CHANGING FACE OF DAY CARE

Taking their child to day care for the first time can be a traumatic experience for a parent.

No matter if the day care is a cozy home or a bright center filled with laughing children scurrying about, parents deal with complicated emotions on that eventful day. Those inner struggles haven't changed through the years, though day care has.

"When my children started day care, my oldest is 23, it was a babysitting service," said Brenda Pfefferkorn, owner of Tender Care Playhouse in Jackson. "You did not expect all the preschool activities, arts and crafts, and that kind of thing."

While the goal of providing a nurturing place for children has surely remained the same through the years, several ways of accomplishing that objective have developed. In many instances, day care is a business, though unlike any other.

"We're nurses, teachers, cooks, we change diapers," said Pfefferkorn. "We're the mother substitute for usually 10 hours a day. We take it very seriously; they're with us more than they're at home."

Several area day-care providers agree that it has become much more common for both parents to work full time outside of the home. Waiting lists aren't unheard of, particularly for infants.

"Our infant waiting list is probably the biggest" of any other waiting lists for spots at The Early Childhood Center on Broadway, said owner Rhonda Cuba. The center welcomed two new 6-week-old infants last week.

For the wee bit older set, educational aspects have evolved in importance within the world of day care, agreed Cuba. "Parents are more aware these days of how important it is to get the children ready for school."

At Kindercare Learning Center on Silver Springs Road, the focus is on helping the child develop in many different ways. The "whole-child" approach, explained director Kaye Hamblin, employs the discovery method of learning.

A 25-year-old nationwide corporation, Kindercare located here some 15 years ago. "An educational board establishes programs for each class. Each teacher is free to use those lesson plans and add to it, adapt it as she sees fit," Hamblin said.

Shirley Poole, director of Kids' Korner Day Care and Infant Center on Mount Auburn Road, hasn't only witnessed changes in day care through the years, she has been a part of it. Poole began working at Kids' Korner 18 years ago, two years after the opening of the center which is owned and operated by The First Assembly of God, Mount Auburn Road.

"When I started, I started as a teacher of 2-year-olds. Then, parents were real thrilled if the child made a little craft item. Over the years, they've come to expect more than that. They want their child to be learning letters and numbers," she said. "In a lot of my calls now," Poole noted, "the parents inquire as to do we have a preschool program and what type of curriculum do we use."

Other decisions may precede questions about lesson plans. Among them, parents must determine which type of child care best fits their child's needs, and their own philosophies.

One of the first decisions may be whether to enroll the child in a day-care center or a day-care home.

The state of Missouri oversees the licensing of three types of day care: day-care homes, day-care centers and group homes. The size of the facility dictates into which category it belongs, explained Cynthia Buser, bureau chief of the Missouri Child Care Safety and Licensure Bureau.

Day-care centers caring for more than four children must be licensed, unless they are specifically exempt. Day-care facilities operated by religious organizations are among those exempt from licensing requirements. Also exempt are day-care providers that operate for less than four hours a day.

There are approximately 46 licensed facilities in Cape Girardeau County, according to the Cape Girardeau office in charge of day-care safety and licensing. That number includes day-care homes and day-care centers.

Cindy Huey's home is included in that number. She keeps six children ranging in age from 13 months to 3 1/2 years.

Her small business began inconspicuously enough about six years ago. Opting to stay at home with her young children, she agreed to care for another child. The number of children in her care grew and about two years ago, her operation was licensed as a day-care home.

Huey is careful to keep scheduling fluid enough so that each learning experience can be enjoyed. "Social skills are what I sometimes feel I'm teaching," she observed. "When they learn that, the other stuff comes so much easier."

Communication between parent and care giver, she said, is of utmost importance.

With her two children having reached school age, Huey is occasionally asked when she is going back to work. She finds irony in the well-meaning queries. Some people, she said, don't really think of it as a rewarding or worthwhile job. "Any other time, people think of children as being the most important thing in life."

Armed with a double major in accounting and management and a minor in psychology, Huey chuckled, "I put my degree to work every day."

Besides age-appropriate opportunities for learning, nutrition is another factor receiving more attention than in the past in many day-care centers. "For the child's health and well-being, some day cares have just said, `We're going to sit down with everybody for breakfast.' That used to be nonexistent," Pfefferkorn said.

The administering of medications, too, was once a no-no. "I remember leaving at noon to go and give an antibiotic," Pfefferkorn said. Summer camps for older children and the availability of transportation and field trips are yet other offerings some day-care centers have developed to keep pace with growing demand.

Day-care facilities, like moms and dads, keep moving ahead, changing and adapting.

"One of the most prominent changes I've seen," said Poole, "is the fact that dads are much better fathers. When I first started, it wasn't nearly as common to see dads bringing their children.

"They interact a lot more than dads used to," she said.

Through it all, there is at least one element that remains unchanged for Poole. "If it wasn't fun, I probably wouldn't have been here all these years," she said.

How to find child care:

-- A child-care directory of licensed day-care homes and centers is available by calling the Center for Child Studies, Southeast Missouri State University, 651-2951.

Also, a list of licensed day-care providers is available through the Cape Girardeau office of the state Child Care Safety and Licensure Bureau, 290-5800.

Both sources offer information on day-care selection.

-- Consult community organizations, churches, neighbors, co-workers.

Points to consider:

-- Visit the center at a time when you can observe the children's activities and interview the director.

-- Visit more than once, with at least one of the visits unannounced.

-- Schedule one visit near closing time, discuss the program with other parents as they pick up their children.

-- Is the environment safe and healthy?

-- Do all staff treat children with respect, flexibility and patience?

-- Is the director or another person present and in charge of the facility at all times that you visit?

-- Are there sufficient service staff, cooks, janitors, so that child-care staff can concentrate on meeting the needs of children?

-- Is the facility free of observable hazards such as peeling paint and exposed wiring?

-- Is the facility well ventilated and properly lighted?

-- Is the play area safely enclosed or otherwise protected from traffic and other hazards?

-- Is the outdoor equipment safe and in good repair?

-- Does the center have written procedures that will be followed in the event of a health emergency such as contagious disease?

-- Is discipline related to the child's act and not out of proportion to the particular inappropriate behavior?

-- Is first-aid equipment available?