The Truth About Daycare Ratios for Infants and Toddlers

 
Any good checklist for seeking a quality daycare center will mention inquiring about daycare ratios.  How many children to how many adults in the room?  Each state has its own minimum requirement.

In Massachusetts (one of the better regulated states) where I was a lead teacher in an infant room, the ratio was three infants to one adult or a maximum of seven infants to two adults.  Of course most daycare centers will opt for the maximum because they are, after all, a business.

Did you ever watch Jon and Kate cope with their eight infants?  Between feeding, diapering, and holding, they needed a team of volunteers to keep their household running.  Maybe seven infants to two adults is easier?  Think again.

The truth is that there is often just one adult per six children for a majority of the time.

Why?  In daycare centers, infants/toddlers are required to have a diaper change every two hours. Diapering in a daycare center is much more complicated than at home:

• Diapering area is often separated from main play/floor area by a gate or door

• Caregiver notes time of diaper change and puts on rubber gloves 

• Each child has their own personal supply of diapering items to be retrieved from cabinets or drawers

• Daycare children usually have on footwear, which needs to be removed and reassembled if the child is wearing jeans or fitted clothing, especially if there is a BM involved

•  After child has been diapered and brought back to the others, the caregiver must return to area to dispose of diaper/gloves and changing sheet paper, wash area with disinfectant, and lay down a new paper before retrieving the next child to be diapered. 

This process takes at least 8 minutes per child in even the most efficient operations, unless clothing is wet or soiled and the child must be changed into a new outfit.

Let's do the math:  8 minutes x 7 children = 56 minutes that one caregiver is alone with the other 6 children.

One hour later, the whole process begins again with the first child that was diapered!  In between diaper changes, there are bottles, highchair feedings, naps, and playtime.  This is an amazing feat considering state regulations require caregivers to individually hold babies when they drink from bottles and many infants need to be rocked or held before napping.  Trust me when I tell you that two sets of hands are not enough for seven infants in a childcare room following these state regulations and ratios.


You might have thought it was okay that your child was receiving 1/3 of an adult's daily attention, but what if they are actually getting by with only 1/6 of an adult's daily attention a majority of the time?


How to Find out the True Teacher to Child Ratio of a Prospective Daycare?


--Rather than being content with knowing the center's ratio, you might want to ask about the diapering process:

How often are children diapered?

Who does the diapering?

(If it is one person or the team rotates, how many adults are left with the other six children?)

--Make More than One Visit to Observe the Infant Room Before Deciding:


Most centers arrange times to talk to teachers during children's nap times, so the teacher will have time to devote to your questions.  However, this is often misleading, because this is the most calm part of the day.  With lullabies playing softly on the stereo, it might appear to be the perfect environment.

If you like the center after talking with the staff, ask if you can stop in another time or two to observe only.  Ask to come between 11:00 AM and 12:00 PM when lunch time is in full force or 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM when children are up and about, just to get an idea of what it is truly like at different times.  Only arrange these observations with the understanding that teachers will NOT have time to talk to you during these peak care hours.       



Nanny's Note:  I have worked and interned in a variety of daycare centers.  I believe this ratio issue is one contributing factor to daycare staff burn out and turnover.  I found many center environments unsafe and chaotic due to ratio issues. 


I'd be very interested to hear from other caregivers with similar or very different experiences.  Parents - what do you think?

Mid-Week Mom Tip - Homemade Carrot Chips

Carrot Chips is only one of many tasty and nutritious recipes you'll find at Weelicious, a blog featuring fresh and wholesome baby, toddler, and family meals.  I can't believe the Food Network has not snapped up this talented Mom and given her a show yet! 

Found Weelicious thanks to a post by fellow New England blogger Angelika at her Playground Hunting blog.  Angelika reviews and maps out tons of playgrounds in the Boston, MA area in addition to blogging about fun activities and family life.  Here's her adorable son, Alex, helping to make carrot chips in the kitchen:

Hope you run over and check out both of these great blogs!

Easy Bead/Pasta Stringing with Toddlers

Bead stringing is a classic activity for young children that helps strengthen their fine motor skills and allows them to perfect their hand-eye coordination.  Three year olds are just about the right age for bead stringing and card lacing activities without frustration.

For beginners and younger children (two and up), bead stringing can be introduced by using large, wooden beads and pipe cleaners.  The firm but flexible pipe cleaners allow small hands to point the tip accurately through the bead's opening.  Once the pipe cleaner is through the bead, help young children learn how to grasp the top of the pipe cleaner to slide the bead down.

Caution:  This is a good time to introduce words like sharp or "pokey" as M and I call the cut ends of the pipe cleaner. Also, just bend the bottom of pipe cleaner to make a little loop so the beads don't slide off the end.

Bead Stringing with Pipe Cleaners

Where to Find Beads?

I was very excited to find these large wooden beads at the Dollar Tree. Although painted, they meet safety standards and do not contain lead paint.  Usually these types of beads can be found at a much higher price in school supply catalogs or online educational sites. Another frugal option is the large plain wooden beads or blocks found at craft stores.

Substitute: Dried pasta shapes like rigatoni for beginners and penne for more of a challenge.

I bought two sets (6 beads each).  For $2, I can get a lot of play mileage out of these toys:

More Bead Activities:

These chunky beads are a good stand-in for a first set of blocks for little hands.  M likes to stack them up to make towers (to knock down again and again).

M also likes to fill and dump objects with these beads (ie. containers with twist tops, empty wipe containers, his dump trucks, etc.)

Sorting and Classifying:  Beads can be grouped by color and shape.  This is a beginning math skill. 

Patterning:  Whether stringing them or stacking them, you can introduce beginning patterns by alternating colors and pointing out the pattern to your child, "look, this one has red, yellow, red, yellow, red.  Let's make another one that matches."  This is another important math skill.


Math Vocabulary to Introduce:  different, same, matches, pattern, more, less