James has been at daycare since he was just over 11 months and now he's 22.5 months so he knows the routine. He started his previous daycare in mid November and he left on Jan 31st. Initially we really liked it except for the high price tag and the fact that it didn't have a kitchen. The kitchen was one requirement that I wasn't planning on giving into however I made a sacrifice and allowed him to eat the catered food. The catered food was good as I got to pick his meals daily and they made things like chicken nuggets made with cauliflower to hide the veggies. When I did the tour I was sold on the center itself. It was so spacious and clean, plus there were multiple playrooms for James, along with a huge playground. I call it a playground because there was a slide, sandbox, bike track, and open grassy area. This daycare was well planned out and was NAEYC certified.
After some time there, I realized that it wasn't as great as I thought it was. The teachers were good at teaching the kids, but I didn't find that they were as focused on feeding the children. I say this because they didn't give James any milk or water to drink one day. We inquired about it and there was no acceptable answer. It seemed like everyone was pointing the finger at someone else. This was extremely disappointing and heart breaking because James wasn't able to express himself even though he was thirsty. After much talk with the staff we decided to give them another chance since James was already adjusted there and enjoyed it, but in the back of my mind I was looking for another center. Believe it or not, the same situation happened again! I was horrified, it occurred on the night that I was at a company event so I couldn't yell at everyone there. Adit called me on his drive home and told me about it. I left an urgent message with the site director, however to this day I haven't received a call back.
So the next day I heard nothing from management. I did speak with James' primary teacher because she heard what had happened. I showed her his daily sheet from the prior day that stated that he was given milk and drank it, yet we knew he had none. The reason I know he didn't have any was because we supply the milk and when we picked them up they were full. She kept the daily sheet and brought it to the staff meeting. Upon pickup that day someone from management spoke with me and apologized for what happened to James. She suggested that James will be permanently assigned to one teacher so she can take care of him. I asked what would happen when she's sick, on vacation, etc. They said that they will work on that, we all know what that means. I preferred that James was exposed to everyone and didn't think that I was asking for anything special. After this ordeal I knew we had to leave. I had a another daycare in mind but they didn't have their licencing yet or else James would have been there from day 1. They had an open house after the holidays so we attended and Adit and I really liked it.
The new daycare was a 2 minute drive from home, had a kitchen with homemade food, and webcam access. This was just what we needed so I gave notice at the old center and enrolled James for Feb 1. It's been a couple weeks and James is adjusting well. As they are new, enrollment is low and James is the only permanent child in his class. I thought he'd be lonely sometimes, but he does a lot of interacting with his teacher. Just the other day I heard him counting in spanish to himself and he showed me a heart today. I think we made the right decision, but only time will tell.
Hope your childcare needs are working out for you and that you never have the experience we had.
Happy reading!
Rachel
After some time there, I realized that it wasn't as great as I thought it was. The teachers were good at teaching the kids, but I didn't find that they were as focused on feeding the children. I say this because they didn't give James any milk or water to drink one day. We inquired about it and there was no acceptable answer. It seemed like everyone was pointing the finger at someone else. This was extremely disappointing and heart breaking because James wasn't able to express himself even though he was thirsty. After much talk with the staff we decided to give them another chance since James was already adjusted there and enjoyed it, but in the back of my mind I was looking for another center. Believe it or not, the same situation happened again! I was horrified, it occurred on the night that I was at a company event so I couldn't yell at everyone there. Adit called me on his drive home and told me about it. I left an urgent message with the site director, however to this day I haven't received a call back.
So the next day I heard nothing from management. I did speak with James' primary teacher because she heard what had happened. I showed her his daily sheet from the prior day that stated that he was given milk and drank it, yet we knew he had none. The reason I know he didn't have any was because we supply the milk and when we picked them up they were full. She kept the daily sheet and brought it to the staff meeting. Upon pickup that day someone from management spoke with me and apologized for what happened to James. She suggested that James will be permanently assigned to one teacher so she can take care of him. I asked what would happen when she's sick, on vacation, etc. They said that they will work on that, we all know what that means. I preferred that James was exposed to everyone and didn't think that I was asking for anything special. After this ordeal I knew we had to leave. I had a another daycare in mind but they didn't have their licencing yet or else James would have been there from day 1. They had an open house after the holidays so we attended and Adit and I really liked it.
The new daycare was a 2 minute drive from home, had a kitchen with homemade food, and webcam access. This was just what we needed so I gave notice at the old center and enrolled James for Feb 1. It's been a couple weeks and James is adjusting well. As they are new, enrollment is low and James is the only permanent child in his class. I thought he'd be lonely sometimes, but he does a lot of interacting with his teacher. Just the other day I heard him counting in spanish to himself and he showed me a heart today. I think we made the right decision, but only time will tell.
Hope your childcare needs are working out for you and that you never have the experience we had.
Happy reading!
Rachel
No comments:
Post a Comment