Are you the parent of one or more young children? Have you been thinking about going back to work but your children aren't yet old enough for elementary school? Some parents feel guilty about going back to work and leaving others to care for their child. But the truth is that a good childcare experience can help prepare your child for elementary school and set him or her on the path to success. In order to help you to recognize a good daycare facility when you see it, here are some things for you to consider:

Daily activities: Some daycare facilities do little more than sit the kids down in front of a TV set to watch movies all day long. While there is nothing wrong with a movie activity from time to time, especially if it is educational in some manner, this is hardly the ideal group activity. Your child isn't going to learn any necessary social skills or educational concepts while glued to the television set. A good facility will have outdoor play activities when seasonally appropriate, story time, crafts, and a variety of other things for the children to do. Some may even focus on more purely educational concepts, such as learning shapes and colors.

Number of children to adults: The fewer children there are per adult, the better the daycare facility is. Having more adults and/or a smaller group size means that the teacher or other carer will be able to give each child more individualized assistance when necessary. If your child should happen to struggle with something for any reason, smaller class sizes will help to ensure that this is noticed by one or more of the adults and that help can be given to him or her to help with whatever it is that he or she is finding difficult.

Field trips: Although not strictly necessary, it can be a sign of a good daycare facility when they take the various classrooms on regular field trips. These trips may be overtly educational or they may be just for fun. Both types of field trip can expose your child to new surroundings and help to teach him or her about the world. He or she will also learn more about how to behave in public, especially when in large groups, which is something that some children may not be exposed to until they are much older and in elementary school.