualified? There are strict regulations in place for operating a daycare; don't be afraid to ask about staff qualifications.


• How many children attend in total? How many under two year-olds and how many pre-schoolers.


• What food and beverages are served?


• What is the incident history, and how long has the center been registered with an official authority?


• What is the decoration like - does it look like a happy place with lots of photos, children's paintings and other artwork on display?

Au-pair screening and fluffy personality tests

The most important role of au pair agencies is ensuring that the au pairs they provide are suitable for the job and trustworthy. This is done by screening au pairs through interviews, reference checks, background screening and personality tests.
Au pair agencies in the USA are required by federal regulations to use personality tests as part of the Au Pair screening process. Personality tests are important because no single screening method is 100% accurate and combining several tools is the only way to increase the overall accuracy of the pre-employment screening.

Here's why:

Childcare or no to childcare that is the question??

My wife gave me instructions that she wanted to have a look at the new Childcare Centre for Pyper next year, based 5 minutes drive from home. We were driving passed and so what better opportunity to go in, so she thought. Well I waited in the car with Pyper for 10 minutes and then Renee came out and said "lets go in and have a look." Yay! I couldnt wait – another Overpriced Childcare Centre – HOLD ME back – NOT.

We went in there and the lady didnt know much – couldnt really answer our questions so I was thinking great they must be really great with the kids especially if they cant even answer our questions. So they took us around and said the new centre manager wasnt there and everyone else was away – It seemed like it. I was thinking fantastic Im out the door. The place is brand new and looks great with lots of those exesaucer play centres for the kids.