Choosing the Best Nursery School for Your Child

Choosing a nursery school may be one the most stressful experiences you have as a parent after actually giving birth and finding a doctor for you baby. There are differences between nursery schools and daycare centers. A nursery school tends to be a part time program where your child will go to learn his or her ABC's and how to interact with other children two or three days a week where a daycare center is often a place that cares for your child while you and your partner work forty hours a week. With that said the stress of finding the "perfect" nursery school is just as bad as the stress of finding the "perfect" daycare and it is impossible.

You can find very good nursery schools and you can find very good daycare centers but you will never find one that is perfect because perfect does not exisit so the first thing you need to do is accept this fact and they go out and look for the best nursery school or daycare for you and your child. Once you accept this fact there are a number of steps that you can take to make sure that you and your child will be happy with his or her experience at nursery school or daycare.

The first thing you need to decide is if you want to go with a traditional corporate nursery school, a nursery school that is associated with a church or other religious group or if you want to put your child in a school that is run out of someone's home. All of these have advantages and disadvantages and they all have different licensing requirements. As a general rule the more children being served the more likely that a daycare center or nursery school will be held to strict licensing standards including child/staff ratio, medical training in CPR and yearly reviews.

A good way to get the feel of a school is to arrange for a couple of visits. You really do want to make more then one visit and you want your visits to occur at different times of the day and on different days. Also make an appointment with the director or the person in charge. Ask them what they consider to be their schools greatest strengths and also if they see any area's where there could be improvement. This second question might be uncomfortable for everyone involved but the reality is that all businesses should always be moving and growing and implementing procedures that will bring them to the next level.

After you visit the school a few times arrange for your child to have a visit or two. Once again take your child on different days at different times. Pay attention to how the staff welcomes your child and how they interact with the other children in their care. Ask for a list of parents who are willing to be references for the school. Look on-line and see what you can find out. I suggest you also go to your states department of social services website and see if the school has had any major licensing violations in the past 24-36 months

Talk your decision over with friends and family. See if they have any recomendations or horror stories. Be open to feedback. Once you decide where you are going to send your child you may need to give him or her some time to settle in. It is an unrealistic expectation that a three year old is going to automatically adjust to a new routine. You need to give you child three to six weeks to adjust to the new school so that you can really make a fully informed decision about how he or she is doing. During this time talk to the teachers and the director to get their feedback. If the school sends home daily reports read them and do not be afraid to comment and send the reports back. Pop in for lunch or at another time. Make it an unannounced visit. See how you are greeted by the staff and by your child. Some schools now have web camera's where you can check on your child throughout the day, if this is an option do it. Other schools encourage parents to participate and volunteer if your schedule allows you to do this participate.

Lastly remember you will be making the best decision that you can at the time based on the information that you have. If for some reason the school does not appear to be working for you and/or your child you are not trapped. You can always change your mind and try another school. Good luck.