How to Prepare Your Child for Daycare
9 min read · Updated May 28, 2026
The two weeks before daycare starts are when the practical preparation pays off: shift the morning routine a little earlier, talk about daycare in simple positive language, visit the room if you can, and have the paperwork done before day one. Most of this is small. The cumulative effect is a calmer first week for everyone.
This guide is calibrated for BC families with a toddler or older child starting daycare for the first time. If your child is a baby (under 18 months) and you are specifically worried about separation anxiety, see our companion guide on helping your baby adjust to daycare. For the search and waitlist work that comes before any of this, see how to find daycare in BC.
Start two to three weeks out
The single most useful thing parents can do in the weeks before daycare is reduce the number of new things happening on day one. Every shift you can make at home before the start date is one less thing your child has to absorb in the room.
Shift the morning routine gradually
If daycare starts at 8:00 AM and your child currently wakes up at 8:30, do not wait until the night before to set a 7:00 alarm. Shift the morning by 10 to 15 minutes every two or three days, so by the week before daycare, you are on the new schedule. Bright Horizons' guidance on this is straightforward: getting the wake and sleep schedule into the new shape ahead of time prevents the morning fight from being the worst part of the first day.
The same logic applies to mealtimes and naps. If the centre serves lunch at 11:30 and your child eats at 12:30 at home, narrow the gap before the start date. If naps at the centre happen at 1:00 PM and your child has been napping at 2:00, move your home nap by 15 minutes every few days.
Talk about it, often, in simple language
Children handle new things better when the new thing is not actually new. "Next week you'll go to your new daycare. Maria will be there. You'll play and have snack and nap and then I'll come pick you up." Repeated, in the car, at bath time, before bed. The Bright Horizons recommendation is to read picture books about starting daycare in the weeks before. Public libraries in Vancouver, Burnaby, and Surrey all have a "starting school/daycare" picture-book shelf. Borrow three. Read them at bedtime.
Avoid making daycare sound either too magical or too scary. "It will be so fun!" sets up an expectation no real day will match. "I know it will be hard but you're so brave" tells a child that they should expect it to be hard. Aim for neutral and predictable: "This is what happens at daycare. These are the people there. You'll come home after pickup."
Visit the room if you can
Most BC licensed centres will let you do a short visit before the start date. Ask. Even a 20-minute walkthrough where your child sees the room, meets one educator, and finds where the cubby is can make a meaningful difference. If a visit is not possible, the next best thing is photos: ask the centre if you can take pictures of the room and the staff during your acceptance tour, and look at them together at home in the week before.
If you have not yet evaluated the centre or you are not sure what to look for during a visit, our guide on what to look for when choosing a daycare covers the evaluation side.
Paperwork and logistics
The administrative side is mostly boring, but boring it on day one is much better than scrambling it on day one.
Health forms and immunizations
BC licensed daycares require an up-to-date immunization record. The province does not require all immunizations as a condition of attendance, but the centre will ask for the record and may report aggregate immunization status to the local Health Authority. Bring a copy of your child's record from your family doctor or your provincial health record. If you have made specific choices about immunizations, share them with the centre so they know in advance.
The centre will also collect health-and-safety forms: allergies, medications, conditions, dietary restrictions. Fill these out fully. Educators reading them at the start of a busy morning need everything legible and in plain language.
Emergency contacts and pickup authorization
Centres will not release a child to anyone not listed on the pickup-authorization form. List grandparents, the partner of a friend, the nanny share parent. Photos are useful: most BC centres take a photo of each authorized adult and keep it on file. If you have not provided photos already, do it before the start.
Provider information for fee reductions
If you have applied for the Affordable Child Care Benefit, the centre needs your case information to apply the reduction. Some centres collect this at registration; some forget. Confirm in advance.
If you are not yet familiar with ACCB, CCFRI, or $10-a-Day, our guide on BC daycare subsidies walks through what applies in which case, and the CCFRI explainer covers the most common reduction.
What to pack
A standard daycare bag for a toddler or preschooler:
- A full change of clothes (more than one for toddlers and preschoolers; spills happen).
- Indoor shoes or non-slip socks, depending on the centre's policy.
- A weather-appropriate outdoor set: rain jacket, splash pants, rubber boots, hat or toque, mittens. Vancouver has roughly 160 rainy days a year. The outdoor outfit lives at daycare; restock it weekly.
- A nap blanket and a sleep sack for under-twos, or a small blanket for older children. Check the centre's policy on lovies; most allow one small one.
- Diapers, wipes, and any specific cream if your child is not toilet-trained. Most centres ask parents to top up the supply weekly.
- A water bottle labelled with your child's name.
- A change of socks. The most under-packed item in any daycare bag.
Label everything. Use a permanent marker or iron-on tags. Vancouver daycares routinely process hundreds of mittens a year, and the unlabelled ones go in the lost-and-found until they are donated. Three children's coats look identical.
The week before
A short week-before checklist:
- Confirm the start date and time in writing with the centre.
- Confirm the first-week schedule. Many BC centres do a phased start, with shorter days the first few days. If your centre offers it, take it. See how to help your baby adjust to daycare for what a phased start looks like in practice.
- Pre-pack the bag the night before each day. Mornings will be tight.
- Practise the drop-off in your head. Where do you park, where do you sign in, which door, which cubby. The more automatic this is, the less stressed the first morning will be.
- Tell your child the plan, in the same simple language you have been using for two weeks. "Tomorrow is your first day at daycare. We'll go in together, I'll say goodbye, and I'll come back after lunch."
The first day itself
A few principles that hold for almost every BC first day:
Keep the goodbye short
The longer the goodbye, the harder the separation. A hug, a phrase that you reuse every day ("I love you, I'll be back after lunch"), a wave to the educator, and out. Do not return if your child cries. The educators are trained to comfort. Children almost always settle within 5 to 15 minutes of the parent leaving.
Do not sneak out
Always say goodbye, even if you know your child will cry. Slipping out while they are distracted by a toy means they discover you have vanished, and the next morning is worse.
Manage your own face
Children read parental anxiety. If you walk in tense, your child will know. Practise being calm, even if you do not feel it. The Cleveland Clinic and the American Academy of Pediatrics both make this point explicitly: parents who project comfort with the setting help children settle into the setting.
Bring a comfort object
A small lovey, a familiar blanket, or a piece of clothing that smells like home can help bridge the separation. Check the centre's policy first; some Group Child Care rooms restrict items for hygiene reasons. See the types of BC daycare for which licence categories tend to allow what.
Pick up on time
The end of day one is as important as the morning. Be there at the time you said. If you cannot, call the centre. A late pickup on day one is the kind of thing children remember.
The first two weeks at home
What you may see at home in the first few weeks, all of it normal:
- More tantrums or clinginess in the evenings.
- Disrupted sleep for the first few nights.
- Hunger spikes; offer more snacks.
- A short illness in the first 4 to 6 weeks. New social environments come with new viruses.
- Regressions in things you thought were settled (toilet training, sleeping through the night). Most pass in a week or two.
Keep the home routine consistent. Predictability at home is what helps your child handle the change at daycare. Big shifts at home (a move, a new sibling, travel) layered onto a daycare start tend to compound the adjustment. If the timing is flexible, save the other transitions for after week three or four.
When to talk to the centre
Most centres expect to talk with parents daily for the first week or two: short check-ins at pickup, a daily report on eating and napping, sometimes a brief written or app-based summary. Use those conversations. Tell the educators what you saw at home. Ask what they saw. The first two weeks of feedback in both directions is how a centre figures out how to care for your specific child.
If you see patterns that do not improve by the end of week three (no eating, no napping, escalating distress at home), talk to the centre director directly, then your family doctor or community health nurse. BC has Infant Development Programs through every Health Authority, and Westcoast CCRR has consultants who can help parents work through transitions (Westcoast CCRR).
The bottom line
Preparing a child for daycare is mostly about reducing the number of new things on day one. Shift the routine in advance, talk about daycare in simple language, visit the room if possible, get the paperwork done, and pack the bag the night before. The first day will still be a first day. But the work you put in the two weeks before makes it a much smaller mountain.
For what to expect once you are in the rhythm, see helping your baby adjust to daycare. For the earlier search and offer-evaluation steps, see how to find daycare in BC and what to look for when choosing a daycare.