Thirty questions to ask, ten quiet things to watch for. A pocket-sized script for the day you walk in the door.
Most tours run 30 to 60 minutes and cover what the program wants to show you. This pocket guide helps you cover what you need to know — without coming across as an interrogator. Built for the day, not for the spreadsheet.
Each is short enough to ask in conversation, sharp enough to surface a real answer. The full PDF includes the follow-up questions, the observation cues, and the after-tour rating sheet.
A pause before the answer is information. So is a confident "five and seven years." Staff turnover is the strongest single predictor of daily quality.
Generic answers signal a program running on marketing. Specific answers signal a program that knows itself.
Every program has hard days. The texture of the answer — communication, follow-up, transparency — tells you what to expect on yours.
Adults who routinely crouch to a child's eye level when speaking are doing developmentally appropriate work. Adults who direct from above are not.
Tours are short, the director is leading, and you are trying to listen to the right things while watching where your child is putting their hands. A pocket script gives you the freedom to stay present while still asking the questions that actually predict fit.
Immediately: the tour-questions PDF and a one-page pocket version sized to fit in a diaper bag. After that, our weekly newsletter (one short email per week with one practical guide). No daily emails. Unsubscribe in one click. How we make money.
Built from interviews with 60 daycare directors and 30 lead teachers about the questions they wish more parents asked, cross-checked against NAEYC accreditation criteria and our own family survey. See our editorial standards.
The tour script is for the visit. The comparison checklist is for the kitchen-table decision afterwards. Use both: ask the questions during the tour, then fill in the checklist that night while the visit is fresh.
Before you leave the parking lot, write four short answers: How did the children seem? How did the lead teacher seem? Could you imagine your child here on a Tuesday morning? What is the one thing that gave you pause? Trust those notes a week from now.