Well, on to day care number 2. I had been having some concerns the past few weeks about Jake's current day care. The list below were my first concerns:
1. Woman telling me Jake is fussy EVERY day.
2. Woman telling me I need to give my child gas drops EVERY day.
3. Using teething tablets as a cure-all.
4. Woman complaining to me about other parents.
5. Woman telling me they have 11 babies at times when Director promises the ratio is 4:1.
6. Woman grabbing a child by his arm and dragging him across the floor.
These things I didn't share with anyone for a while. They kept eating at me though and I finally shared my concerns with Mike and began calling other day cares. Day care, as you know, is really expensive. One I found was $200 more a month and I just was trying to figure out how we could afford that.
Monday, I went to pick up Jake and was asked, "do you hold him a lot? He wants us to hold him." I was caught off guard by this question and began explaining that we don't hold him A LOT but that he is our only child. I regretted that as soon as I walked out. I should have replied by asking, "what are you implying? Are you trying to tell me I hold my child too much? Do you have a problem with that?" But, I can't think that fast. So, that was added to my list of concerns. I get Jake home to find that his clothes are on backwards. Also added to my list.
Tuesday, Jake had a doctor's appt. I had decided I was going to pick him up early and go check out this other day care. I usually pick him up around 4:30 but got there at 2:30. When I walked in the front door I could hear my child screaming bloody murder. When I walked into the baby room I found that my child was sitting in an exersaucer in the corner, facing the corner. Neither caretaker was tending to anyone. They were just sitting there, ignoring my child while he screamed his little head off. There was no sense of urgency even after I had walked in. One woman says to me, "he's been bad today and now he's mad!" Well, you stupid effing "c" word, would you like it if you were put in the corner and not able to see anything but the effing wall? She then says, "we can't hold him cause then the others want to be held." Uh, I pay you to take care of my child...and that means holding him. The other woman then says to me, "we had to tell Danielle's dad to stop holding her so much on the weekends." WHAT? Are you effing kidding me lady? You actually had the balls to tell a parent how to parent their child? I stood there in shock. When I got Jake his little face just lit up. It broke my heart. I wondered how long he had been sitting in the corner, being punished for being bad. Please tell me how a 4 month old baby is bad? And, please tell me what makes you think a 4 month old can be punished? Please tell me what in God's name are you effing doing to my child? Jake was not wearing the clothes he had gone to day care in, as he hadn't the past two weeks. When questioned about his clothes, they couldn't tell me why they were different.
I grabbed my child, his car seat and we were out the door. By the time I got to my car I was in tears. I couldn't believe I had found my child in the corner, isolated from everyone else, screaming bloody murder and being ignored. It was awful. I immediately felt guilty. I've been thanking God ever since though for not allowing Jake to remember. He's too young to remember what happened. Unfortunately, for the rest of my life, I will never forget that image.
Mike left work early and went to the day care. He told them everything. The Director, of course, was very apologetic and begged for a second chance. That ain't happening! There's no going back. I'm also going to file a complaint with the state. I'm not sure what will happen but it will at least make me feel better.
1 comment:
We were in a holding pattern waiting for our youngest to get old enough to enter Montessori school at 18 months. We were a month or so away, which meant we had to put her in day care.
While in day care she would end up with bites. twice they told us about them. Twice we found them on her later at home. When we confronted them the 3rd time, the director told us that little girl had been removed from the classroom. When we confronted them the 4th time, the girl tending the class told us it was a little boy, who just-so-happened to be the director's grandson.
The day after we confronted them because of the 4th time, was a day we came in early to pick her up. It was around 2 in the afternoon and our 17 month old daughter was unattended in a high chair in a room adjacent to the toddler room. The girl told us she was in the high chair to "protect her from being hurt by the other children." So she had been in there all day to keep her from being bitten by the director's grandson, instead of the grandson being put in the high chair to keep him from biting. Where is the logic in that?
We told them that we were removing her immediately. They usually have a 2-week notice rule and you have to pay if you violate it. They ended up sending us a refund for the week we had already paid for. I guess they were afraid we would report them to the licensing authorities.
My wife got super-stressed because she would have to find another, temporary day care. Fortuneately, after talking to the Montessori school, they let our daughter in at 17 months to avoid all the additional changes in her life.
So day cares stink. You really have to do your research and shop around.
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