More than child care – providers get kids ready for school, life

June 28--With children, patience is a must.

As a child care provider, Rose Menning knows that better than most.

Patience and a love of children have helped Menning operate her in-home day care in Mitchell for 27 years.

Menning said recently that she is seeing a change in the way child care providers operate. She explained it used to be a place to drop children during the day and let the kids interact with each other. But, she said today's child care has become a place for children to develop skills needed to enter school.

With an associate's degree in early childhood development, Menning uses her training to spend about two hours daily helping her kids learn at their age levels.

"Circle up," she calls after breakfast each morning. Ten children, ranging in age from 1 to 5, take their places on the floor and eagerly await Menning's activity.

She often takes out Windy Weather, a hand puppet, and her activity pack, which includes such items as a calendar and numbers, and figures depicting the weather.

"What does it look like outside right now?" Menning asked a 2-year-old child during a recent afternoon.

Karmyn Weidner picked up a snowflake and grinned.

"Is it snowing outside?" Menning said, smiling, knowing Karmyn was joking.

"No, there was thunder outside," Karmyn said seriously and nodded her head as she picked up a gray cloud.

There are at least 48 child care businesses in Mitchell, including Menning's. There is no organized list of day cares in Mitchell other than those listed on the state Department of Social Services website.

Day cares not registered or licensed through the state have no specific listing. The Daily Republic did an online search for unregistered home day cares, and found about 12 that answered phone numbers listed. Several day cares listed online had disconnected numbers.

According to data from South Dakota Kids Count project in Vermillion, there are about 800 people registered with the state to operate in-home day cares. In a recent presentation in Mitchell, Dr. Greg Boris of the advocacy group Voices for Children said for every provider that is registered, there are one and a half people providing day care who are not registered.

That totals to about 1,200 people in the state providing in-home day care, he said.

According to an Ancestry.com report released in May, South Dakota leads the nation in percentage of all mothers in the state working at 80 percent. That's a 73 percent jump since 1930. The genealogy website says it used 150 years worth of Census Bureau data to compile its findings.

Group family child care centers are allowed to care for 13 to 20 children. They must have a child-to-adult ratio of 8-to-1. DWU's day care has a ratio of 20-to-3, or about six or seven kids to one adult.

Child care centers must have a child-to-adult ratio of 5-to-1 for children under 3; 10-to-1 for children ages 3 to 6; and 15-to-1 for children over 6. Boris said the state has about 250 child care centers and group child cares registered.

Changing dynamic

Thirty-six years ago, when Verla Vlieger started a day care in her home, she noticed other providers who simply plopped their children in front of the TV, or let them play all day.

By registering and training through the state, Vlieger gained enough knowledge to create a learning curriculum for all her day care children. And it's been successful, she said -- she's had many children know their alphabet by the age of 3, for example.

A child's development varies with their environment. Vlieger said children who have parents that read to them, work on their numbers, letters, shapes and colors at home have a better chance of reading earlier. On the opposite side, parents who don't do those things or don't have children in an educational setting for day care or preschool, have children who are less likely to learn the alphabet at an early age.

"The majority of people didn't do any kind of educational program," Vlieger said of the 1970s.

Vlieger's program has stood the test of time, and she incorporates not only education but play, exercise and parent education as well.

"I have to admit, I have really good parents," she said. But she adds that a few of her parents through the years haven't followed through with educational materials she sends home. Instead, they set their children in front of the TV.

At her day care, Vlieger said she has an educational time, but makes sure the children also run off some steam.

"I still have the kids go outside and play," she said. "I'm definitely an outdoors person yet."

Menning also emphasizes the importance of outdoor activity and stimulating play. She does not consider herself a babysitter, as some have called child care providers.

"If you've got more than five kids in your house, there's never time to sit," she said. "Whenever a parent is at work and you're looking after their kids, it's really care-giving and educating."

Menning said it's rewarding to watch the kids grow each day and learn so much they score in the top percentile when they enter kindergarten. She said it's also gratifying to know she can provide a safe and nurturing place for children while their parents are at work.

"They worry less when they know their kids are somewhere where they're happy and learning," Menning said.

Many day cares in Mitchell incorporate preschool activities each day.

At Dakota Wesleyan's day care, providers help preschool-age children learn the alphabet, numbers and shapes, along with social skills like sitting still and sharing. For toddlers, providers scale down the preschool activities, teach nursery rhymes and sing.

"Even with the babies, we teach them different hand signals and sign nursery rhymes," said Kathy Roth, a day care assistant at DWU. "As opposed to someone just watching them, this is more of a structured environment. We're teaching them structure."

Structure is important, she said -- a specific routine every day.

Most child cares work the same in Mitchell, according to a recent polling of about 50 day cares -- breakfast, activities and school time, lunch, nap or quiet time, afternoon snack and play time.

Brenda Bechen has provided in-home day care for 16 years. She is not registered with the state, but she provides preschool activities.

"More and more parents want the preschool aspect with the day care," Bechen said.

For the first six years of her day care, Bechen said didn't focus on the ABCs, but she provided learning toys and educational projects like coloring sheets. However, about 10 years ago, parents started asking for preschool education. So, Bechen orders a curriculum through a company in Minnesota that includes coloring sheets and cutting sheets that teach about colors, numbers, letters and more. These not only teach those skills, but improve fine and gross motor skills.

She also does a circle time with the children, which includes reading books, learning the alphabet, days of the week, the months, shapes, colors and numbers.

Types of day cares

In South Dakota, in-home day cares do not have to be registered or licensed through the state.

Those registered with the state are eligible to receive public funding through the USDA Child & Adult Care Food Program or child care subsidy reimbursement, according to the South Dakota Department of Social Services.

Registered or not, state law dictates they can only care for 12 children. These are defined in state law as family day cares. These laws and the state rules that govern day cares date back to the 1970s, according to the Department of Social Services. The rules require a written program of activities appropriate for each developmental age level.

Day cares approved by the state must meet certain criteria, including a certain number of hours of training required for staff in topics like age appropriate activities, first aid, child growth and development, guidance and behavior management, food handling and nutrition for children. Staff are also required to know CPR.

None of these is required for day cares that are not certified or registered through the state, according to the Department of Social Services website.

Businesses registering and licensing through the state first submit a floor plan for review by the departments of Health and Public Safety. The businesses then submit items like a completed application form, references, the child care's policies and procedures, liability insurance, menus, fingerprint cards for criminal background checks and a sample of a daily program schedule.

Once all is submitted, according to DSS, a state employee and a fire marshal will inspect the facility. If it and the provider meet all requirements, a license is issued.

In Mitchell, the state regulates 27 day cares, four day care centers, four before or after school programs and one group family day care.

Aside from those, there are about 12 other day cares operating that are not licensed by the state.

Those day cares operate out of private homes and are only required to have a conditional use permit from the city, said Neil Putnam, Mitchell's city planner.

"The city puts conditions on the permit," he said. "There's a hearing process, you have to notify neighbors."

The permit requires the city fire marshal to inspect the facility prior to the day care's opening, Putnam said.

"It's a pretty easy, straight-forward procedure for me," said Marius Laursen, Mitchell's fire marshal.

He goes through five categories on a checklist -- electrical, fire extinguishers, means of escape, fire/smoke alarms and combustible storage. After meeting the day care operator, Laursen will check for clear access to the electrical panel, for exposed wiring or extension cords, and other electrical hazards. He ensures the facility has working fire extinguishers on every level the children will inhabit, especially in the kitchen, and that they are easily accessible.

"And of course, I'll make sure they're up to date and functioning," he said of the extinguishers.

If a day care operates in a basement, Laursen ensures there are at least two escape routes, like a stairway and an egress window. An egress window must be 5.7 cubic feet -- enough room to escape if there is a fire -- and operational.

He also makes sure there is an easily visible address number on the building in case emergency personnel need to respond to a call.

Laursen checks for smoke alarms and whether they are working. He also informs day care providers to do a monthly inspection of those alarms.

"For combustible storage, it's something that can easily start on fire," he said. "Heavy vegetation around the house that might cause a problem."

And he looks at the overall cleanliness of the house.

Laursen said he's never had to say someone couldn't have a conditional use permit to run a day care, but has had to limit the area of a house where the kids could be. For example, if there wasn't an egress window in the basement, he would restrict the day care kids to the upper level until an egress was installed. Or if there was an electrical hazard in a bedroom, he'd restrict the day care provider to keep children out of there until it was fixed.

"If it was bad enough, we'd never let them move forward in the process of getting a permit," he said.

Laursen also performs these inspections for state-licensed day cares. However, this inspection is the only one performed at non-state-licensed day cares.

Preschools and after school

There are at least six preschools in Mitchell, all covering ages 3 to 5 and helping prepare those children for kindergarten. Many parents send their children to a preschool separate from day care starting at age 3.

Palace City Preschool has been operating since the 1980s and teacher Harriet Baldwin has seen countless students pass through. With four groups of students, the student-to-teacher ratio is between 12-to-1 for the older kids and 7-to-1 for the younger children.

Baldwin has an elementary education degree and believes in a well-rounded education.

"Think of a pie. We teach to the physical, intellectual, emotional and social aspects of the preschool-age children," she said. "We want them to be excited about learning to continue into the rest of their education careers and to do it in a fun manner."

They work on a regular curriculum each day, which lasts 2-1/2 hours, and includes swimming and gymnasium time since the preschool is in the Mitchell Recreation Center/Gertie Belle Rogers Elementary School.

"We use a parachute, scooters, play soccer, run bases, play basketball," she said. "Especially from November to March, it's very beneficial."

Students who attend Palace City Preschool either ride the city bus to their day care provider's home or their own home, or they are picked up by their parents.

John Paul II Preschool is accredited through the state educational system. Teachers at JPII teach regular math, social studies and reading, but also incorporate religion into the curriculum since it is a Catholic school, said Robin Cahoy, JPII principal. The students also learn to integrate into a school environment by having music, gym and computer classes with separate teachers. Preschool lasts a half-day, she said.

Bright Beginnings Education Center in Mitchell is both a preschool and day care.

Director Shauna Chapman said children start their days with free play until breakfast. Three- through 6-year-olds have preschool activities from 9 to 11:30 a.m.

After lunch, every child has a nap time or quiet time, and the afternoons are spent playing.

"You have to be able to multitask," Chapman said. "And be prepared for anything to happen on any day or time."

YWCA offers an after school program called Kids Club that incorporates learning and play in a safe environment at Mitchell's three public elementary schools and John Paul II, said Christine Perkins, office manager, in an interview earlier this year. The program caters to school-age kids who need somewhere to go when school lets out for the day. It is available every day school is in session, and the YWCA runs a summer Kids Club that has full-time and part-time slots.

Each day, the staff-to-student ratio is 1 to about 10 or 15, Perkins said. Students take part in an educational, age-appropriate activity, have a snack and then play either in the gymnasium or outside.

The program is certified through the state and run by staff with state certifications in early childhood or elementary education, or college students working on those degrees.

Whether children are at a home day care, center, in a preschool setting or after school program, providers in Mitchell tend to agree on a central aspect -- helping children succeed and be happy isn't only beneficial for them, it helps parents stay at ease about trusting their children to others' care each day.

Karla Koons has taught kindergarten at L.B. Williams Elementary School in Mitchell for the past 17 years. She said most of her students who come from a background of preschool or a learning-based day care are prepared to learn to read, and many have good social skills.

However, it's clear when a child comes to school without that advantage.

"You can certainly pick out the children who know what they need to know," she said. "It makes my job easier and I can take them further."

Children who go to kindergarten with preschool or learning-based day care experience often begin reading by late September or early October -- about a month and a half into the school year.

She said most preschools or learning-based day cares focus on letters, but also round out with good social skills, which gives those children a real advantage to be well-rounded.

As great as that is, Koons said it's also important to recognize academics isn't everything when it comes to preparing children for school.

"You have to step back and remember the whole child," she said. "Making sure they're socially and emotionally ready. We like to see academics, but there's a need for a fine balance too."

She said the children with strong academic backgrounds go to school ready to "jump on the reading wagon." Others who have not attended preschool or learning-based day cares are behind, she added.

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