Daycare Woes

So I'm really not looking forward to going back to work. I haven't been into the building at all yet and school starts in two weeks. I still have furniture to move around and my desk to set back up. Plus bulletin boards to put together...Oh, and those annoying lesson plans. Haha.


I'm not feeling the same anxiety I did last time with leaving Max because we decided to switch daycares. Last week I visited three traditional daycares and interviewed three private people and we finally made the decision to go with a different daycare center in town. It just started in April and we actually know the people that own it in a roundabout way. There are positives and negatives to this whole experience.


Positives include:

• There are quite a few less kids in the rooms. Which means a lot more one on one attention for Max.


• In addition to less kids, the rooms are MUCH larger than his last daycare. In his new room he has plenty of room to crawl around (when he finally starts doing that!) and there are lots of toys and books on the floor within his reach.


• The new facility has tiled floors with playmats. They mop every day (which we have witnessed on the several visits we've made there) and they also clean the sheets and mattrasses on every crib daily. None of these things were done at Max's last daycare.


• We also don't have to worry about putting together bottles! The new center will keep several of his bottles or sippy cups at the facility and they will wash them every day in there super steamy dishwasher. It means that we only have to drop off the carton of goat milk and the rest of the work is on them.


• In addition, Max is mostly on baby food at this point, so it's food and bibs. This is a lot less work on us for washing bottles every night and labeling them.


• There is a lot of play time on the floors involved in the new center. Very little time is spent "up". There is only one exersaucer and one swing in his new room.


• It costs the same amount as his old daycare.

Negatives include:

• The stress I went through in finding a new place.


• Having to tell the old place that we were leaving and be treated rudely by the assistant director.


• Learning that our old place was violating SEVERAL state requirements and that Max probably suffered because of some of them.


• Having to call Jobs and Family Services to report our old daycare for the violations.

I can't tell you how many parents I've talked to that have withdrawn their children from Max's old daycare this summer. Another friend of mine withdrew her son today after witnessing several two year olds dragging bags of dirty diapers behind them to a dumpster (the teacher was "supervising") and then coming in and not washing their hands. Furthermore, she noticed there wasn't even any soap next to the sink!

We learned that in Max's room they are not supposed to have ANYTHING attached to their cribs (state law- Max had multiple things hanging on his crib that they encouraged us to bring in) and that there must be a fire exit in the room (there isn't one). We also learned that the daycare center isn't even allowed to put a wedge in the crib if they try to roll over while sleeping. We signed a waiver giving Max permission to sleep on his stomach (the whole SIDS concern) but they were still forcing him to sleep in a wedge.

We also heard that in order to make room in Max's age group, the old daycare was transitioning anyone who could walk up to the two year old room. So there were several 16 month olds in with 24 month ++ kids.

Needless to say, we're very happy to have switched and it should cause a lot less stress on us at work and home. I'm starting him this Thrusday and Friday and then three days next week. I'm sad that I have to leave him (esp at such a fun time in his development) and I fear that I will miss important milestones like crawling, walking, and his first word. But hopefully we all come out the better at the end of this year. I just can't believe that my baby is turning 1 in four months time! Before I know it, I'll be planning his birthday party and celebrating Christmas again!