How did you choose your child's day care?

My Kindergarten teacher says some of the things parents should consider before picking a day care or child care centre are:
Ratio of carer or educators to the number of children in each room because some centre do not follow the regulations properly.
Amount of toys and play facilities available.
Quality of food provided to the children because some centres actually give outdated and leftover food to children.
If your child is already going to a centre, ask the child regularly about the food and care provided.
Most importantly, look beyond the beautiful words of the honey-tongued co-ordinator.
Remember it is the care, food and play you child gets matter, not how sweet the co-ordinator is.

by joya.

Recommendations from other mum's works well too. The nursery I chose was recommended to me by a close friend. It's small in size, with a very low staff turnover as the staff are so happy and the owner is on site all the time. My son absolutely loves it there and doesn't want to leave when I come to pick him up. My second child now goes there too and he's loving it.

by Claire Winlow

So true Joya! We've recently removed our toddler from a centre which on paper looked amazing and the coordinator said all the right things. In reality my son got sunburn, got picked up covered in poop (down to his knees), and the security protocol for collecting him left a lot to be desired. The carer to child ratio was meant to be really good yet I found a real lack of carers on site whenever I turned up early.
I think that despite what a day care or a carer say you need to then see how it works in person or seek recommendations from others. More than that, to also not be afraid to speak up if you or you're child has concerned and to use the gut feel you get after you've been to a place a few times. When looking at centre, I've always asked for a tour and I've wanted to observe cleanliness and how maintained the property is and toys etc. I've asked to see menus and evidence of learning based activities. However, it is regrettably down to trial and error as a day care can really look amazing but its how your kid is looked after that counts.

by helenonthesofa

A major factor to begin with is it had to be somewhere very close to our home so I could get there quickly if my daughter was sick or something and pick ups and drop offs could be done easily on foot. Then we went and looked at places and talked with the staff, toured the facilities etc. before bringing our little one in for a play with me there a couple of times to get used to the place.

I liked the staff and the grounds ( a decent amount of space to run around outside, play equipment, a little veggie garden) and they provided good quality food and allowed for special dietary requirements.

by Jennifer Muirhead