Community› The Bump Message Boards› Working Moms
Working Moms
New Discussion
Options

question for those who have LO in daycare

lapdpmlapdpm member
in Working Moms

DD has been in daycare since mid-October and so far we have been pretty happy. Lately, however, I am noticing that they condense rooms in the beginning and end of the day so that they are toddlers in the infant room. I asked about it and it was treated like this is a normal activity in daycare centers. Has anyone else experienced this??  I am actively looking for another center because I am not happy with this practice.

Report Reply to Post

Re: question for those who have LO in daycare

  • Options
    trackchik6trackchik6 member
    Sometimes in the morning & the evening they have the kids from 0-16 mo. in the same room (but for rest of the day they are in 3 separate rooms- a non-mobile babies room, crawlers, then walkers til 16 mo. room).  
    Report Reply
  • Options
    KathrynMDKathrynMD member
    our daycare does this.  They normally keep the infants separate at all times, but the mix the "mobile" babies w/ the toddlers for brief periods w/ good supervision.  When my LO was a very little baby, I was concerned about it too (keep your grubby toddler off my precious little baby!) but I also saw how excited the toddlers were about her and how much she loved watching them.  Now I see the reverse with DD as a toddler when she goes into the baby room - she loves the babies and tries to help take care of them and they love to watch her.  I think its pretty normal daycare procedure, as long as everyone is adquately supervised, I wouldnt' change daycares b/c of this).
    Lilypie Third Birthday tickers
    Report Reply
  • Loading the player...
  • Options
    SeattleMeganSeattleMegan
    Ours doesn't do this with the infants but they do with the other rooms (i.e. the older toddlers - they'll combine the 1-2 year olds, 2-3 year olds, etc.).  I don't think they can w/ the infants because of the low ratios. 
    Report Reply
  • Options
    madhatter2003madhatter2003
    They do this at our daycare, it never really bothered me as long as they stayed within ratio.
    My two PCOS miracles! Lilypie Kids Birthday tickersLilypie Kids Birthday tickers
    Report Reply
  • Options
    barkers4jmmbarkers4jmm
    Our daycare condenses rooms but stays within the same age group.  Ratio is not a factor.  For example, the ratio requirement is the same for under age 2 (3:1), but they don't mix babies and toddlers (12-24M).  Sometimes in nicer weather, there's a mix of ages on the playground in the evenings (older ages). 
    Report Reply
  • Options
    lewis514lewis514
    Our daycare condenses rooms from 630a-8a and sometimes from 5-6p. They will still stay within ratio for the youngest group. They will condense the 12mo-24 mo and then the preschoolers/kindergarten together. I think it's good to have the cross-over. They always keep the infants separate.
    Lilypie Third Birthday tickers 4/9/09 - Chloe, our angel twin Lilypie First Birthday tickers>
    Report Reply
  • Options
    lapdpmlapdpm member
    thanks so much for the advice. A few of the times I was just so nervous; the girls were busy feeding other babies and the toddlers were all over my DD. I am suffering some serious mommy guilt most days which also doesn't help. I would love to find a center with better ratios; but I haven't had much luck around here. Thanks again
    Report Reply
  • Options
    auburnbride2beauburnbride2be member
    I think it is pretty common b/c of ratios and trying to keep only as many teachers there as are neccesary. I remember when DD was an infant, I didn't care for it either.
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
    Report Reply
  • Options
    sjusju

    imagelapdpm:
    thanks so much for the advice. A few of the times I was just so nervous; the girls were busy feeding other babies and the toddlers were all over my DD. I am suffering some serious mommy guilt most days which also doesn't help. I would love to find a center with better ratios; but I haven't had much luck around here. Thanks again

    It is understandable to feel that way.  Our daycare keeps babies separate at all times but may combine toddlers and older kids while keeping the ratio.  I would not feel comfortable having several toddlers with little babies either.  Sometimes I leave my kids (18mos and almost 4) in the same room but they are all split at 7:30 am.

    Report Reply
  • Options
    superauntsuperaunt member
    my center does this and i never had a problem with it. i thought it was so cute when the older kids would get all excited that "the baby" arrived (she was the only baby there that early in the morning). and as she grew, the older kids actually started to let her play with them sometimes. i think it's great for them to interact with different ages as they have to in the real world...
    image
    click the pic (blog)
    image
    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
    Report Reply
  • Options
    jjunnejjunne member
    Many daycare centers do this ( every large center I have worked at) and honestly many centers do not follow the ratio rules during opening and closing hours. It is not a practice that I agree with because I feel like it treats the children like "cattle" shuffling them from one room to another and some children have a hard time moving rooms.
    Report Reply
This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards
"
"