Daycare centers

I went to visit two daycare centers yesterday. I thought I should at least look at them since DH may start working nights soon.

The first one came highly recommended from a friend of mine. Her daughter goes there and has been there for a few months. I walked in and one of the teachers said she would go get someone to talk to me. The place smelled old. And not a nice old smell. A smelly, dank, old smell. The building on the outside looked fine, but the inside just didn't seem all that great. It had low ceilings and a tiny hallway where it seemed like you were walking in Alice in the Wonderland to that teeny tiny door. While I was waiting I heard a teacher yelling at one of the infants. Infant. We're talking 8-15 months old. She was telling him to stop doing something. I'm all about discipline, but yelling? It's not my thing. Especially not to a child that age. Now, she didn't necessarily sound mean. She definitely didn't seem like she was going overboard. It just sounded like that was her way of getting her point across. The child started crying and I wanted to run in there and hold him. I'm sure he was doing something he shouldn't have, but I can just speak confidently and give Handsome a serious face and he'll start crying. No yelling necessary.

Well, then the assistant principle came to talk to me. He was a very nice man. His personality was honestly a lot like DH, except that this guy was a little clueless. He seemed like he was great with kids, but not so great with adult decision making. I think Handsome would love him as he would remind him of Daddy, but the clueless part doesn't make Mommy happy. He walked me around to see all the classrooms. The infants all smiled at us. There were six infants and two adults. They all seemed happy until we left and then they started to cry. I think it was the hint of Mommy coming and then she didn't come.

All the lights were out in the older classrooms since it was naptime for them. One girl was crying because she fell and hit her lip. He said they had been trying to reach her mother and she wasn't answering her phone. He said there were 55 children there total.

This daycare/preschool is ranked with one of the teaching organizations as a good place. I just didn't get a warm feeling there. I know they can't help their building, but those low ceilings just didn't help. I've tried calling them on the phone numerous times and no one has ever called me back.

The other place that I went to seemed much nicer to me. Closer to work, cleaner, newer, higher ceilings, more open, big windows, very friendly staff. I was there during naptime again and with the older kids, some of the workers were rubbing their backs to help them to sleep.

So I asked a local moms group about the place that I liked since I hadn't heard about it from anyone, and of course I get a bad review. The place was apparently shut down about a year ago due to violations and a lot of mothers removed their children from there. GRRR. They said to check to see if they had new management.

So the two closest places have a lady that yells at the infants and a place shut down due to major violations. Maybe DH will just work nights.