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October 29, 2010
It’s a challenge to find
Quality day care can involve care and learning.
REBECA KUROPATWA
Parents know more about their own children than anyone else. By carefully looking into available care and matching that up with our children’s individual needs and our preferences, we’ll be able to select the best care for our children.
Finding quality day care can be one of life’s great challenges. From my experience (and what I’ve heard from countless others), your best bet is to start shopping around as early as possible to get your child a space or to get put on the waiting list of your choice care centre.
Some parents prefer day-care centres for their formal and structured environment. These centres are inspected for licensing purposes and have supervised caregivers with a director overseeing the entire operation. If a centre’s caregivers are trained in early childhood education, they know what to expect from your child developmentally and are able to nurture his/her growing skills accordingly, including offering a mix of activities like singing, dancing and storytelling.
Willow Aster has been successfully running Tickled Pink Daycare in the Wolseley area of Winnipeg for 10 years. This private day care provides early childhood education and care and is open five days a week, with Aster welcoming children from 8 a.m-5 p.m.
“It’s very important for parents to shop around to find the kind of day-care staff and atmosphere that best suits what they’d like for their children,” said Aster. “There’s a broad array of choices out there. For public institutional day cares, the government offers subsidies. This option is good for those with tight budgets. Usually, public day cares have more kids and caregivers, but you may not be able to find that extra special care you’re looking for – like getting the care, but not the educational components.”
At Tickled Pink, Aster provides art, drama, physical and outdoor activities, field trips, as well as organic food options, but she also provides an educational component – teaching kids everything from how to get along with others to knowing the alphabet, colors, math and reading skills. Many of the kids who have been through her day care wind up integrating into the public school system ahead of their cohorts.
At many day cares, parents can send their children from the time they turn two years old. Other places want the children to already be toilet trained, and others still accept children as young as one year old or even younger. Generally, kids can stay in day care up until age six or seven.
Of course, child-care fees are an important factor to consider. Depending on where you live, day-care costs can vary anywhere from $200 to $1,000 per month. According to Statistics Canada, the average monthly cost for full-time care (five days a week, eight hours per day) in Canadian cities are as follows, lowest to highest: $205 in Montreal, $395 in Winnipeg, $415 in Regina, $420 in Fredericton, $430 in St. John, $605 in Yellowknife, $800 in Toronto and Ottawa, and up to $1,000 in Vancouver.
“Deciding to send your child to day care or to keep them at home with you or your extended family is really a personal decision,” said Aster. “Day care is a good opportunity to integrate your child into a new culture and language. On the other hand, having your child with family helps him/her be well-grounded in their language and culture of origin.”
Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.
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