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Fremont Kid's Academy now offers a Nightcare ProgramFremont Kid's Academy is aware that there are many parents who are working overnight and finding quality overnight childcare is next to impossible. For that reason we have added an overnight program to our school. We are offering the same great child care with extended hours. We will be open overnight on an as needed basis. Please call to schedule a tour and to discuss scheduling options.
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Welcome to the last article of How to Find Quality Child Care
Please review Steps 1-4 at the links below: Step 1: Define Your Perfect Situation http://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/1/post/2013/05/how-to-find-quality-child-care.html Step 2: Set Up a Tour http://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/1/post/2013/05/may-15th-2013.html Step 3: The Interview http://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/1/post/2013/05/may-15th-2013.html Step 4: Enroll Your Child http://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/1/post/2013/06/how-to-find-quality-child-care-step-4-enroll-your-child.html Step 5: Evaluating Your Child Care Program You have done your homework, identified the perfect child care situation, interviewed multiple care providers and placed your child in a program. Now it's time to evaluate your decision and confirm that it's the best choice for your child. The very first indicator of the quality of your choice is your gut feeling. Don't underestimate that comfortable ease or bad feeling that you have when you pick up your child. You may not be able to put your finger on the reason why you feel the way you do but it's important to honor your instinct. There are a series of other indicators of the quality of your choice that can be more easily quantified than gut feeling. The following list will help you rate your experiences. Webcams: You can never be exactly sure about what is happening when you are away from your child but being able to see them on a webcam can help. If you chose a care provider that offers webcams this is an option to help ease your mind. Daily Reports: Your child care provider should be providing you with regular information about what your child did each day. Daily reports should include what, when, and how much your child ate, slept, and went to the bathroom during the day. For a 9-10 hour day I would expect 2 large meals and a few snacks throughout the day. I would also expect 3-4 diaper changes and at least 1 nap. Daily reports should include any special activities that your child participated in as well as any unusual circumstances such as diaper rash or a biting incident. At Fremont Kid's Academy we use an application that creates a beautiful emailed report that outlines all of the information listed above. Here's an example of what our daily reports look like: Your Child's Daily report - June 27, 2013 Naps
Curriculum: As your child gets older you want to be sure that they are being prepared for entry into public or private school. Your child care provider should be communicating with you about any assessments they have planned for your child and any results they have obtained. You should be able to clearly see an outline for how the provider plans to prepare your child for school. Invoicing: Each time you pay for child care you have an opportunity to take advantage of tax savings. The child care tax credit can help reduce your taxes and save you money. For more information visit the article belowhttp://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/1/post/2013/04/child-care-tax-credit.html Your child care provider should give you a receipt for payment that you can submit to your tax professional. At the end of year you should also receive summary report for all the payments you've made. Finding quality child care is not an easy process but if you approach it systematically as well as allowing your instincts to guide you, it can be done right the first time and you will find that you have created a relationship with a care provider that will last a life time. Welcome to the next to last article of How to Find Quality Child Care
Please review Steps 1-3 at the links below: Step 1: Define Your Perfect Situation http://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/1/post/2013/05/how-to-find-quality-child-care.html Step 2: Set Up a Tour http://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/1/post/2013/05/may-15th-2013.html Step 3: The Interview http://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/1/post/2013/05/may-15th-2013.html Step 4: Enroll Your Child If you have completed the steps above by defining your prefect situation, taking tours, and doing interviews, it should be easy to make a decision about where to place your child. Now it's time to do all of the paperwork and get your child enrolled. Expect to fill out quite a few forms and give detailed information about your child, after all, they will be with this care provider for many hours each day and good communication is essential to create the best situation for everyone involved. There should be a contract outlining the days, times, and expectations of care provided, as well as the compensation agreed to by both parties. Each care provider should also have a list of policies and procedures that you agree to in writing. This ensures that everyone is informed of expectations and no one is surprised or disappointed. Immunization records will be requested and any illnesses should be described in detail so the provider can respond with the appropriate level of care. A very important part of the paperwork to be completed is the authorized pick up form or list. This is the document that informs the care provider of which people you allow to pick up your child. Anyone not on this form attempting to pick up your child should be met with resistance from the care provider. If you can provide a picture of alternate pick up people, even better. There may be other forms as well, such as a resting schedule, photo release, or allergy information form...while these forms are not mandatory they will help the provider give the very best care to your child. For a complete example of contracts, policies, and other forms go to http://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/enrollment--location.html To enroll your child in any program you will fill out forms like the ones mentioned above, complete payment arrangements, and set a start date for your child to attend the program. Keep in mind that it is customary to pay for care in advance but each provider has their own requirements for how much in advance payment is required. Some providers require just the daily rate while others require the entire monthly tuition to be paid in advance. The next step in How to Find Quality Child Care is actually determining if you made the right choice. Check back soon for Step 5: Evaluating Your Child Care Program Step 5: Evaluating Your Child Care Program http://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/1/post/2013/06/how-to-find-quality-child-care-step-5-evaluating-your-child-care-program.html Welcome back to the series How to Find Quality Child Care
In this article we will review the myriad of ways to actually find a child care provider to complete Step 2: Set Up a Tour To review Step 1: Define Your Perfect Situation click on the link below http://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/1/post/2013/05/how-to-find-quality-child-care.html Step 2: Set Up a Tour Once you have completed defining your perfect situation you must seek out prospective child care options. There are many ways to do so and you should follow your instincts on how you'd like to proceed. One of the most popular ways to find child care solutions is to do a search on google or your favorite search engine. You will be connected to a series of paid advertisements as well as organic search results. Remember that child care providers must wear two hats, the one that runs the business and the one that cares for the children. If you are looking for a professional business that is able to present their program in a compact way - this is a good search tool. You will find the programs that maintain their websites and are technologically savvy enough to be found on a search engine. Personally this is an important aspect of a care provider's personality for me, but that's just my opinion. Along the same lines as search engines you may also find prospective care providers on some of the child care forums. It seems that currently the most popular forum is care.com and it is worth noting that care providers pay for a listing on the forum. This tends to weed out the less than professional providers and ensures that you are contacting someone that is currently doing business. One of the oldest, and best, ways to find great child care is by word of mouth. There is nothing like the referral of a friend to a child care provider that has been taking care of their child. You get a behind the scenes peak into the program through the experienced eyes of your friend. The drawback to this method is that the number of programs you can tour may be very limited. Second best to a referral from an actual friend is a referral from the virtual community on sites such as yelp.com and other parenting sites. Check reviews and start touring. Coming soon in our series is Step 3: The Interview -Dana Wilson Step 3: The Interview http://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/1/post/2013/05/may-15th-2013.html Step 4: Enroll Your Child http://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/1/post/2013/06/how-to-find-quality-child-care-step-4-enroll-your-child.html Step 5: Evaluating Your Child Care Program http://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/1/post/2013/06/how-to-find-quality-child-care-step-5-evaluating-your-child-care-program.html Welcome to the next article in How to Find Quality Child Care. We will be discussing the steps to take while interviewing a care provider, what to look for and how to ensure you are getting what you want.
Please review Step 1: Define Your Perfect Situation http://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/1/post/2013/05/how-to-find-quality-child-care.html And Step 2: Set Up a Tour http://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/1/post/2013/05/may-15th-2013.html In the above steps you've identified your requirements, found a few places to tour and now it's time to actually interview the providers. Step 3: The Interview The initial "interview" actually occurs in Step 2 when you are setting up the tour. How did you make contact with the provider? Did you make a phone call, send an email, maybe it was via text, or an online tour request? All of these methods give you some insight into how the provider is comfortable with communicating with parents. Many providers are very good at caring for children but not so technologically savvy. With this type of provider you may be limited to only phone calls and in person discussions. In Step 1 of this process you defined your perfect situation. One of the components of your perfect situation may be getting text messages through out the day with status updates for your child. During your interview process be sure that the provider you are talking to is capable of meeting your needs and you should have no problem being clear about your needs as they will be listed for you in Step 1. Once you have actually arrived at a facility, give the provider a chance to show you around and offer any information they might be prepared with...many questions will be answered during the tour of the facility. You should be looking for safety, cleanliness, and overall feel of the place. Once the tour is officially complete then it's your turn to ask any questions that you didn't hear the answer to in the tour. Think about the normal daily routine of your child and compare that to the daily routine of the program. If there are any differences, be sure to learn how they will be overcome. Many times if your child's nap time is at a different time than the established program nap time, your child will be the one to compromise and change schedules. Is that ok with you? Or would you like your child's nap time take precedence? Can that be arranged? It is important to iron out the details before placing your child so that everyone has a smooth transition. Take a look at the license number of the facility and call to get a report on any incidences that might have occurred. If the provider cannot provide a license number, this is a red flag that you should pay close attention to as the provider is either not licensed or does not want you to know the number. Why? Maintaining a license is not a difficult or expensive process but does require a commitment to quality child care. There are inspections done by the state (both announced and random) and there is a minimum standard of care that all licensees are held to. Many providers exceed this minimum level but at lease you know they can't go below it for long without a complaint being filed. A huge benefit to being licensed is the support structure that is given to licensed child care providers. There are many free developmental courses offered, food programs ensuring nutritional fare, and other great networking benefits to being licensed, both for the provider and the families in the program. During your tour ask to see a list of programs that your provider participates in or courses the provider has completed. This will give you a great idea of the education level and community involvement of the provider. Compare your Perfect Situation list to the program the provider has and determine if enough of the points are met for you and your family to be happy. Once you have a few interviews under your belt it's time to move to the next step. Step 4: Enroll Your Child Stay tuned! Step 4: Enroll Your Child http://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/1/post/2013/06/how-to-find-quality-child-care-step-4-enroll-your-child.html Step 5: Evaluating Your Child Care Program http://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/1/post/2013/06/how-to-find-quality-child-care-step-5-evaluating-your-child-care-program.html -Dana Wilson Welcome to the series on How to Find Quality Child Care. Check back often for updates and new hints.
I have been asked many times by prospective parents "how do I know my child will be well cared for?" The answer is multidimensional and is deeply specific to each family. Let's start at the beginning with a step by step approach to finding the perfect child care program for your family. STEP 1: Define Your Perfect Situation - know what you want and ask the right questions to find out if the prospective program will be equipped to offer your ideal situation. Many parents are looking for the following components:
There are many other items that parents look for when choosing the right child care program. Sit down well before it's time to place your child in a program and identify the components you feel are necessary. There are many ways to actually find child care programs. Stay tuned for Step 2...Set Up a Tour -Dana Wilson Step 2: Set Up a Tour http://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/1/post/2013/05/may-15th-2013.html Step 3: The Interview http://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/1/post/2013/05/may-15th-2013.html Step 4: Enroll Your Child http://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/1/post/2013/06/how-to-find-quality-child-care-step-4-enroll-your-child.html Step 5: Evaluating Your Child Care Program http://www.fremontkidsacademy.com/1/post/2013/06/how-to-find-quality-child-care-step-5-evaluating-your-child-care-program.html |
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