What kinds of questions did you use for interviewing purposes?
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What kind of childcare are you looking for? Babysitter? Nanny? Daycare? My questions would change depending on what I was looking for or who/what I was interviewing.
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Nanny or center daycare.
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This might be long.. I copied and pasted.. Here are the questions we asked (eta: we were interviewing in home daycares):
What is the adult to child ration? How many kids to you care for? What are their ages?Do you care for the same group of kids every day?
Do you tell a parent when their child has been bitten or hit by another child?
How do you communicate with parents… daily report ie: nap times/feeding time
Policy regarding sick kids? Will you administer medicine if needed?
Do we pay for days when baby is out due to SICKNESS? VACATION?
Back up care if YOU are sick?
What holiday/vacation days do YOU take? MLK? President? Yearly vacation? Do you work out back up care for those days?
How do you discipline the children?
Do you have any assistants? Who lives in the house/has contact with children? Do you smoke? Does anyone in the house smoke?
Visitation policy? Can we stop by unannounced?
Do you offer sibling discounts? Age discounts?
Describe a typical day. (activities/play areas) Do you let the kids watch TV? Where to you go for outdoor time?
Do you drive the children anywhere? Do they all have carseats?
What is your billing policy (how/when billed)? Form of payment you require? Receipts for taxes?
Release policy? Who may pick up my child…. Can we pick up early or late some days?
Food….. do we provide all snacks/meals? Do you provide any?
Do you think the baby should be held when fed?
Do you pick up the baby when she cries? What would you do if she doesn’t stop crying?
How do you get the baby settled/sleeping? Are you aware of SIDS and how baby should be laying?
REFERENCES
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@MrsH: Here are some of the questions I had when looking at/interviewing daycares:
- What are your hours?
- What Holidays are you closed? Are there any other days that you close?
- How does it work if I breastfeed? Do you supporting bringing breastmilk? And how do you heat the milk/formula (want to be sure they don't use microwaves).
- Is it required that your staff have infant CPR and first aid certification?
- What is the turnover like with teachers -- how long have your teachers been here.
- What is the turnover like with kids
- Do all of your teachers/staff have degrees/background in childhood education?
- What happens if somebody other than myself or DH needs to pick up LO?
- Do you have a vaccination policy -- do all kids who come here need to be vaccinated?
- How does it work with food, once they start eating solids?
- Do you have an open-door policy, i.e., can we drop in whenever?
- How often do you clean and sterilize the cribs, surfaces, play areas.
- What is your policy regarding sick children?
- Do you provide itemized receipts? (this question is for being able to use a Childcare Spending Account) -
honestly, I went more off gut instinct. Of course I asked about experience, credentials, etc, but I didn't have a list of questions
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