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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>What are Parents Looking For?
Movingforward 02:36 PM 07-21-2015
Since there are so many provider veterans here, I'd like to take advantage and ask: What are the top 5 qualities parents are looking for or most concerned with in a family childcare for toddlers? TIA
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Michael 04:29 PM 07-21-2015
Location
Trust
Experience
Time schedule
Rates

I that order.
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daycare 05:04 PM 07-21-2015
I would say

a solid reputation in the community, trust

clean
open communiation
quality
controlled environment where kids are not going crazy out of control.
cost
hours

healthy foods

I am also in CA bay area. this is what I find parents want
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Snowmom 05:10 PM 07-21-2015
I'm in the Northern Midwest.

I have more and more parents asking what background I have before childcare and if I have an Early Childhood degree.
5 years ago, I never had that concern/requirement from parents.

Otherwise, just meshing well with provider. A similar outlook on discipline, potty training (if toddler age) and cleanliness.
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AmyKidsCo 06:20 PM 07-21-2015
Safety
Education
Price
Location

Not necessarily in that order...
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Unregistered 09:41 PM 07-21-2015
Cost
Location
Cleanliness
Curriculum (academic, play based, etc)
The feeling that you are organized and know what you are doing
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Blackcat31 06:53 AM 07-22-2015
Originally Posted by Snowmom:
I'm in the Northern Midwest.

I have more and more parents asking what background I have before childcare and if I have an Early Childhood degree.
5 years ago, I never had that concern/requirement from parents.

Otherwise, just meshing well with provider. A similar outlook on discipline, potty training (if toddler age) and cleanliness.
I am a couple hours north of you and it's the same here.

Education and experience are usually the first questions and then the rest is all about how well their child rearing philosophies mesh with mine and how well they (the family) meshes with me personally.

Cost, location and hours are pretty low on the priority scale. Although they are important too....

...but if a family likes your program (and you) enough they can (and do) find a way to make those things work.
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Sugaree 07:22 AM 07-22-2015
In theory, the qualities I looked for are:

1. Safety
2. Education
3. Location
4. Hours
5. Cost


In reality, it ended up being more like:

1. Hours
2. Location
3. Education
4. Safety
5. Cost

There is only one daycare center that had hours conducive with working a 6 am to 3:30 pm shift. Luckily, it does have all the other qualities I'm looking for.
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DaveA 07:32 AM 07-22-2015
Most parents look for in no particular order:

convenient location
hours (especially for early or late shifts)
confidence in provider's ability
a place their child enjoys
cost

A (thankfully) few parents are looking for a provider who will cater to their every whim for almost free. Just kidding (sort of)
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Snowmom 08:14 AM 07-22-2015
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
I am a couple hours north of you and it's the same here.

Education and experience are usually the first questions and then the rest is all about how well their child rearing philosophies mesh with mine and how well they (the family) meshes with me personally.

Cost, location and hours are pretty low on the priority scale. Although they are important too....

...but if a family likes your program (and you) enough they can (and do) find a way to make those things work.
So true!
Half of my families don't live in the same town as me. One drives 30-40 minutes to get here, with another 10 minutes in the opposite direction for work.
Having that connection and comfort level is important.
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Meeko 12:23 PM 07-22-2015
I feel jaded today.

Seems like most want a place to dump their kids for as much time as possible..... for as little money as possible.
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Dilley Beans 01:34 PM 07-22-2015
I get messages for "how much? " a lot. Ratio seems to be important to lots also. But price is the qualifier so I have to assume it is #1.
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midaycare 02:58 PM 07-22-2015
Parents want (around here, anyway):

*Curriculum - they want their kids "learning something". Mostly for bragging rights, I think. "My child is at a home daycare that uses a curriculum ..." But without it, I would t be full.

Safe Environment- they want to feel safe leaving their mini me.

Good Food - No hot dogs and spaghetti o's. They want fresh fruits and veggies. It's high priority.

Do we "mesh" - This goes both ways, but people want to know they will have a good working relationship with me.

Flexibility - Will I be angry if they are 5 minutes late? What if they have a meeting? People come to me in interviews jaded because previous centers and home providers have been so rigid in their rules, they get stressed out trying to follow them. I'm pretty easy going - but don't let people take Advantage.

I've never had cost be a factor.
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Movingforward 01:46 PM 07-23-2015
Thanks everyone for the replies. Seems like the list is pretty unanimous. Helps a great deal when enrolling tots!
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Thriftylady 02:33 PM 07-23-2015
Originally Posted by Meeko:
I feel jaded today.

Seems like most want a place to dump their kids for as much time as possible..... for as little money as possible.
This is what I have mostly been getting the last year. Oh and they don't want policies. Two didn't sign with me because I had a contract. I so wish I could start getting to the families that want a quality program.
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Unregistered 03:23 PM 07-23-2015
In no particular order......

Someone who is offering activities

A clean, safe and welcoming environment-hear stories of run-down, dirty, cluttered spaces

Someone who is warm and caring

Definitely a place their child loves

Hears lots of positives ( word of mouth). Small town, word gets around

I serve homemade, mainly organic meals. No one mentions or seems to care, though in the back of their minds I think they love the good home cooking the kids get!

Last, I have a BA early childhood K-6. No one cares a bit.
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auntkk 06:49 AM 07-24-2015
I have yet to have a single family contact me about the things that SHOULD be important. I'm upfront about my rates (which I made sure were consistent with other daycares in the area, and also asked the families I had babysat for for their input on it), because I get angry when I have to call somewhere just to find out I can't even afford it so I get that it's important. But it's so frustrating that I've only been contacted by people who want to pay drastically under my rates, want me to work for hours after I'm closed, and don't want to sign a very simple contract. I don't bring up the contract until the interview because it seems to turn a lot of people off. I've had so many people hang up on me as soon as I tell them my rates. Meanwhile, the daycares that advertise with horrible spelling and grammar (I have such a pet peeve with that when you're TEACHING CHILDREN) and generally look and seem sketchy are always full because they're so cheap.
So for me so far, the things they care most about is:
1. Cost 2. Hours 3. I act like a babysitter that follows THEIR rules (let their kids eat whatever they want whenever they want and such).
So far that's it. Ugh!
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Annalee 09:13 AM 07-24-2015
In my area, this seems to be the order:

1. Safe with basic needs met
2. Academics for the child & my educational background
3. Hours
4. Price

But I have also found that there are some who ask about academics first will and have left for $1 less and and an hour longer.... I have come to the conclusion that clients will do what they are going to do and this is a BUSINESS. If they want to be a part of a provider's program they will do what it takes to make it work.

The one and only parent that researched my program on the QRIS state website lasted 8 days because she would not arrive on time nor pick up on time....it was a torturing 8 days which ended with me calling licensing because the mom & dad cussed me out in front of my daycare kids because they showed up at 10 in the morning and I would not let them stay. It was a huge ordeal. He was a policeman and the mom a nurse...they lived one street up from my daycare so I still see them but this happened several years ago. .go figure!
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CraftyMom 10:13 AM 07-24-2015
There are 2 answers really (for me)

The ones who are shopping around for the cheapest place want:

Cost
Hours
nothing else

The ones who enroll:
Feeling comfortable here
Hours
Activities
Cost
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midaycare 10:46 AM 07-24-2015
Originally Posted by CraftyMom:
There are 2 answers really (for me)

The ones who are shopping around for the cheapest place want:

Cost
Hours
nothing else

The ones who enroll:
Feeling comfortable here
Hours
Activities
Cost
Very good point. There are ones who shop around, and ones I allow to enroll. One thing that stops the "shoppers" from calling here is putting my price right on my website.
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Unregistered 11:00 AM 07-24-2015
As a parent..

Location. I am in southern new jersey. I pass at least 4 actual daycare centers on my 15 minute ride to work. I don't know how many other home centers I pass. As a parent I want a some place either close to home or work that I don't want to have to go too far off my path to get to.

Hours: I need a center that is open the hours I work.

Open every week day - I need a place that is open year round and stays open including some of the minor holidays like Presidents day, MLK day, Columbus day.. (Major holidays are ok to close)

Safe, Spacious, Clean environment - I pulled my child from his first center when he moved up from the infant room to the toddlers because the toddler room was smaller than my closet at home. I loved the center and the infant room in general but his new classroom was so small and stark it seemed like a holding cell in a jail. I want bright colors, interesting things for my child to look at and play with.

Activities- I look for places that have lots of extra activities beyond the basics. Sports activities, field trips, outside guest speakers/ activies such as the gymnastics bus ...or the music mobile..mobile kids museum, .things to keep my child entertained and stimulated on a regular or at least weekly basis.
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LysesKids 12:20 PM 07-24-2015
Originally Posted by Snowmom:
So true!
Half of my families don't live in the same town as me. One drives 30-40 minutes to get here, with another 10 minutes in the opposite direction for work.
Having that connection and comfort level is important.
Mine do the same... I have one that drives 35 min to me & then the same back to her home county where she works, most my other parents drive at least 20 minutes & then another 20-25 to work. I'm the only infants only that is Eco Healthy and I do organics. Heck I got a call yesterday from a mom whose dd aged out in March - guess who needs care for another one next March lol. She lives 30 minutes away & there are over 20 places she could get closer to her home or work. Of course her other dd is here today in a Drop-in spot because the center she attends closed due to a water main break
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midaycare 01:11 PM 07-24-2015
Originally Posted by LysesKids:
Mine do the same... I have one that drives 35 min to me & then the same back to her home county where she works, most my other parents drive at least 20 minutes & then another 20-25 to work. I'm the only infants only that is Eco Healthy and I do organics. Heck I got a call yesterday from a mom whose dd aged out in March - guess who needs care for another one next March lol. She lives 30 minutes away & there are over 20 places she could get closer to her home or work. Of course her other dd is here today in a Drop-in spot because the center she attends closed due to a water main break
I could google this, but I'm more interested in your explanation. What is Eco-Healthy?
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LysesKids 03:18 PM 07-24-2015
Originally Posted by midaycare:
I could google this, but I'm more interested in your explanation. What is Eco-Healthy?
The program started in Oregon years ago but went national in 2010; I was the first and only in AR while I lived there... I had to drop it and rectify after I re-opened here. You can be listed on the map or not (I went not this time because I take Foster kids that need to be "hidden " on occasion - I'm a safe house during court hearings). Essentially I agree to be candle & smoke free, natural cleaners , no running vehicles in parking lots, low VOL paint etc etc. I am the one in East TN that isn't shown lol

http://www.cehn.org/ehcc

"The Eco-Healthy Child CareŽ program endorses providers who comply with at least 24 of 30 best practice techniques.

We offer child care providers training and marketing via our website, newsletters and other media outlets. We work hard to get providers the credit and support they deserve. Many of our materials can be downloaded for free. Our Fact Sheets are also available in Spanish."

http://ecohealthychildcare.org/index.php?page=provider

Washington DC also can pop in with 48 hrs notice for inspection... they do it to make sure people are actually doing what they agreed too; it use to be free to do but you know the Gv't... they tacked on a fee to be part of the program a few years ago
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midaycare 07:33 PM 07-24-2015
Originally Posted by LysesKids:
The program started in Oregon years ago but went national in 2010; I was the first and only in AR while I lived there... I had to drop it and rectify after I re-opened here. You can be listed on the map or not (I went not this time because I take Foster kids that need to be "hidden " on occasion - I'm a safe house during court hearings). Essentially I agree to be candle & smoke free, natural cleaners , no running vehicles in parking lots, low VOL paint etc etc. I am the one in East TN that isn't shown lol

http://www.cehn.org/ehcc

"The Eco-Healthy Child CareŽ program endorses providers who comply with at least 24 of 30 best practice techniques.

We offer child care providers training and marketing via our website, newsletters and other media outlets. We work hard to get providers the credit and support they deserve. Many of our materials can be downloaded for free. Our Fact Sheets are also available in Spanish."

http://ecohealthychildcare.org/index.php?page=provider

Washington DC also can pop in with 48 hrs notice for inspection... they do it to make sure people are actually doing what they agreed too; it use to be free to do but you know the Gv't... they tacked on a fee to be part of the program a few years ago
Sounds very interesting!
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Tags:daycare environment, daycare qualities, interview
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