25 Daycare Tour Questions Ontario Parents Should Ask Before They Commit

Questions about daily life and fit

• What does a normal day look like for children in my child's age group?
• How much flexibility do you have for sleep, meals and transitions for younger children?
• What does drop-off usually look like for a child who is struggling?
• What tends to surprise new families once they start?
• How do educators communicate a hard day versus a routine day?

Questions about staffing and safety

Ontario requires licensed child care centres to meet minimum ratios, and staff counted in ratios must have valid standard first aid with infant and child CPR.¹

• What ratio does this room usually run at day to day?¹
• How stable has the staff team been over the last year?
• Who would be with my child first thing in the morning and late in the day?
• How do you cover breaks, illness and vacation?
• How are incidents, injuries or serious concerns communicated to parents?

Questions about program quality

Ontario's licensing manual expects parent handbooks to include core operational information, and full-day programs generally need to provide at least two hours outdoors each day, weather permitting.²³

• Can I see your parent handbook now?²
• How much time do children spend outside on a normal full day?³
• What happens when weather changes the outdoor plan?³
• How do you introduce new materials, interests or projects over time?
• How do you handle children who need a slower transition into the room?

Questions about fees, waitlists and commitments

• Are you enrolled in CWELCC, and what does that mean for our child's fees?⁴
• Which fees are base fees and which are non-base fees?²
• What closures should we expect across the year?²
• What is your waitlist process from here?
• If we are offered a spot, how quickly do we need to decide?

Questions about whether this is truly the right fit

• Which families tend to settle in quickly here, and what usually leads others to keep looking?
• What do you think parents underestimate when choosing care?
• What concerns do new parents usually raise in the first month?
• If you were in our situation, what would you want to think about before deciding?
• What is the next best step after today's tour?

What to write down right after the tour

The best notes are written while the room is still fresh in your mind. Parents often remember whether a centre felt warm, but forget the practical details that matter later: who greeted them, whether answers were direct, what the pickup window sounded like and how staff spoke about a hard transition.

A short post-tour note can save a lot of confusion later. Capture the emotional tone, the operational details, the fee questions that were answered and the ones that were dodged. Those notes become far more useful than a vague memory that one tour felt good.

• Write down one clear strength, one open question and one possible concern for each tour.
• Note who led the tour and how specific they were when you asked about routines and communication.
• Record the next step and the exact timing they gave you for a decision or follow-up.