Need to choose the right day care for my son. Please help me!

[playfelt]

There is a new emphasis on "just playing" too that many caregivers are starting to embrace. There is plenty of time down the road for scheduled learning times and very young children need time to explore and learn. Before crossing any centre off your list go and talk to the program director about their philosophy of play and what they offer. It may be that in the infant/young toddler program that there is nothing formal just spontaneous such as if a child brings an adult a book they read it together but once child turns 19 months and moves to the next room there is more group time and access to more fine motor activities such as puzzles and play doh. Remember that your child will not be in the same room their whole time at the daycare centre. In a home daycare again ask because puzzles and games for older children are often kept up out of reach and brought down as needed since they would be unsafe to leave out where infants in care can touch them.

Also you need to look at the toys that were available and the learning that is taking place in terms of appropriate for the age - a stacking toy teaches size, a sorting toy teaches shapes, blocks teaches fine motor and colours. Children are free to explore the toys but usually there are times when the adult will use one of the toys in a lesson - as in they play with the child so that a specific skill can be learned and then leave the child to repeat the task over and over as long as they want till they have mastered it.

My point is be sure that what you are expecting to see in the daycare is appropriate for your child's age and not just something that you have come to think of as meaning quality care.