Request from daycare: is this really an issue?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's code for "we are adults with families who don't want 15 minutes tacked on to the end of our day and time away from our families because we have to accommodate your slow pace. Please leave so we can finish up out work and get out of here"

Center director here:
yes, that's true if she's picking up 5 or 10 minutes before closing time and then spends forever to leave - and those areas might have already been wiped down with bleach/water and then the staff need to go and do it again. (because,no, the cleaning staff wash the floors, bathrooms, counters, vacuum the carpets and dust the window sills, they do NOT bleach the children's counters, shelves, cribs, diaper table, etc. That's done by the staff at end of day and then in AM to prep for opening (in the case of chairs being put on tables for floors to be cleaned, the feet of the chairs make the tables unsanitary, so those tables need to be washed in the morning)

Now, if you are picking up an hour before closing time, then I don't know what the deal is.

So it wouldn't be a problem if he "slipped into" the admin area or teacher's work area?

Sounds to me like they're trying to get OP to keep better track of her kid.

[Anonymous]

Daycare owner here: when you pick up your child please GO. It is not visiting time. We are still working, other children need our attention and you are a distraction. Go home and play with your child!

[Anonymous]

reasonable request from daycare

[Anonymous]

Also, the office space sometimes has other kids medicines or items in it. Paperwork for other parents.

OP just sounds like a clueless FTM. She will get it,'she's just not there yet. Come on OP, your kid isn't the only one. Drop off, pick up and move on.

[Anonymous]

It's a reasonable request. You can't have kids wandering into rooms with older and younger kids, that increases the chance of a child getting hurt.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like there is more leading up to the request.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you always a pushover, OP, or just with your kid?

How is op a pushover? Her child is breaking the rules and she is allowing it. I would have written the child up

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At my daughter's daycare we're welcome to hang out and play for awhile, or stop in the other classrooms to say hi to the teachers. For me, it's very important that the place where my child spends so much time is a home-like environment that's warm and welcoming-I'd be very put off by what OP describes.

Likewise. All the teachers and staff know each child by name. We don't actually go into other classrooms but if we did, I'm sure they wouldn't be upset (unless it were the infant room where you have to take shoes off).

If that's what daycare requests, I guess that's what you have to do, but I would be put off by it as well.

My daycare is the same. The director keeps a basket of toys in her office specifically for when kids wander in there on their way out the door. All of the teachers know all of the kids and throughout the day the kids sometimes go into the other classrooms to hang out for a while.

I do agree with others about the end of the day. At our daycare, if you're picking up 10 minutes before closing they have your child all packed up and ready to go and waiting by the door, so there is no issue with lingering past closing or dirtying areas that have been cleaned. I don't find this off-putting in the slightest, but would be by what OP's daycare is requesting.

[Anonymous]

I have never heard anything like this, which makes me wonder if OP's kid is actually quite disruptive or frequently goes into rooms or areas he's not supposed to be.

And I agree about the end of the day issue. The staff want to go home to their families, and they don't want to wipe everything down again.

[Anonymous]

Did you ask what the safety issues were? Obviously you have to comply but at our daycare the staff warmly greets kids in the hallway on the way in and out. Just like anywhere else there are rules about behavior but as long as he isn't disruptive he might get a drink at the water fountain, look at the posted art or staff photos, or say hi to babies being walked in the hallway.

[Anonymous]

They don't have to justify it to you. This is their center, they operate it per their own safety rules and by the judgment of their staff. It's not for you to question it. If you don't like it, go elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Our daycare lets older infants and crawlers play on the floor. There was a situation last year where one of toddlers stepped on an infant. The infant was OK (just a little frightened), but parents are now asked to drop their older child off first, then their infant, and reverse the process in the evening, to keep toddlers out of the infant room.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for all the different perspectives. I pick up DC hours before the daycare closes, so it's not about the closing time. All we do is walk down an aisle from classroom to door, not back and forth wandering around. Along the hallway, DC just wants to take a peek at the other classrooms, but we do not actually go into any of them. We only go to the reading area when it is empty. If there is a class there, we do not go. Adult area is off limits and we will work on that. I have no problem taking him straight out of the door, but he likes to go to the reading area. DC is going through the T2 phase, and I just don't know if this is the battle I should choose.

[Anonymous]

I can see why they don't want kids wandering into other classrooms and such. It's disruptive to what those teachers are all trying to get done at the end of the day with their classes--and they may have fewer staff as kids get picked up, so ratios could be part of the issue.

Your kid wandering a bit ahead of you down the hall is one thing, but otherwise it sounds like you need to keep a bit of a better handle on your kid.

--Mom of a four year old who still has to tell her son not to run in the halls...I know it's a struggle!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for all the different perspectives. I pick up DC hours before the daycare closes, so it's not about the closing time. All we do is walk down an aisle from classroom to door, not back and forth wandering around. Along the hallway, DC just wants to take a peek at the other classrooms, but we do not actually go into any of them. We only go to the reading area when it is empty. If there is a class there, we do not go. Adult area is off limits and we will work on that. I have no problem taking him straight out of the door, but he likes to go to the reading area. DC is going through the T2 phase, and I just don't know if this is the battle I should choose.

I say this with respect and compassion: It's not entirely up to you, if that's what the daycare wants. And dealing with it now at two will be way better than dealing with it at three. Your kid will be a lot heavier then and hit and kick stronger when you're carrying him out in a screaming tantrum. And some day, you will be that parent carrying out a tantruming kid. It happens. Start working on this--both by setting discipline by counting to three, etc, but also trying to find fun ways to get out the door. You do pick up every day, it's a good place to practice following directions, frankly.

Good luck!