Daycare - daily report question

SigmundsGirl · January 2011

When we signed up Evan for daycare we were told that the daily reports would have all of his food, diaper changes, naps, and activites listed so we could see how his day was. Well, 99.9% of the time all food/bottles, diaper changes and naps are listed, but only 1% of the time is there anything listed about his daily activites.

He is still in the baby room and I know that he has 1 teacher from the time he gets there (around 8:45) until 3:30 and then a second teacher from 3:30 until we pick him up. The afternoon teacher can never talk about how his day was. When DH askes when he picks Evan up in the afternoon, she says "oh, he had a good day. He played with Julian." Not the kind of information we are looking for. When we ask more detailed questions, she can't answer them.

I know it is hard to feed, change, play with, try to get kids to nap, and write up the reports when you are the only person working with 5 babies from 6 weeks to 12 months, but this is what the daycare promised.

How much information do you get about your child's day?

Suzi-G- · January 2011

The reports we got from the first daycare we had Cooper in were like you describe. It was very frustrating, especially when I knew he was sick or teething and I asked "how was he?" or "was he cranky?" and got "he had a great day!" in response. It really irked me but I knew from the get-go we were only there temporarily so I just let it slide.

The school where Cooper is now is totally different. He is in a room with 2 other babies, his same age, so they can actually do age-appropriate activities. And they do all sorts of fun things. I think that makes a difference because there's more to report on. He has one teacher until 4:30 then another teacher takes over until pick up time, so, like you, I can't ask her about most of his day at pick up. If I have an issue, I'll ask his morning teacher about it the next day. But usually if he was teethy or something was off she'll write me a note.

We also get a written curriculum plan every week that tells what activities they're doing that week. It's really fun to know what he's doing every day and it's also nice to be able repeat some of the same things at home. (Like one week the theme was faces so we played a lot of "where's mama's nose" at home). She does all sorts of things with them I'd never think to do, around Thanksgiving she took the three and set them up in high chairs in the school kitchen to bake pumpkin bread. She let them play with all the measuring cups and ingredients and feel, touch, taste, smell things while she baked then they all ate pumpkin bread for snack. (She asked first if he could eat it of course). He had a great time. Sometimes she also takes pictures when they do something special like that.

SigmundsGirl · January 2011

Suzi-G-:

The reports we got from the first daycare we had Cooper in were like you describe. It was very frustrating, especially when I knew he was sick or teething and I asked "how was he?" or "was he cranky?" and got "he had a great day!" in response. It really irked me but I knew from the get-go we were only there temporarily so I just let it slide.

The school where Cooper is now is totally different. He is in a room with 2 other babies, his same age, so they can actually do age-appropriate activities. And they do all sorts of fun things. I think that makes a difference because there's more to report on. He has one teacher until 4:30 then another teacher takes over until pick up time, so, like you, I can't ask her about most of his day at pick up. If I have an issue, I'll ask his morning teacher about it the next day. But usually if he was teethy or something was off she'll write me a note.

We also get a written curriculum plan every week that tells what activities they're doing that week. It's really fun to know what he's doing every day and it's also nice to be able repeat some of the same things at home. (Like one week the theme was faces so we played a lot of "where's mama's nose" at home). She does all sorts of things with them I'd never think to do, around Thanksgiving she took the three and set them up in high chairs in the school kitchen to bake pumpkin bread. She let them play with all the measuring cups and ingredients and feel, touch, taste, smell things while she baked then they all ate pumpkin bread for snack. (She asked first if he could eat it of course). He had a great time. Sometimes she also takes pictures when they do something special like that.

That is awesome! Sounds like he has a great time and you get the information you need.

Evan will be moving to a room for babies 12-17 months in just 2 months, so there should be more age-appropriate activities once he gets there. And I think I'll ask if there is a way for him to move there a little earlier since they seem to have more room in there any way.

I'm also glad to hear the things I'm looking for are not too demanding.

readyforbaby · January 2011

When DS was in the infant room those are the types of reports we got too. It didn't bother me too much but sometimes the next morning when I dropped him off I would hear that he had been cranky or whatever and I wish I had known that the day before.

When he moved into the toddler room at about 14 months is when we started to get a more detailed report of what they did that day. I like to read it but I often feel that it is not 100% accurate. I'm ok with it though because I know he is happy there.

CareBear01 · January 2011

We get very little feedback from DS's day - especially as an infant. There are some boxes to check for "reading books" or "puppet show" or some activities they do on a weekly basis, but rarely is anything filled out to DS specifically. I used to be irritated, but now I don't mind as much. Sometimes the teachers will tell me in person something funny he did that day - so I know they look out for that stuff.

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