Field trips for two year olds?

[Anonymous]

Does your child care center take two year olds on trips? I'm feeling uncomfortable but wondering what others may think.

[Anonymous]

If they do I will sure as hell want to be on that trip! All those little two year olds running around scares me. My DD is a runner and I would be out of my mind all day. Where are they going?

[Anonymous]

a local farm to pick apples

[Anonymous]

If you are nervous, I would suggest going along. Our center invites parents along at that age and it is a lot of fun. I have gone on field trips for both my girls when they were two, once to the zoo and once to the natural history museum at an extremely quiet time (we were pretty much the only group of children in there and there were only a handful of tourists). Because of the parents, it was an extremely low ratio of adults to children.

[Anonymous]

I had forgotten until you mentioned, but yes, our daycare/preschool did do a field trip to a pumpkin patch. The kids had a great time. I wasn't able to go, but was able to drop in. It was well supervised and organized and everyone came home safe and sound. All parents were welcome on the trip.

[Anonymous]

Our downtown daycare takes the toddler class, which is 15m - 30m, on field trips but the ratio must be 1:1, so the parents chaperone and they get all the floaters from the other classes. The trips are usually on Fridays when there are the most absences (federal day care).

We've been to the carousel on the Mall, the Natural History Museum, the zoo, and the aquarium (that one is close enough to go without parents). We take strollers on the metro.

[Anonymous]

Yes - some trips included:

School bus to the pumpkin patch (I was very apprehensive about the safety of children that young on a school bus, did a lot of research on school bus safety to put my mind at ease)

Fonz Bus to the Zoo

Metro bus to the library (3YOs)

Metro bus to the national acquarium

Walking trips to the grocery store / post office

Are you concerned about the transportation OR the chaos of watching the kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes - some trips included:

School bus to the pumpkin patch (I was very apprehensive about the safety of children that young on a school bus, did a lot of research on school bus safety to put my mind at ease)

Fonz Bus to the Zoo

Metro bus to the library (3YOs)

Metro bus to the national acquarium

Walking trips to the grocery store / post office

Are you concerned about the transportation OR the chaos of watching the kids?

You would really send your child on the metro with his/her class? CRAZY!!! The walking trips sound fine but what is the ratio? Anything less than 2 kids to 1 adult is not acceptable. I would check what is expected by licensing. The places that you mention are ones that we take our DD to on a regular basis.

[Anonymous]

Once a year as a special event as long as enough parents and extra teachers can go is fine but more often is an unnecessary safety risk.

[Anonymous]

I completely understand, I would not be comfortable with this either. I would either come along or not allow my kid to go.

[Anonymous]

I'm glad my DD's daycare does not do this. I prefer taking her on trips myself on weekends! Of course if you are able to take time off work to join the trip, then it sounds like fun.

[Anonymous]

Our preschool took 2-year-olds to Homestead Farm and Glen Echo. Tons of parents went, and the trips were fun.

[Anonymous]

Wow. you all must not think much of your daycares in terms of competency. My thought, if they didn't feel they are able to safely take kids on field trips, they wouldnt take them. I am sure they have been taking kids on field trips for years with no mishaps. A shame the kids who will lose out on this experience by having to stay behind.

I have taken my kids on many trips, alone. I have had as many as 3-4. Kids listen better than you think. I know I can handle this number, I plan well in advance of what I need, take a double stroller to put the youngest ones in it, etc. Years ago, when I was younger, I took 8 kids to the zoo....alone <<gasp>> The youngest was 2.5 yo and I believe the oldest was maybe 8. We had a great time, spent the entire day there, had lunch, ice creams, and slept like babies on the way home. I cherish all my days as a provider, and the happiness my kids shared while on trips.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow. you all must not think much of your daycares in terms of competency. My thought, if they didn't feel they are able to safely take kids on field trips, they wouldnt take them. I am sure they have been taking kids on field trips for years with no mishaps. A shame the kids who will lose out on this experience by having to stay behind.

I have taken my kids on many trips, alone. I have had as many as 3-4. Kids listen better than you think. I know I can handle this number, I plan well in advance of what I need, take a double stroller to put the youngest ones in it, etc. Years ago, when I was younger, I took 8 kids to the zoo....alone <<gasp>> The youngest was 2.5 yo and I believe the oldest was maybe 8. We had a great time, spent the entire day there, had lunch, ice creams, and slept like babies on the way home. I cherish all my days as a provider, and the happiness my kids shared while on trips.

Yes, and that is great and so much fun! But, this is a DAY CARE situation. The rules are very different and need to be followed. You can do whatever you wish with your children, but when mine are involved and I am paying for certain regulations I want then to be followed.

[Anonymous]

Yikes, PP, you sound like you might have anger management issues. Did you make sure your "regulalations" were known?