One Question Parents Aren’t Asking Before Choosing a Daycare

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Looking for a daycare when going back to work has been one of the most emotional experiences I have had. I am absolutely dreading the thought of my 1 year old going to daycare. Seeing as my older boys did not go to daycare until 4-year old pre-school, I am new at the task of searching for a facility I am comfortable with. My little darling can’t tell me how his day went or how others treated him. I have been trying to do all the research I can by looking at reviews, asking friends for references, and taking tours. During my walk-throughs, my mommy gut tends to tell me if something is off or not.

During one tour, I was being guided by a sweet woman that appeared very cheerful. This was my older sons’ school previously. I loved this school, but felt I needed to tour the younger classrooms. I was unaware of the new management that the facility was under. When I walked into the one year old classroom, 20 little bobbing heads were sitting clumped in a circle. I am used to my older childrens’ elementary school classrooms, so at first I didn’t think anything of it. I was distracted by the colors, wonderful curriculum, webcam vision on your phone, and free meal plan that the facility provided. There were enough teachers. The Florida state child-teacher ratio is 6:1. There were 4 teachers present. That meant 24 individuals were in this room daily. They informed me that the classroom “fits” 24 children, according to state regulation. When I left, I couldn’t get the nagging image out of my head of all those darling children. Something was off.

I remembered a study I heard of in graduate school about space required for a child to develop properly. There were multiple studies prior to it, and their results ranged from 50-54 sq. feet (for children ages 15-40 months) before the child’s cortisol levels (indicating stress) would hit an unhealthy point. Raised cortisol levels over time can prevent psychological, physical, and emotional development in a child. Despite research supporting this amount of square footage, state regulations tend to blindly lean on something called “The 35 foot myth.” However, there is no evidence supporting this regulation. Some federal government facilities have upped their minimum limits to 45 square feet. This is still not adequate.

In the state of Florida, according to statute 402.305, a facility that has received their license before October 1992, only requires 20 square feet of usable indoor space per child. Twenty square feet! If the license was obtained after 1992, then the day care facility is required to have 35 square feet for each child. That is still no where near the suggested 50-54 square feet.

Researching these numbers, I decided to call the day care facilities that I had toured. All of the schools had no idea what their square footage was in each classroom. Well, since they are open, and have to be inspected, they must provide at least 35 square feet. I would assume, given the wording of the operator stating, “The room fits 24 children,” that is probably telling of the 35 square feet regulation. The third facility asked me to hold so they could measure for me, as they did not know off the top of their head. Thank you for bearing with this overcautious Mommy, sweet and patient facility director! I did the math and am glad to say that their limit of 8 children in a room allowed them to provide 69 square feet for each individual baby. Guess which one we will be enrolling in?

You may get funny looks, but ask the question-“How many square feet is this room?” Bring a tape measure if you have to! Divide that number by the amount of people (not just kids) that will be in the room. That will give you the square footage the child has to roam. The magic number is 54, not 35!  Not enough parents are asking this question, because all three of the facilities did not have an answer for me immediately. Ask! You have every right to before committing to a daycare for your child.