Day Care

I took my son to the day care on the first working day of the year (Jan 03). I already had taken off from work for three days to go with him, so he gets used to it. That day was so rainy, one of the rainy days that we rarely have in California and this was the first time that I was taking him out so early in the morning. One teacher opened the door and assumed that my son is his new student, when I went to the class I saw about 12 kids with just one teacher, although the manager had told me that for my son’s age the ratio is 1 to 4, every 4 kids have one teacher. I looked around and saw all the demanding kids with that teacher and she was explaining that the other teacher is coming 1 hour later. Any way I left the room to see if my son can be there by himself. I was watching him from the window to the room; He did not notice that I had left the room for five minutes, but after 5 minutes he started looking for me and then started crying, I got in and tried to calm him.

The manager came after one hour and I asked her how come the class is so busy and then she found out that we were in the wrong class. She guided us to the toddler room that was a smaller room with 4 kids and a very cold teacher she did not even smiled at my son or me. She said it is easier for us if the parents do not stay with their kids, but I had decided to stay and be in and out of the room so my son would not panic! My son started playing a little bit and as soon as I left the room he cried again and the teacher said, “Come here” when my son did not go towards her, she just gave it up and did not even try to sooth him. I got in again and it was Art project time, she brought piece of papers, sticks and some colored shapes so kid would stick the shapes on papers, she put it in front of them and did not even show my son how to do it! It’s like he was a grown up person and he could figure it out all by himself, any way all morning I noticed no kindness, no nurturing, no attention from her towards the kids. On lunch time I told her that my son cannot feed him self yet and he needs some help in the beginning, she just put plates with food in front of them and of course my son could not eat, he just may be ate one spoon. The teacher was just sitting and watching them, no encouragement, no help no nothing! I was so upset and took him home after lunch; as soon as I got home I started crying. I could not leave my son in such an environment. My Mom started to console me, and my husband said if you don’t feel good about it just don’t take him there. The funny part is that day care is the most expensive one that I knew and this was the kind of service they were offering!! I called another place and fortunately this place had opening for February, this time I took my Mom and husband along with the baby for the tour and we all liked it a lot better, the teacher looked very kind and the manager seemed to be on the top of every thing. Kids looked happier and even the room was brighter and better, he started playing while we were checking things out and asking questions. We enrolled him for February. Now I felt a lot better.

On our way back home, my Mom told me this is just the beginning, when kids get older their problems get bigger too and you will always be worry about them no matter what!!

Any way, it was kind of a tough start for the new year, now every body is talking about out sourcing our unit at work and this is another hectic subject but I try to remember my new year’s resolutions and stay calm, but it is really difficult to remember it all the time especially for me!!