As a parent, you’ll always want the best for your child. One of the decisions you’ll have to make is to choose a good daycare center, which involves examining a good many aspects of how the center runs and what they can offer. You’ll want to make sure that your child is getting the most out of their time there, and that means some due diligence on your part when it comes to selecting the right daycare center. Here are five quick and easy signs you can look for in a good daycare center.

Read the Reviews

The first port of call for you when you’re looking at a daycare center should be the reviews. There are two main ways you can go about doing this. You can start by checking social media for the daycare center’s page and read the reviews left by other parents. Don’t take every review as fact but look for trends and recurring issues on the same things.

Another option is to ask the daycare center for references or the names and numbers of parents you can contact to ask about their experiences at the daycare center.

Check the Rules

Good daycare centers will have a defined and established set of rules for the children attending them, as well as rules and regulations for you as a parent. This might be simple things like what time the children should be dropped off or collected to a well-defined emergency action plan should it be needed. These kinds of rules and the presence of these rules will mean that the daycare center is not only properly prepared but puts a high value on safety and responsibility.

Browse the Menu

Healthy food options and the promotion of good eating habits should be high on your priority list for your kid’s daycare center. If they are provided with junk food more often than not, you might want to reconsider the center. By promoting not only healthy food but good habits around food early in development, you’re setting your child up for a good relationship with healthy food. Your daycare center should be promoting this.

Examine the Facilities

The daycare center’s buildings, play areas, and learning areas should be well maintained and in good order. There should be strong effort placed on creating and maintaining a safe and clean facility, as well as an environment that is stimulating and promotes learning. This can be simple things like clean, unstained floors and surfaces, to a good layout – like having the eating area a good distance from the toilets. Trash and refuse should be picked up and put in trash cans that can’t easily be opened and the building should be well lit. For a good example of a well-run facility, have a look at Visitation School.

Choosing a daycare center can be quite a task, so being able to quickly ascertain which ones should be quickly ruled out and which centers warrant a closer look will make the task easier on you and eventually mean that your child will be in a better daycare environment.