Questions to Ask Daycare Tour
Questions to ask while you are walking around a childcare centre, tied to what is in front of you: who is in the room today, where the children sleep and eat, what is posted on the wall, and what a place is available.
The questions
Open any question for the note
Can we go into the room my child would be in while the children are in it?
Why ask it
A tour that only shows you an empty room, or the room through a window, is showing you a building. If there is a reason you cannot go in, ask what it is and when you could come back.
Which adults are in this room every day, and are they both here now?
Why ask it
You want names and faces attached to your child's day rather than a job title. Being introduced to whoever is on the floor, instead of only to the director, is a good sign in itself.
How many children are in this room today, and what is the ratio right now?
Why ask it
Ask it while you can count for yourself. A quoted ratio that does not match the room you are standing in is the most valuable thing you will learn on the tour.
Where do the children sleep, and can I see it?
Why ask it
Cots on the floor of the same room, a separate sleep room, mats after lunch. Look at what is on and in them, and ask how children are checked while they are asleep.
Where is the changing area or bathroom, and who uses it?
Why ask it
Check how close it is to where food is handled, whether there is a sink beside it, and whether older children have privacy. This corner of a centre tells you a lot about how carefully it is run.
What is happening right now, and is this a typical part of the day?
Why ask it
Tours are often scheduled for the best hour. Asking what you are looking at lets you find out whether you have seen the ordinary day or the showcase one.
When is the busiest part of your day, and could I come back and see it?
Why ask it
Drop-off, lunch, and the last hour are when a centre is under load. A director who happily invites you back for one of them is confident about what you would see.
Where do the children go outside, and how often do they get there?
Why ask it
Walk out to it if you can. A shared yard on a rota can mean twenty minutes a day, which is a different offer from a door the children come and go through.
How do people get into the building?
Why ask it
Look at the door you came through and whether anyone checked you. A code, a locked entry, a signing-in sheet and someone who noticed you are the basics; being able to wander in is worth raising.
Where is your licence displayed, and where can I read your last inspection report?
Why ask it
Both are usually required to be available, and a straightforward answer is expected. Reluctance, or a report that is not to hand, is a reason to look it up yourself before you decide.
What is on the menu this week, and who cooks it?
Why ask it
Ask to see the posted menu rather than a description of it. Food cooked on site by a named person, and children who serve themselves at the table, tell you about the place's priorities.
What do you do when a child becomes ill while they are here?
Why ask it
You want to know where that child waits, who sits with them, how quickly you must collect them, and what the exclusion period is. This is the policy you will meet earliest and most often.
How long has this teacher been in this room?
Why ask it
Ask her directly, in the room, rather than asking the director in the office. The answer, and how comfortable everyone is with the question, are both informative.
How many staff have left in the past year?
Why ask it
The number a tour is designed not to raise. A director who gives you a figure with context is being straight with you; one who says people come and go in this field has answered a different question.
Do you have a place, and when would it start?
Why ask it
Worth asking early, because it changes what the rest of the tour is for. If there is a waitlist, ask how many are ahead of you, how it is ordered, and whether a deposit holds a spot.
What is the fee, what is the deposit, and what else will I pay across a year?
Why ask it
Registration, supplies, diapers, field trips, late collection, and the closure weeks you still pay for. Ask for the annual number, since the weekly figure hides most of it.
What would our first two weeks look like?
Why ask it
A graded start, a settling visit, a named person meeting you at the door on day one. Places that have a plan for this have thought about children rather than enrolment.
What do parents here complain about most?
Why ask it
Every setting has a recurring gripe: parking, the app, staff changes, the cost of the extras. A director who names it is more credible than one who claims there is nothing.
Could I have contact details for two current families?
Why ask it
Current, not former, and preferably in the room your child would join. Whether they can produce them at all is nearly as telling as what those parents go on to say.
What should I have asked you that I haven't?
Why ask it
Good directors use this to raise something real: a building project, a staff change coming, a policy parents find hard. It also ends the tour with them talking rather than selling.
Getting the most out of a tour
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before you arrive
- Look up the licensing record online so you can ask about anything specific you find.
- Ask for a time when children are present and awake, and avoid the nap hour if you can.
- Bring your child if it is practical, and watch what the staff do with him rather than with you.
- Write down your five non-negotiables. Tours are persuasive and it is easy to forget one.
- Allow an hour. Twenty minutes is a sales visit, not a look at a workplace.
What to look at rather than ask about
- Where the adults are: on the floor with children, or standing together talking to each other.
- Whether staff greet children by name as they pass, including children who are not in their room.
- What is on the walls at child height, and whether the children clearly made it.
- How many children are crying, and how long before an adult reaches them.
- The state of the bathroom and the changing area, which is the first thing to slip when a place is understaffed.
- Whether children come to the visiting adult, which usually means they expect adults to be friendly.
Tour warning signs
You never get into the room
Being shown the lobby, the playground and a room through glass is a tour designed around what looks good. Ask directly to step inside and see how the request lands.
Pressure to commit today
A deposit needed within the hour to hold a place is a sales tactic, and a good centre does not need it. Waitlists are real, but so is your right to see a second option first.
Answers only about the building
New equipment, a security system and an app are easy to buy. If every answer is about facilities and none about the people in the room, ask again about the people.
Staff who do not speak to you
In a healthy setting the teacher in the room says hello and tells you something about her day. Staff who stay silent and defer entirely to the director may not feel free to talk.
Afterwards
Write your notes before you drive away
Record numbers and specifics, not impressions: how many children, how many adults, what the sleep room looked like, what you were told about turnover. By the third tour the memories merge.
Send one follow-up email
Ask for anything you were promised and did not get: the fee schedule, the parent handbook, the inspection report, the two family contacts. How fast and how completely they reply is part of the assessment.
Go back once, unannounced if allowed
Ten minutes at a busy hour, at the door if not further, tells you more than the whole first visit. If they discourage that entirely, weigh it against everything else you saw.