Let's talk about daycare quality!
- Thread starter hulahooper
- Start date
isaiah9six
New member
@hulahooper My daughter has been SO lucky that despite her daycare overall having a pretty high level of turnover (presumably standard for the industry though), she's always been able to have a single consistent teacher in each of her 3 classrooms. Arguably in her current classroom there was the most turnover - 2 head teachers changed, but an assistant teacher (who then became head teacher after the 2nd head teacher left and they never found a replacement) was there with her for the entire year.
But really to me everything you said just speaks to how childcare NEEDS to be better funded. We cannot keep paying daycare employees minimum wage or just slightly over and expect them to provide quality care to our babies and toddlers. The amount of work they put in is incredible, especially considering the amount of shit (literally and figuratively) they put up with. And then its frustrating when I notice our local daycare redid the landscaping along the side of the building...like that was ENTIRELY unnecessary. The kids don't play there...its running alongside the parking lot. There's absolutely no benefit to the quality of care the children receive to spend money pulling the perfectly good existing flowers and bushes out to replace them with new flowers and bushes. Like how about you just PAY THE TEACHERS MORE? They can't retain staff because everyone keeps quitting because no one wants to subject themselves to working in a daycare! So its just adding to the childcare shortage - our daycare has a ton of extra physical space, but they can't get enough employees in so they are limited in taking on more kids. Its completely ridiculous.
But really to me everything you said just speaks to how childcare NEEDS to be better funded. We cannot keep paying daycare employees minimum wage or just slightly over and expect them to provide quality care to our babies and toddlers. The amount of work they put in is incredible, especially considering the amount of shit (literally and figuratively) they put up with. And then its frustrating when I notice our local daycare redid the landscaping along the side of the building...like that was ENTIRELY unnecessary. The kids don't play there...its running alongside the parking lot. There's absolutely no benefit to the quality of care the children receive to spend money pulling the perfectly good existing flowers and bushes out to replace them with new flowers and bushes. Like how about you just PAY THE TEACHERS MORE? They can't retain staff because everyone keeps quitting because no one wants to subject themselves to working in a daycare! So its just adding to the childcare shortage - our daycare has a ton of extra physical space, but they can't get enough employees in so they are limited in taking on more kids. Its completely ridiculous.
hulahooper
New member
@isaiah9six Yes to all this! It’s outrageous how little childcare workers are paid & protected considering how incredibly important the work they do is not only to individual children but to our entire society. Quebec tried providing universal childcare in the 90s, assuming it would get mothers working and therefore improve kids welfare, but found that because the quality of care provided was poor (and therefore cheap to govt) kids in Quebec started rapidly declining on all kinds of outcomes. It was a sad lesson in the importance of these institutions. But because it is a feminized workforce, and children are generally undervalued by capitalism, the workers providing this extraordinary service are treated like dirt.
demonslayer410
New member
@isaiah9six You’d be horrified to know or maybe you do what we make. We don’t do it for the money. Ugh I gotten get my rear in gear for work!
@hulahooper I work in early intervention and get to see how daycares operate from the inside. Parents are not always aware of what to prioritize when choosing a daycare. They are often limited by cost, operating hours, and availability. Unfortunately, none of these things correlate with high quality care. I have met some wonderful care providers going above and beyond to treat children as their own, and I have seen burned out providers who are essentially meeting the children’s physical needs but not much else. It’s so hard for these families to get proper care for their children.
katrina2017
New member
macherieamour
New member
@katrina2017 Not the person you were replying to, but EI workers deal with kids in their natural environments, most of the time at home or at their daycare. For example, I’m a physical therapist, so if I worked in EI I would provide physical therapy sessions for the child wherever they are during the day- either at home or their childcare center
radiancebstar
New member
@hulahooper I am a director at a care center. Everything you’ve said is worthy of recognition. Most of these things are out of parent control, and in some ways, not fully in the control of the center (as it depends on the individual teachers rather than the center).
Parents: you can research on your own as OP has done, but also, GO AND TOUR YOUR OPTIONS. Tour every center you can as EARLY as you can. You don’t have to enroll your kiddo yet, but you need to feel comfortable with your place. You need to get your options. Go look at all of them and get your family enrolled for whenever you know you’ll need care.
ENROLL WITH YOUR FAVORITE CENTER LONG BEFORE YOU NEED THE CARE. SAVE YOUR PLACE.
As some have commented, centers fill up and you just pray for openings. I run a large center and our waitlist is huge. We are currently full. We are currently projecting fall enrollments (as in September), but our infant room is pretty much full for the year. New infants are expected throughout the fall (including my own) and once they’re in, we won’t have any new openings until summer ‘24.
Parents: you can research on your own as OP has done, but also, GO AND TOUR YOUR OPTIONS. Tour every center you can as EARLY as you can. You don’t have to enroll your kiddo yet, but you need to feel comfortable with your place. You need to get your options. Go look at all of them and get your family enrolled for whenever you know you’ll need care.
ENROLL WITH YOUR FAVORITE CENTER LONG BEFORE YOU NEED THE CARE. SAVE YOUR PLACE.
As some have commented, centers fill up and you just pray for openings. I run a large center and our waitlist is huge. We are currently full. We are currently projecting fall enrollments (as in September), but our infant room is pretty much full for the year. New infants are expected throughout the fall (including my own) and once they’re in, we won’t have any new openings until summer ‘24.
hulahooper
New member
@radiancebstar This is good, practical advice. Thanks for sharing.
@hulahooper I absolutely love my daycare. Our teacher in the infant room has been there for over seven years, and there's only three infants. She is positively doted on by every adult that works there, is constantly doing fun little crafts and is always happy as can be at drop off and pickup. We got so lucky. Plus, for infant care it's cheap af - $235 a week. If I could afford to pay more I would because they're just wonderful people.
@hulahooper One of the things I struggle with is how do you know if the daycare workers care and are doing a good job? I drop my kid off in the morning - we are not encouraged to linger. Then I pick her up and it’s really the same thing. I’m not there for 99% of her day and it’s just not possible to tell how she’s actually being treated.
I think this us why it can be so hard for parents to accurately judge the quality of care. It’s not like they are letting me hang out in the classroom to find out.
I think this us why it can be so hard for parents to accurately judge the quality of care. It’s not like they are letting me hang out in the classroom to find out.
hulahooper
New member
@shwuana So true. Some daycares allow unannounced visits, and others don't. I read one paper released by a govt agency saying they encouraged people to look for daycares that allowed unannounced visits, but I'm not sure how well-founded or reasonable that is.
Assessing the quality of caregiving is very tough. I don't have any research behind this, but my intuition tells me that getting to know the staff may be of some help. Hearing how they talk about your child and whether they seem to have a connection with them and speak knowledgeably and sensitively about them may be a good indicator.
Assessing the quality of caregiving is very tough. I don't have any research behind this, but my intuition tells me that getting to know the staff may be of some help. Hearing how they talk about your child and whether they seem to have a connection with them and speak knowledgeably and sensitively about them may be a good indicator.
hannahbaker101
New member
@shwuana This is completely anecdotal, but my kids lit up as infants when they saw their teachers (similar to their reaction to us when we'd pick them up). The daily notes and logs would not only be complete but would show they were well aware of the routines/cues/needs of our babies. The daily pictures showed deep engagement, time outside, and advancement in developmental milestones. We never discovered a mark, bruise, diaper rash, injury or illness at home that we weren't made aware of during the day. Even in the few minutes of drop off and pick up, you could sense the connection through a few questions or suggestions by the teachers.
The older kids at the facility were so happy too...I remember picking up my son in the first week when he was an infant and a 4-5 year old was sobbing with a teacher comforting him while his mom watched. The mom just told me "he is upset he has to go home.". Now, I'm the mom whose children get mad at me if I pick them up too early.
Bottom line is that I think there are some clues mixed with gut instinct.
The older kids at the facility were so happy too...I remember picking up my son in the first week when he was an infant and a 4-5 year old was sobbing with a teacher comforting him while his mom watched. The mom just told me "he is upset he has to go home.". Now, I'm the mom whose children get mad at me if I pick them up too early.
Bottom line is that I think there are some clues mixed with gut instinct.
@hulahooper I used to work in daycares and preschools in college and have an early ed degree but am now in a totally different field. We had such a hard time finding a spot for our twins as infants, so I focused on getting them into a good daycare when they hit preschool age as there’s more spots open.
The one we went with was one of the most affordable, but also had the best and most frequent parent referrals. It’s a small place, two classrooms, preschool age kids only. Owner was there for 30 years and is retiring and a teacher who went there as a kid and has been there for a decade plus is taking over. One or two teachers have retired from there, the rest have stayed. There’s no fancy frills to the facility, the toys a little worn, the tables well loved, etc, but I’ve worked at glitzy, corporate places that I wouldn’t leave my dog. They do so many fun activities, so much outside time, and their teachers are so sweet and always have a detailed handoff report to give us. That mattered much more to me than anything else and our kids love it too.
The one we went with was one of the most affordable, but also had the best and most frequent parent referrals. It’s a small place, two classrooms, preschool age kids only. Owner was there for 30 years and is retiring and a teacher who went there as a kid and has been there for a decade plus is taking over. One or two teachers have retired from there, the rest have stayed. There’s no fancy frills to the facility, the toys a little worn, the tables well loved, etc, but I’ve worked at glitzy, corporate places that I wouldn’t leave my dog. They do so many fun activities, so much outside time, and their teachers are so sweet and always have a detailed handoff report to give us. That mattered much more to me than anything else and our kids love it too.
hulahooper
New member
@matt97 So wonderful that you found a good place like this. Sounds like they really centered the caregiver and child relationship, which is exactly what young children need. We all know that kids with nice gadgets and absent parents are suffering compared to kids with hand-me-downs and warm parents; the same seems to be true with center based care.
@hulahooper There’s a fantastic research backed guide on choosing a daycare by a redditor (here, free pdf).
Daycare quality in the US blows my mind a bit - only 10% of daycares meet the measures to be considered high quality, but 80% of parents believe their kid attends a high quality daycare. This is an area where parents don’t get great education on what to look for - and even if they did, many or most live in child care deserts with few to no high quality options.
Anecdotally, from my read of the research, I’d agree with all of your points and would suggest also taking a look at this excellent Quality 101 piece.
Daycare quality in the US blows my mind a bit - only 10% of daycares meet the measures to be considered high quality, but 80% of parents believe their kid attends a high quality daycare. This is an area where parents don’t get great education on what to look for - and even if they did, many or most live in child care deserts with few to no high quality options.
Anecdotally, from my read of the research, I’d agree with all of your points and would suggest also taking a look at this excellent Quality 101 piece.
hulahooper
New member
katrina2017
New member
@hulahooper I chose my daycare because they had a spot 
I am very happy with it so far.
I have noticed there’s relatively low turnover, the teachers seem overall happy and although sometimes it’s messy, the kids are super happy too.
My daughter then other day even walked towards her teachers for the first tome and did not even turn to say bye xD
We’d have quality daycare if people actually invested in early childhood education from the government, but there will always be the child free a*****le who will debate that they won’t spend their taxes on someone else’s children.
I am very happy with it so far.
I have noticed there’s relatively low turnover, the teachers seem overall happy and although sometimes it’s messy, the kids are super happy too.
My daughter then other day even walked towards her teachers for the first tome and did not even turn to say bye xD
We’d have quality daycare if people actually invested in early childhood education from the government, but there will always be the child free a*****le who will debate that they won’t spend their taxes on someone else’s children.
hulahooper
New member
@katrina2017 Right. High quality accessible childcare should be thought of as a necessity for the survival of the species!