As parents we want to protect our children and keep them from harm. We also have to work and cannot be with them 24/7. Most of us have to leave our kids at daycare at least part of the time before they are old enough to begin school. I had to go back to work full-time when my son was 12 weeks old. That was the earliest my doctor would sign the release form for both myself and my son.
I found an inhome daycare that was licensed by the state to keep 25 kids. The couple had two grown adopted kids of their own. It was halfway between work and home. The first day went ok. There was a CPS worker there that morning dropping off a 3 day old infant removed from it’s mother at the hospital. By day three, my son was in meltdown mode when I tried to drop him off. I took him to work with me because I was working at a job where I was able to do that on occasion. I took him back to the daycare the last two workdays of that week. My son came unglued both days. I was trying to figure out if it was because he didn’t want to be separated from me or what exactly the problem was. My boss, who had kids of his own, told me not to take him back there period. It doesn’t matter what the problem is, it only matters that there is a problem. One of my coworker’s daughter had run an in home daycare for years but was no longer licensed. She had a son one year older than mine. She agreed to take him while I found someplace. I dropped him off at her house one time and he was ready to live with her. She kept him for a year. She spoiled him rotten. I later found out, that shortly after I had left my son at the state licensed daycare, they had several substantiated complaints lodged against them for various violations. Had I done what the state required, I would have left my son at the state licensed daycare instead of at my coworker’s daughter’s house. The government does not know what is best for your child. I learned that the first week I returned to work.
For the next two years, my son went to The First Christian Church’s daycare. It was really good. He had chapel every morning and sang church songs. They had prayer before meals etc. He learned his first ten numbers and how to write his name before he turned three. He knew most of the alphabet by age three thanks to that daycare. He learned his shapes and his colors. Their meals were cooked by a chef next door at their church community center. The food was amazing. The fire department brought a firetruck over every summer and showed them how everything worked. The police department came by several times and told the kids what police do. My son had a junior police badge he kept for several years that his favorite officer gave to him. My son was heartbroken when he had to leave his friends and move back to rural America shortly after he turned three.
When we moved, I once again had to find a daycare. They are few and far between in rural America. There was one daycare owned by a couple. We went to check it out. My son hated the husband. We lived in the same town for several years and ran into this gentlemen on a regular basis. My son wanted NOTHING to do with him. It was immediate. I ended up putting him in the Firs Baptist Church daycare. It was good and he enjoyed it. Other than when the husband from the other daycare would come by and make animal balloons every so often. My son still did not like that man. I asked him why numerous times. All I would get is I don’t know, I just don’t like him. OK. Later that daycare with the husband and wife was closed by CPS.
Children pick up on things that adults do not. Listen to your kids if they give you a strong negative response about anyone. There is a reason. They don’t always know what that reason is or how to voice the reason. Just listen. Find someone else to keep your kids. Keep those people away.
Middle of the Muddy Road 