Daycare charges for "extra curricular" activities

[Anonymous]

My daycare does this. For a music class, which is great (and my daughter loves) the rest of the kids just stay in regular class rooms. And for summer activities like splash days, build a bears, national zoo visits, bouncy houses, etc. they have activities 3 days a week in the summer and its 100 fee. I think almost everyone just pays.

[Anonymous]

OP Here.

So we did not pay the fee. We were assured that our son would be with one of his teachers doing a "fun activity." When I went to get him yesterday, his teacher said that he was in the room while the other kids participated and he watched his peers and wanted to join in. Eventually the teacher said she asked the coach if my son could join in and he allowed him to join in. I was so sad to picture my son watching from the sidelines. I assume that he was in the same room because of staffing ratios. Doesn't this seem cruel? Am I over-reacting?

[Anonymous]

Is this by chance TCCC? It sounds like it is b/c the same thing happened with us. It soudns like TCCC at the Spring Hill location where the kids can see what is happening in the big classroom, even if they are in the toddler classroom? This happened to us when they still were doign Fun Bus (they have cancelled this now) and my DD's teacher was like, "Oh, Fun Bus was here for the first session today! All the kis went and DD loved it soooo much!" I hated how they brought the kids one time to rope them into loving it, so of course we felt like we had to pay for the rest of the sessions.

[Anonymous]

I would be extremely annoyed--no, wait, furious if any kid at our center had to watch on the sidelines while everyone else participated in an activity that was supposed to be optional and costs extra. OP-it sounds like you can afford to pay (not that I am advocating that you do) but what about the kids whose parents are barely able to pay the daycare bill and can't pay for the extras? I really question the management at the daycare. They should account for the fact that some kids don't participate and make sure they are properly cared for while maintaining their ratios. And I don't think properly cared for should include being forced to sit and watch everyone else have fun.

[Anonymous]

Our daycare has extracurriculars (power tots for part of the year, weekly bilingual music, a weekly movement class, etc) and they are all included - paid for via tuition or mainly via the annual fundraiser each year. This is BCDC.

[Anonymous]

Our daycare extracurriculars are all included in the price of tuition & they do a lot of extra programming. I disagree with the poster who claimed the programming isn't good. My DC & his classmates love Power Tots! My kids love most of the programming provided and what they are less enamored with, other kids seem to love.

[Anonymous]

Almost everything is included in our daycare (FAA Child Development Center). The only thing extra thing we pay for is $10 for the Cox Farms trip in the fall to cover the cost of the ticket. The center provides the bus.

Otherwise, Spanish language classes, other field trips, storyteller visits, and Mad Science visits are included.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you acyually seen the "extra curricular" activities that these centers do? Power tots is a joke-any daycare should be able to do what they do. It is basically just movement. And why is music extra? All teachers should be having music in their class on a daily basis. BH pulls this crap on parents and it is crazy.

Kindercare does the same damn thing. One reason I'm stopping at one our daycare options suck.

[Anonymous]

OP here again

We ended up just paying for it to avoid having our child have to go through this again. I spoke with the director who said that she could make arrangements for our child to go to another class but it just seems too awkward to pull off with out him being penalized in some way. Anyway, his teacher showed us pictures of him having a blast during his first session so we are just going to suck it up - it definitely sucks though and has definitely caused us to feel somewhat negatively about the daycare.

BTW, it is not TCCC or Kindercare. I don't want to name it here because I am sure the director is reading these posts.

[Anonymous]

I found this forum while encountering the similar thing. My son goes to day care and was offered a music class for 30 minutes each Monday. It's $50 a month. I saw a YouTube video of the performer and was not impressed. It seemed like wild craziness. My son is the only one not in the class. Now, my wife is saying the teacher took him to see the other kids in the class. I think that's wrong! The teachers keep trying to persuade us to put him in the class, saying things like "all the other kids are doing it". Personally, I do not think that's a good reason and I think that going in the opposite direction teaches him Independence. This has nothing to do with money- it's more about what's really best for him. Is it to have them in a class with a music teacher that teaches children to bang on the floor, or would it be better to teach him to be independent. This irks me so much.