Questions to Ask a Daycare Provider
Questions for a parent choosing care for a toddler or preschooler: how the room is staffed, what happens when children hit or get hurt, what the contract commits you to, and how problems get raised.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What is the ratio in the room my child would be in, and does it hold at seven in the morning and half five in the evening?
Why ask it
Licensed ratios are usually met mid-morning and stretched at the edges of the day, often by combining rooms. Ask what the room looks like in the first and last hour, because that is when supervision thins.
How long have the people in that room worked here?
Why ask it
The single most useful number about a childcare setting, and rarely offered without being asked. Two staff with several years each says more than any curriculum document.
What happens when a child bites or hits another child?
Why ask it
You want the actual sequence: how the hurt child is handled, what is said to the other one, what both parents are told, and at what point a child is excluded. Vagueness here means it is handled differently by whoever is on shift.
What gets a child sent home, and how long do they have to stay out?
Why ask it
Temperature thresholds, vomiting, a rash, green mucus, pink eye. This decides how many days of work you will lose in a year, so get the written policy rather than the reassuring summary.
Walk me through what happens if my child is injured here.
Why ask it
Look for first aid, a written incident report, a call for anything above a scrape, and a named person who follows up. "We'd let you know at pick-up" is the answer to probe about head injuries.
What will I be told at the end of the day, and what earns a phone call?
Why ask it
Sets the threshold before you are living with it. Parents mostly get upset not about the event but about hearing it eight hours late from a child rather than a member of staff.
What does the day look like, and how much of it does my child choose?
Why ask it
Ask for the timetable and then ask what happens between the blocks. A day made entirely of adult-led activities and a day with no structure at all both tend to produce difficult afternoons.
How do you manage a food allergy in a room where everyone eats together?
Why ask it
Practical answers involve separate plates, a named place at the table, staff who know without checking a list, and where the medication lives. If nobody in the room can say where the auto-injector is kept, that is your answer.
What are your hours, and what is the charge if I am late?
Why ask it
Rates are often per minute and steeper than people expect. Also ask what happens on the third late collection, since some contracts allow termination for it.
What do you do with a child who no longer naps?
Why ask it
Rooms usually have a required rest period, and the difference between a quiet activity and lying on a mat for two hours is enormous for a three-year-old. It also shapes your evenings at home.
Who is allowed to collect my child, and how do you check?
Why ask it
You want names on a list, identification asked for from anyone unfamiliar, and a written way to add a grandparent for one afternoon. Casual answers here are a genuine safety gap, not a formality.
Where are you with toilet training, and what do you need from us?
Why ask it
Some settings will not accept a child until trained, some will not start until you have, and the mismatch causes months of friction. Ask specifically who changes an accident and how it is communicated.
Are screens used at all during the day, and when?
Why ask it
The honest answer is often at the end of the day when staffing thins, which is more informative than a stated policy. What you want to know is whether it is a planned part of the day or a coping mechanism.
How much time do the children spend outside, and what weather stops it?
Why ask it
Every setting says outdoor play matters, so ask about a cold wet Tuesday. Whether they expect waterproofs and boots from you tells you the real answer.
If you had a concern about my child's speech or behaviour, how would that conversation go?
Why ask it
You are looking for a described route: notes over time, a meeting away from the door, a suggestion to talk to your doctor, and no diagnosis from staff. Settings that never raise concerns are not settings without them.
How many days a year are you closed, and do I pay for them?
Why ask it
Staff training days, public holidays, a week at Christmas and any summer closure are all normally billed. Counted up, they change the real cost and your annual leave arithmetic.
What happens when my child moves up to the next room?
Why ask it
Ask what triggers it, how much notice you get, and whether a familiar adult moves too. An abrupt move at a fixed birthday explains a lot of sudden regressions.
What do I need to send in, and what stays here?
Why ask it
Spare clothes, boots, a comfort item, sun cream, diapers. It sounds administrative, but a place that has thought this through tends to run its mornings well.
If I have a complaint, who deals with it, and what was the last one about?
Why ask it
The second half is the real question. A director who can describe a recent complaint and what changed is showing you a process rather than a policy.
What does the contract say about notice, deposits and rate increases?
Why ask it
Notice periods of a month or more, non-refundable deposits and annual increases are all common and all easier to accept when you knew about them. Read the termination clause too, in both directions.
Choosing and managing a childcare provider
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Where the real information is
Watch the room, not the tour
Spend a few minutes with your attention on one member of staff rather than on the person showing you round. Does she get down to child height, use names, and notice the child at the edge of the room?
Listen to the noise
Contented noise is loud and uneven. Long silences and a single adult voice giving instructions are both worth thinking about, as is a room where several children are crying and nobody has moved.
Read the licensing record
Inspection reports are public in most places and list what was actually found. Findings are normal; the same finding three years running is a pattern of management.
The parts people regret not asking about
- Closure days and whether they are billed, which quietly consumes your annual leave.
- Notice period and deposit, which decide how expensive it is to change your mind in month two.
- The illness policy in detail, including exclusion times, which decides how much work you lose.
- Staff turnover in the specific room, rather than across the whole setting.
- What happens at the moment of a room change, including whether any familiar adult moves too.
- How late collection is charged and at what point it becomes a contract problem.
Once your child has started
Give the settling period a few weeks
Tears at drop-off, short tempers at teatime and a run of colds are normal in the first month, and none of them mean the setting is wrong. Judge it after that, on how the staff talk about your child.
Ask your questions of the room, not the office
The person who spends the day with your child knows the answers, and going to the director first turns an ordinary question into an escalation.
Put anything serious in writing after you have said it
An injury, a repeated incident, a safeguarding worry. A short email after the conversation confirming what was agreed is not hostile, and it means there is a record if the same thing happens again.
Reasons to leave rather than negotiate
- Being refused access to your child, or to the room, without a reason you can understand.
- Injuries you learn about from your child rather than from staff.
- Staff who cannot tell you anything specific about your child's day, repeatedly.
- A ratio that is visibly not being met when you arrive unannounced.
- A concern raised twice, plainly, that produced no change and no explanation.