Let’s face it: As a parent or guardian, your child means everything to you. When putting your child through daycare or school, it is important to make sure that nothing goes wrong to harm your child – either physically or mentally.
Additionally, your child’s health and safety should be one of your top concerns. If your child is enrolled in a day care or school program and something goes wrong, you’re sure to feel upset or angry.
However, taking an aggressive approach and complaining with the daycare or school can sometimes make the problem worse rather than better. Rather, you should take preventative measures to making sure that your child will have a wonderful experience.
Below are some proven steps you can follow to making sure that your child doesn’t run into any serious problem at daycare or school:
- Do not blame anyone before having solid proof or evidence. Work with your child’s teacher or caregiver on coming up with several solutions to the problem and reaffirm your active role in your child’s education. By being a problem-solver, you’re not only showing that you’re active and involved in your child’s life, but also that you’re a responsible individual who cares about coming up with solutions rather than winning arguments.
- Use subtlety when trying to probe the truth from teachers or caretakers. Try to find something worth praising or noting in the school or person who is working with your child. Starting the conversation out on a positive note shows that not only are you concerned about your child’s well being, but that you also notice and appreciate the dedication and enthusiasm of the caregivers and teachers involved.
- Let your child tell you in his or her own words what’s going on at daycare or school. However, you shouldn’t rely on their explanation as the only one. Get information from teachers, classmates or even other parents. You’ll find that there are several sides to the story, and the more you know, the more fully and accurately you can approach the teacher or caretaker and voice your concerns.
- Follow up with the people you’ve taken your complaints to and talk with your child to see how things have improved. If the situation hasn’t changed, take your complaint to the next person up and repeat the steps above until a resolution has been made. Being informed and involved with your child’s school shows that you’re more interested in seeing quality results than making a one-time complaint and letting the issue sit while nothing is done to correct it.
- Try to keep the issue on the actual incident instead of the people involved. This helps minimize any later confrontations (between your child and another child, for example), and also helps the teacher focus on the problem and not the ones who started it. Also, don’t forget or ignore your child’s possible role in the problem.
As they say, it is best to prevent than to find a cure later. Always be sure to show your confidence in the daycare or school you enroll your child in. This way the daycare or school will also respond by living up to your expectations!