A Vent about Day Care

I have to admit that there are some very positive aspects about taking the kids to day care, but there are also many, many things I hate.

Yesterday was a VERY bad day care day.

Let me give you a bit of history. A few weeks back, T’s jacket, a fleece one, was taken from the daycare-I assume given to the wrong child, and the parents have not brought it back. I was angry, but not too bad because it was not very expensive. On that day, the director told me to make sure I label all the kids’ jackets, etc.

Well, this past Thursday, it was really cold, and so, for the first time, I put T’s brand new Osh Kosh winter coat on. It’s blue and gold, puffy, and extremely warm. Before we left the house, I labeled the name tag in sharpie with T’s name, as requested by the director. 

I had to work late because I’m the sponsor of our school’s National Honor Society, and we held our induction on Thursday. So, my beloved sister went to pick up the babies and watch them until my mother could relieve her. When she arrived, she asked for his coat, and they brought her an orange fleece jacket, definitely NOT his blue and yellow coat.

When I arrived home Thursday night, I was furious.

Friday morning….I take the kids to daycare, a package of diapers for Koby, and three packages of wipes, one for each baby, in tow. I asked the workers about T’s coat. Well, it turns out another little boy has the exact same coat. And there was still one hanging in the bathroom (where they hang the two-year-olds coats). Unfortunately, it was not T’s. Still, I didn’t panic. So, they switched the coats. Big deal. The other mother would return T’s, and it would all work out.

So, I arrive last night to pick them up. They now have T’s coat. They bring it to me, and get this: The mother of the child has written HER son’s initials, JW, in LARGE print on the coat tag. To make matters worse, this BRAND NEW coat is now covered in food, shiny grease, the fleece is matted with some type of food, etc. I was furious!

I should also note that I was exhausted, suffering from a terrible headache, and this probably made my fuse a bit shorter than usual.

Then, the teacher tells me that T needs wipes! I said, “No. I brought them this morning.” So, she attempts to locate them, searching in his basket, in his wipes container, under some counter top, and nothing! They’re nowhere to be seen! The teacher I had handed them to was not there.

So, now I’m even more angry.

I enter the baby room, where I’m greeted with news I hear at least once a week: L has been bitten. I angrily signed the accident report.

Then, I marched out to see the director, carrying the coat, leaving the babies behind in the baby room.

I confronted her about the coat. She started saying that they need to be labeled, which really pissed me off. I said, “You told me to label it; I did! Now, this brand new coat is disgusting! I’m not taking it. You give it back to this mother, tell her to dry clean it or replace it.”

The director was in shock. She’s like, “Seriously? Dry clean? Does it say dry clean only?”

I said “I don’t know, but this is a brand new coat!”

She said, “Well, I can’t promise you anything.”

I was quite rude to her and snapped at her, which I realize was wrong, but I was so frustrated. I have never spoken to her in that manner, no matter how frustrated and angry I’ve been with her or her staff.

So, I went back to get the babies. And I realized in my disgust over the coat, I completely forgot to complain about the wipes!

So, when we were leaving, I said, “There’s one more thing. I brought T wipes today, and they’re gone. Nobody can find them.”

She did not apologize for either the coat or the wipes. She just said she was going to write it down and try to find them Monday.

I didn’t even bring up the issue of the biting.

I was literally shaking by the time I left because I was so pissed. And I do not lose my temper easily. It was a time that I definitely wished I could, since I cannot avoid having them in daycare, afford a much nicer place to send them.

Okay, vent over.