Three requirements of a good child care centre
When you have made the difficult decision to look for a child care centre, then you will obviously want to find a centre that is conveniently located close to your home or office and that has spaces available for the times that you need care. Beyond these basic considerations, there are going to be at least three determining factors in choosing the right child care centre for your child. When you have found a child care centre that can satisfy these three requirements, then you can have confidence that your child is being well looked after during the time that they are away from you.
Concentration on creative play
A child care centre needs to be about more than a babysitting service. You must look for a child care centre where the staff are actively engaged in supporting the development of your child through ongoing creative play. There should be a sustained focus on activities that will foster cognitive growth in the children and help them to develop a strong brain architecture that encourages them to engage effectively with their world and build a strong foundation for future learning.
Follows a systematic pattern
A child starts learning from birth and as they play more, they keep on learning. Finding a child care centre that is prepared to invest the time and effort in not just the activities of each day but in how those activities build together to follow a logical program. No matter how good a particular activity is, or how much they learn from it, a child will soon become bored if it is all that they do. A good child care centre will be able to take the lessons a child has learned on one day and help them to apply them in a different context so that their daily activities build together systematically.
Locates the child in their world
Education is about far more than logical and creative learning. A good child care centre must be able to give children a sense of identity. Ask any prospective child care centre how they teach the children about their own culture and how they relate to other cultures in their community and around the world. These objectives could be met through play-based activities or through food or music. A child care centre should be actively seeking creative ways of helping children understand their place in the wider world.