Questions to Ask New Daycare
Questions to ask on a daycare tour, covering ratios and staff turnover, licensing and inspection history, what a day actually looks like, how the staff respond to crying, biting and illness, safety and collection rules, fees, and how a new child is settled in.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What is your ratio and group size for my child's age group, and who covers staff breaks?
Why ask it
Ratio without group size hides a lot: eight infants with two adults is a different room from four with one. The question about breaks matters because ratios often slip at lunch and at the end of the day, when floating staff step in.
Who exactly would be with my child every day, and how long have they worked here?
Why ask it
You are being shown a program, but your child will experience two or three specific people. Ask to meet them, and notice whether the director has to check who is assigned to the room.
How many staff have left in the past year?
Why ask it
Turnover is the single most telling number in childcare, because young children attach to individuals rather than institutions. A director who deflects to how competitive the market is has usually answered the question.
Are you licensed, and can I see your most recent inspection report?
Why ask it
Reports are usually public, so being handed one on request is a good sign about how the place is run. Read the findings yourself rather than accepting a summary of them.
What did the last inspection or complaint find, and what changed afterwards?
Why ask it
Almost every center has findings, so the useful information is what they did about them. A specific fix, retraining, a replaced gate, a new sign-in procedure, is more reassuring than a clean record with no explanation.
Walk me through a typical day for my child's age group, hour by hour.
Why ask it
The hour-by-hour version exposes how much of the day is transitions, waiting and screens, which a written schedule smooths over. Ask what happens in the last hour, when rooms are combined and staff are thin.
How much time do children spend outside each day, and what happens in bad weather?
Why ask it
Outdoor time is the first thing dropped when a room is short-staffed. Ask to see the outdoor space and to hear what happens on a rainy week rather than an ideal one.
What do you do when a child bites, hits or refuses to share?
Why ask it
Concrete situations get concrete answers, where questions about discipline philosophy get slogans. Listen for what happens to both children, and for whether parents on both sides are told.
What happens when a child cries for a long time and cannot be settled?
Why ask it
The answer reveals whether staffing allows one adult to hold a distressed child, and at what point they would call you. Anyone who says children here do not really cry is describing a marketing brochure.
How will I hear about my child's day, and how are incidents reported?
Why ask it
Ask for the difference between the daily update and an incident report, and to see a blank incident form. Ask specifically whether you are told when your child is the one who was bitten and when your child did the biting.
What is your sick child policy, and when would you call me to collect?
Why ask it
This decides how many working days you lose in a year, so ask for the specific thresholds: temperature, vomiting, rashes, and how long a child must stay away. Also ask how many days a year they close entirely.
What food do you serve, and how do you handle allergies?
Why ask it
Ask for a real week of menus, not a sample, and for the specific protocol: separate preparation, labeled food, where an auto-injector is kept and who is trained to use it. A center with a serious allergy plan will describe it without prompting.
How do naps work, and what happens with a child who will not sleep?
Why ask it
Rigid nap policies clash with real children, and being kept on a mat for two hours is a long time for a toddler who does not sleep. For infants, ask them to describe their safe sleep practice out loud.
How is medication stored and given?
Why ask it
You want a locked location, a written log, a second person checking the dose, and a named person responsible. Vagueness here matters even if your child takes nothing today.
Who can enter the building, and who is allowed to collect my child?
Why ask it
Ask how the door is controlled, whether visitors are logged, and how they check identification for someone collecting for the first time. Ask what happens if a parent arrives who is not on the list.
What is your emergency plan for fire, lockdown and severe weather, and where would children be taken?
Why ask it
You want a named relocation site and a way you would be contacted, not a reference to a binder. Ask when they last practiced it and how infants are moved.
Can I drop in unannounced once my child is enrolled?
Why ask it
An open-door answer is a strong sign, and restrictions during naps are reasonable. A policy of appointments only is worth asking about directly, since it removes your best source of information.
What is the full cost, including deposit, holidays, sick days and late collection?
Why ask it
Fees are usually quoted weekly and charged whether your child attends or not. Ask about annual increases, closure weeks and what notice you must give to leave, since notice periods of a month or more are common.
How do you settle a new child in, and what does the first week look like?
Why ask it
Good centers offer short visits with a parent present and build up gradually. A place that expects a full day from day one is telling you something about how it is staffed.
How do you handle toilet training, and how do you keep it consistent with home?
Why ask it
This is where home and daycare most often work against each other. Ask what they need from you and what they do when a child regresses, which nearly all children do.
Could I speak with two families who use you now?
Why ask it
Ask those families what surprised them, what they would change, and whether communication holds up when something goes wrong. If the center will not connect you with anyone, ask why.
Touring a daycare
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
How to arrange the visit
- 1Ask to come mid-morning, when children are awake and activities are running. Tours offered only at nap time show you a quiet building and little else.
- 2Ask to spend ten minutes in the room your child would be in, not just the hallway.
- 3Visit twice if you are seriously considering a place, once booked and once at a different hour.
- 4Tour at least two or three centers. Almost everything looks acceptable until you have a comparison.
- 5Take your child with you on the second visit and watch how staff respond to a child they were not expecting to interact with.
What to watch rather than ask
Where the adults are looking
Count how many staff are down at child height, engaged, against how many are talking to each other or tidying. This is the clearest available signal of the day your child would have.
How a crying child is handled while you are there
Someone will be upset during your visit. Whether an adult goes to them within seconds, and what they say, tells you more than any policy document.
The state of the boring places
Look at the bathrooms, the diaper changing area, the sinks and the outdoor equipment. Attention to the unglamorous parts of a building usually tracks attention to everything else.
Whether children look at the visitors
In a settled room, children glance up and go back to what they were doing. A room where several children fixate on adults coming and going, or where the room goes quiet, is worth a second visit.
Reasons to keep looking
- Reluctance to show you the inspection report, or to let you into the room itself.
- A director who cannot say who staffs the room or how long they have been there.
- Appointment-only visiting policies after enrollment.
- Answers about discipline that avoid specifics, or that describe children as never having conflicts.
- Pressure to pay a large non-refundable deposit during the tour.
After you choose
- Read the contract for notice periods, fee increases, closure days and late collection charges before you pay a deposit.
- Put the settling-in schedule in writing, including who will be in the room on the first day.
- Expect the first two weeks to be hard and expect illness in the first months. Both are normal and neither means you chose wrongly.
- Raise small things early and in person. Centers respond to specific, calm requests far better than to accumulated frustration.
- Keep paying attention after enrollment. Staff change, rooms change, and the place you toured is not permanent.