Child Care Centre – A Second Home for Children

With an increase in nuclear families and working mothers, the demand for child care centres has been on the rise. Cashing on this opportunity, child care or day care centres have mushroomed everywhere but not every centre is able to provide the best care facilities to your child. Remember that leaving your child in a child care centre is a difficult task as you may suffer from separation anxiety when your child is not within your sight all the time. The child care centre you choose to entrust your child in should make matters easy for both – you and the little one. The child care center atmosphere should be such that a child feels cared for and loved in the mother’s absence. Parents must do a proper study of child care centres in their area or around before zeroing in upon one. Talk to other parents who have used child care centres in the past. Ask questions about the facilities provided by the centre, safety measures adopted, first aid and transport facilities, how are the teachers/ care givers and attendants, do they feed and take care of the child’s hygiene etc. A child care centre should literally be a second home for your child; otherwise it can make a negative impact on the child’s psychology. Check whether the centre has other children of your child’s age-group, visit the centres and compare facilities provided and the curriculum followed. Attend a class and see the children-teacher/ care giver ratio, interaction levels and so on. Make sure that whatever is being taught is age appropriate and challenging but fun for the child. Once you have finalised upon a child care centre, take your child along and see how he/she reacts to the space. Initial distress is to be expected because it is a new environment for them but after a while, keep checking whether a child is returning home in a good mood and whether he/she has had meals and is clean and tidy. It is very important that along with fun and learning they eat and maintain a healthy living in a child care centre. Most of the child care centres do have all the facilities, so finding one that’s most appropriate for your child could be challenging. That is why interacting with other parents and the centre staff is very important to check on the progress of other children as well as your child. There is no need to get worried if your child takes more time to adjust compared to other children. Each child is different in parameters. But do check how the Centre deals with the adjustment period and whether they are active in settling the child. It is tremendously difficult for every parent to leave their child in another’s care. Child care centres do understand this and can try and ensure that saying bye to each-other does become easier with each passing day.