Choices in Child Care: What's Best for Your Child

Margaret E. Kidd is a member of Toronto’s Child & Family Services
Review Board.

We continually remind each other that our children are our most
important resource, but the care of those children is somewhat haphazard
before they reach the public education system. Suzanne Laird, an
experienced early childhood educator, carefully spells out the day-care
choices that are available to parents across Canada. She strongly
advises that assessment precede placement.

This book is aimed at parents who have already decided that they need
outside care for their child, whether in a day-care centre, a home day
care, or a nursery school, or with a nanny in their own home. Every
province has slightly different regulations for each type of available
care. Laird provides addresses for provincial information offices, as
well as a detailed checklist of questions to ask when you visit centres
or interview homes or nannies; lists of parent education references and
children’s storybooks are also included.

This well-organized and easy-to-read handbook is an invaluable aid for
evaluating one’s child-care needs.