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Working Moms
cedenton
member
Daycare Vent
cedenton
member
in Working Moms
I'm sure everyone here gets tired of this being the place for the daycare vents, but...I'm going to do it anyway.
DS just switched to the toddler room at daycare last week. In some ways he adjusted pretty quickly (taking a 3 hour nap on a cot) and in others not so much (had some anxiety about the roughness of the other kids, wanted to be held or left alone at the table). Last week I went and talked to the director about some concerns:
1) why are they not going outside? Answer: Playground needs work and it will take time to make it safe, but in the meantime she'll show the teacher an area they can go. FF to now: Teacher says they haven't been outside in the 2 weeks DS has been in the room. Director did show her where to go, but it isn't fenced in and she isn't comfortable taking 4 kids by herself. I'm frustrated. The teacher is right, but I want to go to the Director and find out what we can do to move along fixing up the playgorund. Can they perhaps ask for help from the parents? IMO the kids should go outside every day unless it's raining, crazy hot or below freezing.
2) Please give my child milk with every snack AND lunch because he can't have much at once or he'll spit up. They say okay. I write it on my child's menu for the teacher. I ask Tues. how he's doing with drinking his milk. She says he doesn't drink it. I think fine, let's not waste it and tell her this morning to just give him milk at lunch and water with snacks. She says that's what she's been doing. Sigh..no wonder he's been starving when he gets home (plus his own fault of not wanting to eat their lunches...pasta, pizza, veggies, chicken patties).
3) Not one that came up until today...He never napped well in the last room but his first week in the T1 room he's taking 3 hour naps. Yesterday he didn't nap well they told me, though. Today she says nap time changed and it's only from 12:30 -2:30 instead of 12-3 because the Director says they only need 2 hours of sleep. Teacher says some kids aren't too happy with this. This is so dumb. If the kids want to nap for 3 hours, freaking let them!! My kid naps for a total of 3 hours on the weekends. Also, I know a lot of parents like to keep the same schedule at home so why wouldn't you tell the parents this? Or ask first? DS probably didn't nap well because he was overtired and you CHANGED HIS SCHEDULE AGAIN!
I'm so annoyed and tired of the lack of communication. DS is on the waitlist for another DC and has been since February. Last I checked he was number 22 on the list and that was a few weeks ago. Ugh.
I don't really have any questions, but I'd happily take any advice anyone has.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Daycare Vent
2. Not a big deal. Compensate at home and give LO milk. Most DC's give milk with lunch and water for snacks at the toddler age. The communication issue of what they are and are not giving can be an issue but choose your battles-is it worth fighting over milk?
3. Two hour nap time is common for toddlers. Most kids only need this amount of time like the Director mentioned and maybe they have an hr of waiting around until others wake up. If there are kids who want to take a 3 hr nap allow them and continue to construct class accordingly. I don't see an issue here. Eventually, kids will adapt. Toddlers need 10 hrs of sleep. Usually 8 at night and 2 hrs for a nap.
ETA: take a deep breath momma! Things can always be worse. These are minimal and quite common.
I will talk to the Director about the playground again.
The milk thing is not a huge deal, but it's more of a deal for us than some others. He's only recently gotten up to 25% for weight. At one point he was 4%. If he drinks more than 4oz of milk at once (except right before bed) he spits up. In order for him to get at least 16 oz he really needs to get it with more than one meal/snack. I'm not planning on making a stink, just annoyed about the miscommunication and my angry, very hungry child in the evenings.
We're talking toddler 1 room, so 12-24 months. 10 hours of sleep!! No way! My kid sleeps 11-12 hours at night and still takes 2 naps (on the weekends) for about 3 hours so he needs 14-15 hours of sleep/day. I just don't see the point in waking up a sleeping kid! And yes, she said she was waking them up. IDK, maybe another parent complained that their kid wasn't sleeping well at night or something. Again, just frustrated that he was FINALLY napping well at daycare and now this.
Thank you for your reply and I appreciate the input. The playground is really the biggest issue for me. Everything else will work itself out.
He already goes to sleep at 7PM and we don't get home until 5:30, so an earlier bedtime isn't really an option. I will talk to the Director today or tomorrow (I'm not picking him up today) again about the playground and bring up the naptime issue. I really wish we had some kind of parent network, almost like a PTA. It would be nice to know if others were having similar concerns. Or if we could rally together to provide labor for the playground. We already had a fundraiser for mulch and other landscaping.
We are looking elsewhere, he's on the waitlist for another place. I don't want to move him twice (since it's not a safety/health issue) and we just happen to live and work with a daycare desert in between. It's very frustrating.
I will say she didn't say she woke DS, it was another kid. She said something like "He (point at another kid) gets really mad when I wake him up." DS woke himself early yesterday and woke all the other kids up, but they put him him down 30-45 minutes later so he was probably overtired and confused by the change in routine.