If you are a working parent, then taking care of your child 24/7 probably comes as a thing of nightmare. It is likely that even the thought of leaving your baby alone during your office hours makes you uneasy. Well, you are not the only parent.
Young working parents are increasingly looking for reliable child caregivers for their toddlers, which in return, has led to the rapid growth of nurseries and creches all across the country, especially in the urban areas. This has opened up plenty of exceptional licensed childcare options beyond the home-based nannies and babysitters.
Nonetheless, finding the ideal creche continues to be a constant struggle for working parents.
In this blog, we will look into the prospects of a good, reliable creche and help you determine the top creche in your location with a solid creche checklist!
Benefits of Sending Your Child to a Good Creche
A good creche has a multitude of benefits, which can have a profound impact on the overall development and growth of your kid. A good creche near you can offer:
- Top-notch care: Providing care to children in the absence of their working parents is the sole purpose of Creches. So, any good creche in your location should deliver high-quality care to your child.
- Pre-school education: Some creches have integrated preschool curricula to simultaneously provide basic education to your children while taking care of them throughout the day. These well-organized learning programs should pilot your little one’s cognitive and behavioral development and growth. According to experts, 90% of a child’s brain development occurs before kindergarten, i.e., by age 5.
- Systematic socialization: Socialization is perhaps the best outcome of sending your child to a good creche near you. Your kid will have plenty of opportunities to meet other children and make friends. With adult supervision, this systematized socialization can help your child develop strong social bonds and interpersonal relationships from an early age.
- Reliable & healthy supervision: A good creche should typically have well-trained professionals and childcare specialists who are well-equipped to address the unique concerns & needs of each individual child. As such, your child will likely grow in a nourishing environment under specialized supervision.
Why Finding a Good Creche Near You is Important?
Despite the many advantages, creches are not all glittery and good. There are certain downsides to it too: for instance, since your child will be exposed to other kids, the risk of catching diseases or viral infections cannot be overruled, especially if the hygiene of the creche is not prioritized; also, leaving your child in the care of unlicenced caregivers who lack the necessary training and expertise can lead to significant negative implications.
However, all these can be avoided if you follow a stringent process of researching the creche near you before enrolling your baby in it. This is why dedicating time & resources to finding a top creche near your location is important.
We have compiled some essential pointers that will help you determine whether the creche you have shortlisted is actually good for your child or not.
A Complete Checklist to Find the Top Creche Near Your Location
Here’s a compiled checklist of all the essentials you need to look into thoroughly before choosing a creche for your little one:
Staff
One of the most crucial determinants of a good and reliable creche is its staff.
- Make sure that they are well-trained professionals and have relevant certifications demonstrating their expertise in taking proper care of your child.
- Also, check how experienced they are.
- It is equally important to make sure that the ratio between staff and children is in line with international standards. The child-staff ratio varies based on the children’s age. For instance, for infants younger than 12 months, there should 1 adult per 3 infants; for toddlers aged between 13 and 35 months, the adult-child ratio is 1:4; for kids aged 3 years, the ideal ratio is 1:7; and for children aged between 4-5 years, the ratio is 1:8.
Supervision, routine, and discipline
The daily routine, supervision, and the issue of discipline are integrally related to the quality and reliability of the creche.
- Ask the authorities about the level of supervision your child might receive on a day-to-day basis upon admission.
- Talk to other parents and guardians to ensure that the staff fulfills the unique needs of individual children.
- Conduct in-depth research about the daily routine of the creche, including whether there are set times for eating, sleeping, playing, lessons, etc., and if yes, whether they conform to your child’s needs.
- Also, discuss with the authorities what policy they follow when a child misbehaves with the staff or other children.
Infrastructure
The infrastructure and environment of the creche will play a significant role in the upbringing of your child. Remember, it is the place where your kid will spend a major portion of their time in a day. So, it is particularly important to pay attention to the infrastructural attributes of the place.
- Pay a visit to the shortlisted creche before making the final call and look around the place.
- Observe the conditions of the rooms, whether there is adequate natural light, and whether the place has proper ventilation.
- Make sure that the place is comfortable enough for little kids.
- Check out the play area and ensure that all the equipment are child safe or not.
- Also, check out the sleeping area for the little kids and whether it is separate and free from the chaos.
- Look around the kitchen and other adjoining areas to make sure that the kitchen area is inaccessible to the kitchen.
- Make sure that there’s a first aid kit in place for abrupt use in case of emergencies.
- Check out the fire precautions as well.
- If there are any stairs in the building, then there should be stair gates in place to ensure child safety around the clock.
Food and hygiene
A good creche near you will also take care of your child’s nutritional requirements the entire time they are under their care. Hence, it is equally important to consider the food and hygiene aspects before you decide on the place.
- Check out if the kitchen and dining area are clean, tidy, and hygienic.
- There shouldn’t be any open storage as well: food, cutlery, and cooking utensils should all be stored away from the reach of the children.
- Consider taking a look at the menu as well. Make sure that they are meeting the nutritional and dietary requirements of your child.
- Above all, the meals the creche would provide to your kid should be balanced diet and as per government regulations and the ingredients used should be approved by the government.
- Also, ensure that the authorities take your child’s food restrictions and allergies (if any) under consideration while food preparation and delivery.
Timing, safety, and other aspects
As a working parent, the timing of the creche has to be one of the most crucial determining factors.
- Gather information about the opening hours and other timings of the creche and ensure the timing aligns with your working hours or other personal commitments.
- Question the authorities about ways you can reach your toddler in times of emergencies or how they can reach you.
- Research about the safety and security of the creche.
- Ask the authorities whether there are any CCTV cameras to ensure the physical well-being of your child.
- Talk about the creche’s policies and regulations about child pick-up and drop-off.
- Make sure that the creche has a robust procedure in place for emergency medical arrangements.
Conclusion
Finding a good creche near you might be a hassle, but keeping to this checklist will surely help you find a top creche near your location faster. A thumb rule to guarantee that the creche you have chosen for your little one is the ideal one would be to talk to other parents & guardians. You can either check out their testimonials and reviews from the creche’s official website or reach out to them through social media or local communities.
