"Mommy, I don't want to go to school today!"

Before the alarm clock rings or the cell phone reminds us that it is time to hit the ground running , our days are spoken for prior to the them even beginning.  We are commuting, working, texting, blogging, tweeting, planning for vacation, planning for the holidays and oh yeah .... we have to send our children off to school and daycare. I'm tired just writing about it.  We plan and plan and find we have less and less time. So how much time and research really went in to choosing that preschool & daycare for your most precious commodity - your child?  

We are a few months into the school year and should have a good feel by now if you have made the right choice for your child, then we hear "Mommy, I don't want to go to school today."  There are many gauges of your child's comfort level, the first of which should be your intuition.  Trust it. Overall, you can sense whether or not your child is having a good experience by his or her demeanor on a regular basis.  You may also want to speak with other parents whose children attend the facility as well to get a feel for how their child is doing.  The important thing to remember is that every child is unique as will be their experiences so you need to base your conclusions on the result of many times not just the rare instance.  

These gauges may be considered "touchy, feely" to some so for the rest of the concerned, caring parents there is the hard core way to get feedback on your child's facility as long as they are a licensed NYS preschool/daycare.  There is a very under utilized resource where the information that is provided is invaluable. This resource is http://www.ocfs.state.ny.us/main.  The NYS Office of Children and Family Services is the oversight organization providing licensure to facilities looking to operate within New York state.  The site is very user friendly and allows for individuals to obtain information and results regarding inspections of sites completed by individuals (licensors) employed by the NYSOCFS.  

We are all very busy but why not put our limited time to good use. Just a few minutes navigating this website can potentially make a world of difference in the care of your child.