Choosing a daycare can be unnerving for both parents and their children.
Children are put in a new environment with unfamiliar people, and the daycare provider is responsible for making sure they are cared for and happy.
For parents, the concern is picking a place that is safe with a good reputation.
Patty Bellant strives to make sure both parents and children are comfortable at her home daycare, Peppermint Patty’s Play Place. The proof of Bellant’s efforts is her recent accreditation by the National Association for Family Child Care in early October. Bellant’s day care is the only home-based family daycare in the Clarkston area to receive such accreditation.
Bellant wants people to know daycare is a good thing. She said a lot of parents, especially new parents, can be apprehensive or even feel guilty about leaving their child at a daycare. However, Bellant stressed a lot of the benefits to having a child in daycare, in particular early education programs and social interaction.
According to Bellant, all home daycares require licenses from the state, and each state’s rules are different. Bellant said Michigan places a lot of emphasis on safety, but receiving national accreditation goes beyond that.
‘Accreditation has mostly to do with a standard as far as my relationship with the kids, my relationship with the parents,? said Bellant.
Bellant added that curriculum also plays a big part, ‘We know now that learning begins not when the kids go to school in kindergarten, learning begins at birth. So it’s about what we do to get these children to exceed once they hit preschool and kindergarten,? Bellant said. ‘Unfortunately, Michigan is one of the lowest states as far as what they expect. So the National Association for the Education of Young Children decided if we given them our ideas nationally (about) what we think should be going on, it will bring up the standards from all of these states. So pretty soon these will be the norm instead of the exception.
‘Right now I’m the exception. I’m the only one in Clarkston, but hopefully it will bring up the standard so that you’re not just dropping your child off and letting them sit in front of a TV all day, which is not helpful.?
Bellant is in her eighth year of operation in Clarkston. She moved to the area after marrying her husband, Kevin, 16 years ago. The couple has three children – Jordan, 15, Hailey, 12 and Austin, 8 – and Bellant said Austin’s birth made her decide to get into the daycare business.
‘For me, it was a need. When my third child came along, I couldn’t afford daycare for three kids,? Bellant said. ‘The first year I really struggled. It’s a long day, you’re here by yourself, you don’t have any help. No one tells you what you’re supposed to be doing and what you’re not supposed to be doing.?
Bellant said she got in touch with the Oakland County Child Care Council, through which she was able to take some classes and network with valuable references for daycare providers. The council sponsored Bellant during her accreditation process through a partnership with Ford Motor Company. As part of the deal, Ford provided supplies for the daycare, and Bellant agreed to uphold all the standards required for national accreditation.
Bellant said her daycare is an extension of her family.
‘The children all wait for Jordan, Hailey and Austin to come home from school and read to them or play with them,? she said.
Bellant said she also has two Oakland University students who help out when she needs backup.
The process of becoming nationally accredited took Bellant nearly two years. She said the process required her to go back to school at Oakland Community College to earn credits in Early Child Development in the fall of 2003.
Bellant said her sponsers send representatives to visit and ensure she is meeting all the necessary criteria.
‘They have somebody who comes out once about every two months to see how I’m doing and to see the environment the kids are in. They’ll sit with the kids to see how the kids are developing to make sure I’m keeping up with the standards. It’s been a good partnership. All three of us work together,? said Bellant.
Bellant said she is licensed to care for up to 12 children at a time, and that on average she cares for between eight and 10 children depending on the day. Bellant said she’s received a lot of feedback from the community and she always has a waiting list for infants.
‘A lot of people want infants to be in home daycare because it’s a smaller number of kids, it’s a smaller group.?
The daycare follows a daily schedule from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. that includes two meals, songs, art activities, story time, naptime, and outdoor and free play. Children also have the chance to participate in lessons for beginning math and science.
‘We do activities where we sit down with them, but we also give them enough free time to play with their friends and they learn a lot from the other kids,? Bellant said. ‘Every day is different. We have a schedule; however, dealing with a young group, you also have to be able to throw the schedule out the window and know you’re not going to do that that day and we’re going to do something different.?
Peppermint Patty’s Play Place is one of 60 nationally accredited home daycares in Michigan, one of two accredited daycares in Clarkston, the other being The Funshine Early Childhood Program.
For more information on Peppermint Patty’s Play Place, call 248-620-1791. For information on the Oakland County Child Care Council call- 248-681-9192.