On average, most home daycares are WAY better than most church/faith based daycares. MOST (I'm not saying all) faith based daycares are exempt from liscensing regulations (including ratios and background checks/safety training for staff). This of course depends on where you are. Children also are less likely to get sick from home daycares than from centers because they have less children (which means less germs and easier to sanitize). And the fact that she would be the only child for a while would mean that the provider will get to know her better than she would now any of the other children and your daughter would be her #1 priority while enrollment is building up. It's almost like having a private nanny for a while (without paying the private nanny price or worrying about coming home to a mess). You can ask her if she has a sub she can call if she where to fall ill though as a parent it is YOUR responsibility to find back up care-but it never hurts to ask if their is anyone she could recommend.

Legally parents have a right to visit their child regualarly throughout the day at any child care facility (they are your kids after all) UNLESS there is a lockdown due to a safety issue (my CC's Child Care Center was locked down become some crazy guy sped from an elementry school to the college and was shooting at cars in the parking lot)

HOWEVER- keep in mind while it will give YOU peace of mind to see her every couple of hours; remember that once she is in elementry school you cannot do this all the time because it is dissruptive to her learning. Also, it's not good to make her think that you will visit 5 times a day before you actually pick her up it is dissruptive not only to the teacher and your daughter but the other children (once there are some) as well. She will ask you for an emergency call card- anyone on those cards can pick up your child- but most likely they will NOT be allowed to hang out all day because it is dissruptive to their schedual (routines are VERY IMPORTANT infant- to- kindergartens). It may be fine when she is the only child but I think once other children are there it would be disrespectful to expect that someone will let someone's regually just "hang out" and inturrupt lession plans/scheduals. You have to understand that most daycares have scheduals, routines, and curriculums so yes it is very dissruptive to the day when Sally's mom or Grandpa are there all day to just "hang out" and are trying to talk to the teacher who is trying to teach or pulling Sally away from a learning activity just to hug her and ask her if she had fun since you were last there an hour ago. And if you wake her up during nap time just to hug her and leave- I would (personally) say "FORGET IT!" Unless you plan on taking her with you because 1) you are inturrupting her sleep 2) if there are other kids and she starts crying be cause she is grouchy you woke her up and upset that you are leaving she will wake up everyone else and you won't be the only one going home to a grumpy toddler.
If they are volunteering that is different be cause they are activly participating in the education of the child. But kids aren't going to want to participate if they see someone who is just who is just sitting there and making empty complements (such as "Good job!", "I like/love it", "Thats nice"). Some of the other parents may not like it if they see other peoples families always their and their kids say "yeah s/he was there all day" it may make them feel uncomfortable because they want to make sure that their child's information is between them and the provider and that the child is able to concentrate and adapt to a routine.

I am not saying that you (or your husband/father etc.) do any of these things, I am just saying try to think of it from the teacher (AND the CHILD's, and OTHER parent's) point of view. In most daycares, there is a method to the madness and a reason they do everything. She CANNOT tell you you cant see your child but just try to be considerate of her scheduals, routines, and lesson plans.

IMHO, it sounds more like your church daycare was just a run-of-the-mill babysitting service, not really a structured child care center.

Reply