Ten Things You Should Expect from your Child
Care Provider
1. Open communication. Provider should give you frequent and full updates on your child's progress and problems. They should welcome your questions and ask you questions about how they can help your child.
2. Open access to their home. Parents must be welcome to drop in any time during busines hours, even without calling.
3. Safety for your child. Providers should take all possible precautions to keep children safe.
4. Honesty and confidence. Providers shouldn't make commitments that they can't or don't intend to keep. They shouldn't cover up problems or accidents that occur.
5. Acceptance of parent's wishes. Providers should abide by parents wishes on mattters such as discipline, TV watching, food, and toilet trraining. If the provider feels that they can't abide by the parents wishes, they need to tell parents before agreeing to care for the children and parents should look for other care.
6. Advance notice of any changes. Providers should tell parents well in advance if they are going to change their hours or prices or if they are going to stop or limit the caring for a child.
7. No interference in the child's family or family problems. Providers shouldn't talk to children about their families problems, lifestyles or
values. Likewise, the provider should be careful not to take sides in any family diputes.
8. No advice offered unless asked for and no judging of parenting practices. Providers shouldn't criticize or advise parents on child rearing unless their advice is asked for by the parents.
9. Asurance that everyone in contact with the child is trustworthy and properly trained and supervised. Providers must be responsible for everyone who enters, visits, and works at their home.
10. No surprises. This means that your provider won't tell you that since she has a part-time job, her teenage daughter will watch your child three afternoons a week, etc.