Occasions
9 Unique lamps to add light to your life
//
Share Article
Loading...
Stop feeling lost, we’re here for you.
Download the app now and join a community of over 100,000 families, supporting you on your parenting journey.
Download the app now and join a community of over 100,000 families, supporting you on your parenting journey.
By Rasha Salib
Published on Invalid Date
7 minutes read
How to Choose the Right Daycare for You and Baby It is a heartbreaking moment when the time comes for a working parent to leave their child to another. To assign their beloved baby to another caregiver on the account of returning to work is painful. The loaded feelings of guilt, sadness, anger, anxiety and some relief plays so much on how much you want to do right by your baby. This article does not pretend to cure the tears you may shed. Instead, it attempts to list chief considerations on how to choose the best daycare for your baby. The best way I know to deal with this undesired change in our relationship is to take practical steps to address each of the feelings I have associated with this upcoming stage. Understanding why I feel guilty, sad or anxious will dictate my avowed promise (to myself and my son) to find him a comfortable and safe environment to spend his days in the care of others.
This article does not pretend to cure the tears you may shed. Instead, it attempts to list chief considerations on how to choose the best daycare for your baby.
Letting go of futile negative feelings and resistance to an event I am unable to bypass, I decided to focus on what I am capable of doing. I needed to shift my energy from being helplessly consumed by the big panic-inducing event into an empowered individual with some semblance of control. Beginning with a general to-do list, I created a series of smaller tasks in terms of research, preparing questions, writing down notes to self on what I should notice about the ideal daycare environment and discussing with my partner what is important to us regarding certain parenting policies and educational styles for our baby. These are essentially the deal-makers and deal-breakers, if you will.
Beginning with a general to-do list, I created a series of smaller tasks in terms of research, preparing questions, writing down notes to self on what I should notice about the ideal daycare environment.
Visiting the daycares, I made a point to meet with the caregivers themselves, interact with administrative staff, attend a few activities, see signs of happily engaged children with their teachers (preferably with the teacher/caregiver on the floor interacting with them), interview parents at parking lots of these daycares, ask their children if they like their daycare, what they liked most and disliked most.
How often are the baby’s diaper changed? Do the caregivers changing diapers use disposal gloves? Do the caregivers seem responsive to babies? Do they ask them questions, answer children patiently, talk to them, read books out loud, sing to them? Do caregivers write in a daily journal about what your child did today, how they reacted, what they liked, feared, discovered, learnt? Are the classrooms spacious, well-lit and have acceptable noise levels?
Of course, there will be other considerations that maybe important for you, such as: proximity to your home or work, personal budget, if your baby has a sibling you want them to join, etc. I have listed the main points that helped my husband and I narrow down a safe place for our 10-month old son. Being invested and taking time to ask these questions sends an important message to the daycare staff and caregivers that you are involved in your child’s learning and well-being.
Rasha received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where she specialized in Psychology. She completed her Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology and Marriage and Family Therapy, at Pepperdine University, Malibu, California.
In the US and Canada, Rasha worked with individuals, children, adolescents, families, and couples seeking therapy for relationship issues, addiction, eating disorders, depression, anxiety and trauma. In Jordan, she also served as a school counselor at the Ahliyyah School for Girls, where she provided support and guidance to adolescent females who were experiencing emotional and academic difficulties. She also worked for eight years in private practice in Jordan (Maria Den Braven, Jordan Hospital and Dr. Nasri Jacir’s Clinic). Currently, Rasha is the head of the Psychology Department at Abdali Hospital in Amman. Her fields of specialization are: Couple and Family therapy, premarital counseling, relationship problems, infidelity, parenting issues, personality disorders, treatment of addiction, co-dependency, mood disorders, anxiety disorders and OCD, trauma, abuse, sexual assault, counseling for LGBTQIA+ individuals, grief, bereavement and loss, childhood trauma, eating disorders, suicidal ideations and self-harm behaviors, self-empowerment, and transformational healing.
Rasha provides effective and evidence-based treatment and therapy, anchored in research and positive outcomes that are tailored to meet each individual’s needs. She utilizes an integrative therapeutic approach, working with clients in a collaborative and insightful process and ultimately providing care and support for a transformational journey towards health, healing and wellbeing. Rasha’s clinical mental health and wellness method has a very positive, evidence-based orientation that believes people are competent and resourceful. The focus is on providing quality psychological care by weaving in acceptance with change strategies, exploring how clients would like things to be different, how to make change happen and how to recognize signs indicating that changes are happening. Her work is guided by a tenacious vision of vibrant communities where individuals thrive, succeed, and realize their unique potential of mind, body, and spirit. Rasha’s goal is to empower people to transform and heal themselves psychologically, physically and emotionally.
