Preschool/Nursery school/daycare - how important is it to you....not a debate, but insight needed please!!

..how important is it to you that you are able to just "drop in" whenever you wish?

I see many parenting articles that say to find a place where you are able to stop by at any time, but it seems many places on LI don't go for this.

I'd like to find a place that allows it, but I also imagine the other side of it - that it causes a disruption.

I'd just like the OPTION to be allowed to do so.....just for peace of mind.

have you ever heard of this before?
does your place allow it/not allow it?
if they DO allow it, where do you go?

Re: Preschool/Nursery school/daycare - how important is it to you....not a debate, but insight needed please!!

what place does't allow you to do this?? Unless it's school maybe I can see it but a daycare..sorry that's my child..if I want to come and see DC I will... I would NEVER send my child to a daycare where I coudln't drop it anytime.


ETA: At his age now..he'd just want to come home if I dropped by and didn't leave with him.. but I often come early unannouced to get him.

Message edited 2/3/2011 8:52:27 AM.

Re: Preschool/Nursery school/daycare - how important is it to you....not a debate, but insight needed please!!

Mine allows it. I dont because I dont want him to want to leave. When he sees me, he knows its time to go home. I thought most places allow this. Mine is inhome, so maybe thats different.

Re: Preschool/Nursery school/daycare - how important is it to you....not a debate, but insight needed please!!

When DS was about 3.5 months old I used to go and visit him at his daycare on my lunchbreak. Did it for the 1st two weeks, but then I made the decision to stop b/c he was getting disrupted. At that age he was fine with me visiting, but personally I stopped b/c it was harder on him as he got older and understood more.

I did call whenever I could and the teachers had no problem speaking with me and telling me how his day is going

Now we're in a new daycare in NJ b/c we moved. They have the same policy as well. Especially for moms who BF. DS is 20 months so I wouldn't drop by b/c again... it's an older age and the class has a schedule now. I do call a few times a week and speak with the teacher during nap. She gives me an update of his day. Usually when I pick him up I like to watch for a bit b4 he sees me just to see him play or do the class activities. It's so cute watching him sing with the kids, dance or listen to story time

Re: Preschool/Nursery school/daycare - how important is it to you....not a debate, but insight needed please!!

I have never heard of a place not allowing it..


It's MY baby- I will damn well walk in there whenever the heck I please.

Tutor Time encourages it. They said that from day one.

Not sure if it's becasue she is an infant and in the infant room where it's not structured learning.

But I can go there whenever I want- as can my DH, my sister, my mom and dad...anyone on the list I designate.

I came to pick her up one night and my parents were in the room visiting her- I had no clue they were going but they were in the area and stopped in.

Re: Preschool/Nursery school - how important is it to you....not a debate, but insight needed please!!

you know what -- I meant not babies, but twaddlers..more of a structured program. my mistake!

Re: Preschool/Nursery school/daycare - how important is it to you....not a debate, but insight needed please!!

DS is 14 months.. and you can come any time..

Re: Preschool/Nursery school/daycare - how important is it to you....not a debate, but insight needed please!!

have you ever heard of this before?
Yes..every center that I have looked at allowed it.

does your place allow it/not allow it?
Our current center allows it and the new center allows it as well.

if they DO allow it, where do you go?
You are welcome to go straight to the classroom. Personally, the few times I have done it I've only gone to observe through the window because I know my son will want to come back with me. A few times I've gone to spend time with him in class and will say that it is disruptive because all the kids flock to the visitor.

Re: Preschool/Nursery school/daycare - how important is it to you....not a debate, but insight needed please!!

Re: Preschool/Nursery school/daycare - how important is it to you....not a debate, but insight needed please!!

DS will be 3 in April. his daycare allows and encourages it.

Re: Preschool/Nursery school/daycare - how important is it to you....not a debate, but insight needed please!!

I would never drop in nor would I send my kid to a place where parents just dropped in...its more upsetting for everyone involved, and the staff at any daycare have better things to do than to look after drop in parents all day long. Stupid.

Re: Preschool/Nursery school/daycare - how important is it to you....not a debate, but insight needed please!!

Utmost priority to me - and I do it quite, quite frequently with my girls. If a school had a policy against this, I wouldn't choose it.

Re: Preschool/Nursery school/daycare - how important is it to you....not a debate, but insight needed please!!

I never sent DD's to daycare, but personally I would not drop in unless the child is an infant and wouldn't know the difference if you were leaving. I think it would create alot of confusion. DD is in pre-school in a temple school, and I guess you COULD drop in if you had to, but none of the parents did, and I would never. I find it's totally disruptive and I wouldn't want other parents doing it either.

Re: Preschool/Nursery school/daycare - how important is it to you....not a debate, but insight needed please!!

May I ask what your reason is for dropping in though?

I've never had an issue in this at any schools my kids were in but I can see how it might be an issue and disruptive for the children and the teachers..

Re: Preschool/Nursery school/daycare - how important is it to you....not a debate, but insight needed please!!

the IHDC we are sending our 11 mnth old allows it but does not encourage for the disruption factor.

at first it kinda bothed me a bit, but i get it more now. it would be a major distraction for the provider, and the kids. they thrive on consistentcy, routine, knowing what to expect.

Re: Preschool/Nursery school/daycare - how important is it to you....not a debate, but insight needed please!!

I worked in a daycare for 4 years. They are open door policy. The Infant room and pre-school are the easiest rooms to pop in. The toddlers, flock to the visitor, and want to leave with the parents. But we did have many parents and some grandparents that would pop in to say hi and play for a bit and I thought it was great. Most parents, especially toddlers, would watch them through the window for a bit. Is it disruptive? A bit but you can usually distract them a bit and get them back into whatever you were doing.

It's funny b/c I went there to visit my old friends with my dd to meet them and we went intot he toddler room and they all came to me and the baby and wouldn't let us go until snack was on the table. It was s o cute.

Re: Preschool/Nursery school/daycare - how important is it to you....not a debate, but insight needed please!!

Posted by bicosi

May I ask what your reason is for dropping in though?

I've never had an issue in this at any schools my kids were in but I can see how it might be an issue and disruptive for the children and the teachers..

Re: Preschool/Nursery school/daycare - how important is it to you....not a debate, but insight needed please!!

My daycare in NY encouraged it!

This is VERY important to me.

I hated when I was shopping for a place and they’d say “Don’t come between 12-2, its nap time” I get it, but I want to see how you handle it. AJ’s naps were always a struggle. So I ignored the warning and show up. But I was discreet.

Oh average tho, outside naptime, any time is a good time to every place I’ve been interested in or booked. I’ve shown up during fire drills, feedings, naps, play time, etc. I even did it because I wondered how AJ was getting red, why she would eat for them, etc. Especially those places without cameras. I must admit I didn’t do spot checks as much when I could see AJ via web.

Every place I’ve been has always been ok with drop ins (with exception of nap time) and if they have rotating nap cycles (Infants, toddlers, older all sleep at different times) they’d still usually only limit it to the times where all of them overlapped for sleep.

Re: Preschool/Nursery school/daycare - how important is it to you....not a debate, but insight needed please!!

I believe that most places allow you to come in whenever you want to, however, they advise against it because it disrupts the class activity and other children's schedule. For example, last week I picked up DS right after lunch when the kids were getting ready for their nap and I felt so bad bc I walked in while it was getting quiet and my son ran to me saying "Mommy mommy!". You should have seen the look on some of the kids faces...they missed their mommies too...This is just a little example while most places do not want to you to just come in whenever you want to.

Re: Preschool/Nursery school/daycare - how important is it to you....not a debate, but insight needed please!!

I would think that most daycares would allow this, but I would think preschool/nursery schools would discourage it since there are actual lessons going on.

DD has been in a 3x per week nursery school since September and it has never occurred to me to even want to drop in.

Re: Preschool/Nursery school/daycare - how important is it to you....not a debate, but insight needed please!!

for daycare it was important, but for preschool I would not drop in. I think it would be disruptive to the curiculum

Re: Preschool/Nursery school/daycare - how important is it to you....not a debate, but insight needed please!!

ds daycare is in my building so I go can go down whenever - my mom goes to visit him as a guest sometimes too.

once he's in the next class up 18 mo-3 yr old they ask that you not go to visit since it distracts the kids and some parents can't come visit and the other children get upset. not to happy about that, but I'm not there yet.

Re: Preschool/Nursery school/daycare - how important is it to you....not a debate, but insight needed please!!

Very important! It ruled out one of the preschool on our list. They wanted us to be announced prior to coming to the school. Like an appointment.

I don't want any school to "stage" anything prior to me coming.

Re: Preschool/Nursery school/daycare - how important is it to you....not a debate, but insight needed please!!

My daycare allows it and it's a corporate-run establishment.... I can't imagine NOT being able to drop in.