Questions YOU Ask At An Interview

[Brooksie]

Got a call yesterday afternoon from a family that needs IMMEDIATE care for a 4 year old and then summer care for her 7 and 10 year olds. This would almost fill me up, and while I'm a little hesitant about entertaining a 10 year old all summer, seeing as I am mostly preschool and infant care, I am willing to take them on. I do however want to make sure its a good fit and am curious why she is out of child care so suddenly (she wants to start the 4 year old monday). So what kind of questions do you guys as the potential families. So far its really been more of people interviewing me and less of me interviewing the family, so any thing helps. Thanks guys. Oh and the interview is at 4:30 so any thing before that would be most beneficial ::

[LaLa1923]

Got a call yesterday afternoon from a family that needs IMMEDIATE care for a 4 year old and then summer care for her 7 and 10 year olds. This would almost fill me up, and while I'm a little hesitant about entertaining a 10 year old all summer, seeing as I am mostly preschool and infant care, I am willing to take them on. I do however want to make sure its a good fit and am curious why she is out of child care so suddenly (she wants to start the 4 year old monday). So what kind of questions do you guys as the potential families. So far its really been more of people interviewing me and less of me interviewing the family, so any thing helps. Thanks guys. Oh and the interview is at 4:30 so any thing before that would be most beneficial ::

1. Have your children ever been in family child care before?


2. What did/didn't you like about it?


3. What are you looking for in a child care?

These are a few I ask right off the top.

I probably wouldn't mind a 10 year old at all, they would most likely be a good helper.

[LaLa1923]

For me, I need a good month to really see if they will be a good fit or not.


Always ask where they live and work.
What kind of position they hold.
Custody related questions.
Will my location a good fit? Would there be a problem picking up on time? Etc...
Any special needs or allergies of any sort...

[Sunchimes]

Is the 4 year old potty trained? Seems like a silly question, but these days, you can't be sure.

Do you have reliable back up?

[BBDC]

I always ask questions like;

have they attended daycare before?

what are childs likes and dislikes?

Behavior issues? Potty trained?

Food allergies? Why looking for daycare?

Sometimes when in such a rush to start there is a reason like being kicked out of there daycare. So I try and get some info. Sometimes if I hear a bunch of bashing to there past daycare I feel like it is sometimes a red flag that they are gonna be the problem and probably last daycare ended badly.

[Brooksie]

Sometimes when in such a rush to start there is a reason like being kicked out of there daycare. So I try and get some info. Sometimes if I hear a bunch of bashing to there past daycare I feel like it is sometimes a red flag that they are gonna be the problem and probably last daycare ended badly.

That's what I was worried about. Turns out they pulled their kids out because of an abuse issue. The provider got frustrated with the middle child and grabbed his hair at the back of his head, pulled his head back and poured his apple juice on his face. CPS is now involved. I was so disgusted with this local provider. Shocked. I seriously almost cried because I just couldn't believe it. Hopefully they enroll and I can get these kids back into a good, loving, quality environment.