What are Parents Looking For?

[Unregistered]

In no particular order......

Someone who is offering activities

A clean, safe and welcoming environment-hear stories of run-down, dirty, cluttered spaces

Someone who is warm and caring

Definitely a place their child loves

Hears lots of positives ( word of mouth). Small town, word gets around

I serve homemade, mainly organic meals. No one mentions or seems to care, though in the back of their minds I think they love the good home cooking the kids get!

Last, I have a BA early childhood K-6. No one cares a bit.

[auntkk]

I have yet to have a single family contact me about the things that SHOULD be important. I'm upfront about my rates (which I made sure were consistent with other daycares in the area, and also asked the families I had babysat for for their input on it), because I get angry when I have to call somewhere just to find out I can't even afford it so I get that it's important. But it's so frustrating that I've only been contacted by people who want to pay drastically under my rates, want me to work for hours after I'm closed, and don't want to sign a very simple contract. I don't bring up the contract until the interview because it seems to turn a lot of people off. I've had so many people hang up on me as soon as I tell them my rates. Meanwhile, the daycares that advertise with horrible spelling and grammar (I have such a pet peeve with that when you're TEACHING CHILDREN) and generally look and seem sketchy are always full because they're so cheap.
So for me so far, the things they care most about is:
1. Cost 2. Hours 3. I act like a babysitter that follows THEIR rules (let their kids eat whatever they want whenever they want and such).
So far that's it. Ugh!

[Annalee]

In my area, this seems to be the order:

1. Safe with basic needs met
2. Academics for the child & my educational background
3. Hours
4. Price

But I have also found that there are some who ask about academics first will and have left for $1 less and and an hour longer.... I have come to the conclusion that clients will do what they are going to do and this is a BUSINESS. If they want to be a part of a provider's program they will do what it takes to make it work.

The one and only parent that researched my program on the QRIS state website lasted 8 days because she would not arrive on time nor pick up on time....it was a torturing 8 days which ended with me calling licensing because the mom & dad cussed me out in front of my daycare kids because they showed up at 10 in the morning and I would not let them stay. It was a huge ordeal. He was a policeman and the mom a nurse...they lived one street up from my daycare so I still see them but this happened several years ago. .go figure!

[CraftyMom]

There are 2 answers really (for me)

The ones who are shopping around for the cheapest place want:

Cost
Hours
nothing else

The ones who enroll:
Feeling comfortable here
Hours
Activities
Cost

[midaycare]

There are 2 answers really (for me)

The ones who are shopping around for the cheapest place want:

Cost
Hours
nothing else

The ones who enroll:
Feeling comfortable here
Hours
Activities
Cost

Very good point. There are ones who shop around, and ones I allow to enroll. One thing that stops the "shoppers" from calling here is putting my price right on my website.

[Unregistered]

As a parent..

Location. I am in southern new jersey. I pass at least 4 actual daycare centers on my 15 minute ride to work. I don't know how many other home centers I pass. As a parent I want a some place either close to home or work that I don't want to have to go too far off my path to get to.

Hours: I need a center that is open the hours I work.

Open every week day - I need a place that is open year round and stays open including some of the minor holidays like Presidents day, MLK day, Columbus day.. (Major holidays are ok to close)

Safe, Spacious, Clean environment - I pulled my child from his first center when he moved up from the infant room to the toddlers because the toddler room was smaller than my closet at home. I loved the center and the infant room in general but his new classroom was so small and stark it seemed like a holding cell in a jail. I want bright colors, interesting things for my child to look at and play with.

Activities- I look for places that have lots of extra activities beyond the basics. Sports activities, field trips, outside guest speakers/ activies such as the gymnastics bus ...or the music mobile..mobile kids museum, .things to keep my child entertained and stimulated on a regular or at least weekly basis.

[LysesKids]

So true!
Half of my families don't live in the same town as me. One drives 30-40 minutes to get here, with another 10 minutes in the opposite direction for work.
Having that connection and comfort level is important.

Mine do the same... I have one that drives 35 min to me & then the same back to her home county where she works, most my other parents drive at least 20 minutes & then another 20-25 to work. I'm the only infants only that is Eco Healthy and I do organics. Heck I got a call yesterday from a mom whose dd aged out in March - guess who needs care for another one next March . She lives 30 minutes away & there are over 20 places she could get closer to her home or work. Of course her other dd is here today in a Drop-in spot because the center she attends closed due to a water main break

[midaycare]

Mine do the same... I have one that drives 35 min to me & then the same back to her home county where she works, most my other parents drive at least 20 minutes & then another 20-25 to work. I'm the only infants only that is Eco Healthy and I do organics. Heck I got a call yesterday from a mom whose dd aged out in March - guess who needs care for another one next March . She lives 30 minutes away & there are over 20 places she could get closer to her home or work. Of course her other dd is here today in a Drop-in spot because the center she attends closed due to a water main break

I could google this, but I'm more interested in your explanation. What is Eco-Healthy?

[LysesKids]

I could google this, but I'm more interested in your explanation. What is Eco-Healthy?

The program started in Oregon years ago but went national in 2010; I was the first and only in AR while I lived there... I had to drop it and rectify after I re-opened here. You can be listed on the map or not (I went not this time because I take Foster kids that need to be "hidden " on occasion - I'm a safe house during court hearings). Essentially I agree to be candle & smoke free, natural cleaners , no running vehicles in parking lots, low VOL paint etc etc. I am the one in East TN that isn't shown

http://www.cehn.org/ehcc

"The Eco-Healthy Child Care® program endorses providers who comply with at least 24 of 30 best practice techniques.

We offer child care providers training and marketing via our website, newsletters and other media outlets. We work hard to get providers the credit and support they deserve. Many of our materials can be downloaded for free. Our Fact Sheets are also available in Spanish."

http://ecohealthychildcare.org/index.php?page=provider

Washington DC also can pop in with 48 hrs notice for inspection... they do it to make sure people are actually doing what they agreed too; it use to be free to do but you know the Gv't... they tacked on a fee to be part of the program a few years ago

[midaycare]

The program started in Oregon years ago but went national in 2010; I was the first and only in AR while I lived there... I had to drop it and rectify after I re-opened here. You can be listed on the map or not (I went not this time because I take Foster kids that need to be "hidden " on occasion - I'm a safe house during court hearings). Essentially I agree to be candle & smoke free, natural cleaners , no running vehicles in parking lots, low VOL paint etc etc. I am the one in East TN that isn't shown

http://www.cehn.org/ehcc

"The Eco-Healthy Child Care® program endorses providers who comply with at least 24 of 30 best practice techniques.

We offer child care providers training and marketing via our website, newsletters and other media outlets. We work hard to get providers the credit and support they deserve. Many of our materials can be downloaded for free. Our Fact Sheets are also available in Spanish."

http://ecohealthychildcare.org/index.php?page=provider

Washington DC also can pop in with 48 hrs notice for inspection... they do it to make sure people are actually doing what they agreed too; it use to be free to do but you know the Gv't... they tacked on a fee to be part of the program a few years ago

Sounds very interesting!