Childcare Concern Parents

Worth 1

Jessica Worth

Instructor Natasha Summers

GEN1113

13 June 2015

The Main Concern Parents Have When Searching for Childcare

There are many concerns parents face while searching for a childcare facility that fits best with them and their needs. Some families don’t have the means to pick which ever childcare facility they want, and instead are forced to choose a facility that doesn’t have as high of standards as others. My children have been in childcare facilities for a few years now and my main concern each time I drop them off is if they are going to be safe. I am constantly worrying about the trustworthiness of the teachers, the safety of the facility, how the other children treat them, and many other safety concerns. But there are also

Danette Glassy (pediatrician), Carolyn Stolov (family-life expert at care.com) and Dr. Karen Sheehan (medical director) are three people that support my view point. They point out different concerns a parent should have when searching for the right child care facility, and they help the parents in ways to question the facility and get the comforts they need. When a parent is concerned about the supervision, these three suggest the parents to “drop in or volunteer from time-to-time to check out how things are managed.” They also say to check about child ratio within that facility. They also say to “watch to make sure the staff is following the health and safety rules” to make sure the staff is being properly trained. Another Suggestion by them to relieve some of a parents concern is to “ask where medicines and cleaning products are stored and if they are locked.” These are a few of the suggestions they have to help parents to determine if a facility is safe enough for their child. (Step 3)

There are a couple points that can lead someone to not view safety as such a big concern though. Some may think if you take safety too far then it will hinder the child from taking developmentally appropriate risks. If you are constantly interrupting their play because of

But as a teacher myself of my own preschool classroom, I do believe that there is such thing as sheltering a child too much from the risk they take. I do believe it could hinder them developmentally and it could have a negative effect on their confidence if it isn’t handled properly. Instead of telling my students they can’t jump off of the table, I ask them what would happen if they did jump off the table. They usually reply by saying they would get hurt, then they take it upon themselves to get off the table and do something else. So living the life of a mother of children in a child care facility, and being the teacher of children in a child care facility, I see and understand the views of both worlds. I think safety is really important to make sure your children are safe and unharmed at all times, but sometimes if it’s not handled properly then it could have a negative effect on their development and confidence. We can’t fight every battle and we must look into a child’s future to see how to handle their present time. (Step