Finding the right daycare for your loved child might seem daunting at first. Daycares across Canada are operating over their capacity with waitlists over 6 months. In cities like Vancouver, the wait times of some of the well-known Daycares is as ridiculously high as 2 Years. To land a spot with a daycare center or home daycare of your choice, you must search smart, be thorough and start as soon as possible.
Once you find a promising daycare center or home daycare, you’ll need to take a few steps to make sure it’s one you want to stick with. We’ve outlined the process for you below.
One: Set your priorities straight
Try answering these questions before you start searching for the daycare:
- What is the preferred location for the center? You want it near your home Or near your office. Is a canter on the route from your home to office acceptable?
- Will you consider home daycares that are in general a bit cheaper than regular daycare centers and easily available?
- How urgent is your daycare requirement? Do you have time at hand to go on the waitlists or need something right away?
- Will you need the services outside of regular hours?
Two: Do your research
- Ask Friends and family for references.
- To find out how a particular daycare ranks with other parents, read reviews on sites like Yelp, Google
- Use the phone book. Your online Yellow Pages should have a list of childcare centers and home daycares in your area. If you’re new to the area, this may be the best place to start – print a copy of the listings and start calling around.
- Refer to official Province resources/websites for a list of Licensed Daycares.>>> List of Licenced Daycares in Canada
- Use websites/apps that help you get a list of nearby daycares and their Phone numbers, reviews, Vacancy information etc. >>>Top Free Websites and apps for Daycare Search in Canada
Three: Visit the Center
Most centers are too busy to give you all the required details over the phone or at a dropIn. You will need to take up a prior Appointment to visit the center. You can ask a few preliminary questions over the phone (fees, availability ages of children, for example), but you won’t really get a sense of what a daycare place is like until you go there and meet the staff and director.
While visiting the daycare center look for answers to the below questions:
- Ask daycare center directors and caregivers and home daycare providers about everything from hours, fees, and vacation schedules to philosophies on childcaring issues like discipline, feeding, and sleeping.
- In case there are no immediate spots, understand how the waitlist policy works, what is the usual waitlist turnover time, and if their is a refundable Or non-refundable waitlist fee.
- Get a schedule of the day’s activities and the center’s policies. Pay attention to your gut feeling and how the director or caregiver handles the questions.
- Pay attention to the caregiver-child ratios, and how many children are in a classroom.
- Ask Daycare how long they have been in business, total capacity, holiday schedule, flexibility and policy around pick up/ drop off times.
- In case it applies, check if their is a sibling discount.
- Another important thing to check if a parent participation is needed while your kid is attending the daycare. Very few, but there are daycares who require this and it may not fit exactly with your schedule.
Four: Check references
Ask the Daycare or the Day Home for present and past parent references and make sure you dial the number and talk to the references. Hearing how other Parents rate the center, it will help you make a better judgment call. When you call, ask specific questions (don’t ask if they like the center – ask what exactly they like about it and what they don’t). If their child is no longer there, ask why.
Additional resorces:
If you are a parent living in BC, Check out this handout explaining how the different Childcare works and what to expect from each of these different option.
Parents’ Guide to Selecting and Monitoring Child Care in BC
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