During a tour of a daycare, what should I look for to make sure the daycare is safe, clean and appropriate for my toddler?
The first thing that I would look for to ensure that it's a healthy and clean environment for a child is the staff to children ratios. There should always be maintenance of staff to children ratios in every room. If they separate out by ages then an infant room would look like a four to one ratio; four children to every one staff member. As the child gets older, around 18 months to three years of age, that ratio should look like a one to six ratio. The state requires that there are certain ratios that should be maintained at all times. Even if staff go on breaks or its nap time, those ratios should be maintained.
Other things I would look for around a facility would be things on the walls that dictate how the staff should use policies and procedures. If certain sinks are used for certain things like hand-washing and when they're changing a diaper for a child there should be procedures on the walls that tell them how they should do these tasks to keep the environment clean and maintained.
