What Every Parent Should Know About Their Child's Daycare

With the cost of living going up more everyday it's not uncommon to find many kids spending their days in the care of others while both parents work. Most of the time parents don't have anywhere to turn except to their local daycare center. What better place for your child then in the care of "professional" men and women when you as their parent can't be there for them. That's exactly what I thought too, that is until I worked in one.

When my son was two years old it was difficult for his father to provide for us on his income alone so like many other families we decided that another job was needed. I liked the idea of getting out of the house but the thought of leaving my little one with some stranger was a hard choice to make. Imagine my relief when I was offered a job at a daycare where I could work right down the hall from his classroom! I was thrilled to say the least.

I was offered a position in the infant and toddler room which was a surprise to me since I was only nineteen years old and had no prior experience other than being a mom but hey looking into their little faces was enough to get me in the room! Within the first week I noticed that something wasn't right, many times I would be the only person in the room caring for over ten kids all under the age of two, many still not able to walk. I had never had my child in a daycare and I never really looked into the state law requirements for a daycare center but I knew that this wasn't right. There was no way that every child in that room could get the attention that they needed no matter how hard I tried it just wasn't possible. I found myself stressing daily about ways that I could make sure the parents didn't come to pick up their kids and find them in dirty diapers or hungry. I was told that the children were not to be held more than five minutes at a time. I wasn't allowed to put them on the rug for tummy time, actually the kids that couldn't walk just stayed in their cribs! The ones in cribs didn't get to play with toys at all.