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Day Care for the First-time Parent, with advice and opinions courtesy of
Cindy Woodward. This is part four of a four-part article.
Please take a look at part one for the introduction to Cindy's column.
When your child reaches the age of 4, you'll begin to think about
half-day preschool. If you work full-time, the preschool-day
care juggle can be an administrative and logistical
nightmare.
The biggest decision for starting school is whether
you will send your child to K4 or K5? Kindergarten is
not required for 4-year-olds, but usually is for the
5-year-old. Both are usually half-day curriculums, usually
offered in both the morning and the afternoon.
The advantage of K4 is that the child has one more year
to adjust to the school routine, even if he or she has
been in a full-time day care environment since birth.
The downside to K4 is that one year prior to it being
required, you are removing the child from day care for
a half of day, taking him or her away from friends they
have grown up with the last few years.
Things to consider when dealing with half-day day care
and half-day preschool:
Transportation
Some day care facilities don't allow children to leave
during the day. Some facilities do allow children to
leave during the day, but provide no transportation.
Talk with your center long before the school year starts.
Keep on top of the schedules and policies for the schools
and the day care centers.
Some schools (public and private) have day care within
the same building. If you have chosen the school that
your child will be attending for primary education,
you might want to inquire about day care.
If your employer is flexible, you can drop your child
off at school before work. If your lunch hour also is
flexible, you can take your child from school to day
care, if location allows.
If the center picks up the child mid-day, make sure
you know exactly what is happening every minute from
when school time ends and they are safely back on day
care property. Things to ask:
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Is there any unattended
time between school and day care?
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How many stops will
be made between school and the center?
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Do the drivers ever
leave the vehicle occupied with kids to enter buildings to get other children?
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Does the school make
the drivers identify themselves and check against the list you provide?
Keep
in mind that if you choose afternoon day care and you
can't get away at lunch, your day care facility (or chosen
transportation provider) will have to transport between
school and day care twice during the day.
Lunch
Lunch seems like an odd thing to worry about, doesn't
it? When a child is switched from one place to the other,
lunch may be missed at both places.
Either place may have no refrigeration. Check out the
facilities and plan accordingly. My advice is to always
pack nonperishable items in case lunch is forgotten
or schedules vary from the norm.
Packing
I also make sure that my daughter has extra clothes
in her backpack because sometimes messy painting happens
at day care and at school.
Miscellaneous
Many times before your child turns four, check out the
activities of the school. Go with neighbors or friends.
This will help the child become familiar with the building
and some of the staff.
When looking for options
for school-to-day-care transportation, see if there are other parents you trust,
working part time, that can transport your child for free babysitting or a fee.
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