Skinny Jeans Are Not for Everyone!
9.It Drives Us Nuts…
How well can you do your job while being driven nuts?!
Every profession undoubtedly comes with a list of things that drives the members of that profession nuts! For instance, a dental hygienist must hate it when patients come in without brushing their teeth. Lawyers must go nuts when they discover at some point that their clients had lied or withheld important information or evidence. And it probably drives a shoe salesman nuts when women insist on trying size 7 shoes on their size 8 feet! Well, the same is true for daycare providers.
If parents were aware of our most common frustrations, and the sort of things that bother or offend us, they may make a more conscious effort to not have these issues occur as often. Ongoing efforts toward mutual respect and understanding between parent and provider is critical for creating the best daycare experience possible. Many of the following concerns and complaints can affect a provider’s job performance, ultimately affecting the quality of the children’s daycare experience. As parents, we are very busy trying to meet all our daily obligations. Just as you take the time to care for your work and home responsibilities, make sure you take the time to care for all your daycare responsibilities as well, and show the respect to your provider that they deserve.
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As parents, remember the choice in becoming a parent means your life and schedule really does need to revolve around your child’s needs. There’s nothing more annoying than a parent who gets annoyed because their child’s needs disrupted their day.
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Can I Have Your Number?
A common frustration for daycare providers is when parents don’t update their emergency information after they change jobs or phone numbers. It’s especially crucial when we have a sick or injured child in our care with no way to reach the parent. In the event we do have the correct number and end up leaving a message, oftentimes, a call back may not be received in a timely manner.
One morning, a few hours after being dropped off, a preschool child was beginning to look uneasy and had shown disinterest in participating in any activities. When her teacher checked her temperature under her arm, it had already reached 102 degrees. She was laid down on a cot to rest with a cool rag on her forehead, while the staff tried to contact her mother. Calling her mother’s cell phone resulted in a recorded message that said the number was no longer in service. Her work number was called next but no one answered, so the teacher left a message. Next, the emergency contacts were tried and finally, the second contact listed had an updated cellular number for the child’s mother.
Meanwhile, the child’s fever had spiked to 106 degrees, and she had started to quiver! The little girl was scared, and repeatedly kept asking for her mom. At this point the director decided to call 911, and the ambulance showed up within 5 minutes. Just as the emergency team entered, the child’s mother was finally reached. She was informed about the situation and told to go to the hospital where the ambulance would take her child. She felt horrible when she realized she had changed her number a few weeks ago, and forgotten to update her child’s information.
This type of situation unfortunately occurs quite frequently. As daycare providers, we cannot stress enough the importance of updating your phone numbers, job changes and emergency contacts as soon as they change. When the parent’s information is not current, it will always be the child that suffers in the event that an accident, injury, or sickness occurs. If you can’t receive direct phone calls at work, make sure you leave a number at work where a live person can be reached. If daycare is calling, it’s usually serious, so make sure you can always be reached!
Panic on Payday!
Many years ago while working as the director at a busy daycare center, it was my responsibility to keep track of weekly tuition payments and to make daily deposits. Believe it or not, this was one of the most stressful parts of the job due to the fact that many parents did not make their weekly daycare payments a priority. One family in particular was always late with their weekly payment and would never say a word about it, which made the situation even more awkward. They drove a very expensive car, their kids always had the nicest clothes and shoes, but somehow paying for childcare was always on the bottom of their priority list.
After several written reminders, I finally had to confront the parents about their bill and I was rudely dismissed with a casual, “Oh, I forgot.” “I will drop it off tomorrow.” As a daycare provider and the director of the center, I felt like this parent was telling us how completely unimportant we were to her even though she showed up bright and early every morning with her two children. What else should we assume when a parent says they have forgotten to pay us? It’s one thing when parents are struggling to pay due to their tight finances, but those parents usually tell us right away and we are happy to work with them. It’s another situation when we are forgotten about and ignored over and over again, yet the children continue to show up. That is when we realize how little we our valued. We often want to ask in these situations what a parent would do if they requested their check on payday and their boss casually dismissed them with, “Sorry, I forgot about you.” Wouldn’t they panic knowing they needed that money to pay bills and provide for their families? Well, the same is true for daycare providers – they also need to support their families and pay their bills, including paying daycare-related vendors and employees.
Whether your child is in a daycare center or a home daycare, it should be a top priority for parents to remember their daycare payments. After all, without daycare most working parents would not have the freedom to go to work and make a living in the first place.
How would you feel if you owned or operated a business and people continued to utilize your services day after day, but when it came time to pay for those services they would simply say they forgot, then continue to use your services and not pay on time? This happens to daycare providers all the time. We deserve the same common courtesies as anyone else for doing our jobs and we should get paid without having to ask. Remember to make your daycare payments a priority and show your provider the respect they deserve.
No Cell Phone Zone
Let’s think about some of the places cell phones might be considered inappropriate to use…at the dinner table, at the movie theater, at a quiet romantic restaurant, during work hours (assuming it’s a personal call), during a church service…let’s see…where else, oh yeah, your child’s daycare!
Day in and day out, we see parents coming in while they are in the middle of a phone call on their cell phone. They barely acknowledge staff with a meek smile, then proceed to “collect” their children, while continuing their phone conversations. There are so many things wrong with this picture, but the biggest one is the little face looking at you, wondering why your phone call is more important, especially since you haven’t seen your child all day. Your child, as well as your provider, deserve your full attention every time you walk through those daycare doors.
A parent walked into the lobby one afternoon, on her cell phone, and saw me waving her down. I had something to discuss with her, so I felt no reservations about interrupting her call. She stopped right in front of me, then turned to the person on the phone and said, “the daycare lady needs to talk to me, I gotta go.” I stood there thinking, Really? First of all, I have a name. Second, I’m sorry you were so inconvenienced by having to end your call to discuss your child, which I can guarantee is more important than whatever gossip you were catching up on. Then no sooner was she done speaking with me, she got right back on her phone as she proceeded to walk in her child’s classroom to pick him up.
Now, we realize that occasionally you may have a business call you have to finish up, or maybe you received an important call at the last minute as you came to pick up your child. Be courteous, and finish your phone call outside before coming in to get your child. They really have missed you all day, and I’m sure you missed them too, so make sure your actions reflect your feelings. Before just picking them up and walking out, spend a few minutes with them in their classroom. Ask them to show you what they did that day, and to share with you what they learned. The kids are always excited to share about their day when their parents arrive, but unfortunately, too many times, we see the parents being too busy to notice.
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Many centers will have a “No Cell Phone Zone” sign posted on their front door. And they’re not referring to the kids who have phones!
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All’s Fair in Love and Donuts
As a home daycare provider, it drives us nuts when parents bring their kids to daycare with special treats or toys just to make drop-off easier. One of the things that daycare providers strive to achieve is for all kids in their care to be treated fairly and equally.
On the way to driving her kids to a home daycare, a mom of three would always stop and buy three chocolate donuts for her children to eat at daycare. She would walk in and set her kids at the table, even though it was not yet breakfast time, and let them eat while she quietly snuck out the door with no fuss. I’m guessing she never considered how terribly unfair this was not only to the other children but also to the provider that had to deal with several upset kids that did not get donuts. The provider mentioned to the mom on several occasions that donuts were not necessary and she would feed her kids the same breakfast the others were given, but each day her kids continued to arrive with their donuts.
One day, when the kids arrived, the provider was waiting with a plastic bag for the donuts. She simply explained to the mom that they would have to put their donuts away and they could eat them on their way home. Mom didn’t say much but she put their donuts in the bag while the kids stood and watched, then all three burst into tears. The provider thought this would be the end of the donut situation, but she was wrong. The next day the 3 kids came in carrying a huge white box containing donuts for everyone and wasn’t she surprised!
This story didn’t exactly go as planned for the daycare provider but at times it’s really hard to say things to parents without offending them. If your child really wants something extra, please let them have it before coming to daycare. Your daycare provider will truly appreciate you for it.
Keep It Away
What’s worse than a parent who walks in smelling profusely of cigarettes? The parent who’s finishing their cigarette in the parking lot of their child’s daycare!
When I walked out to my car one day, I saw a parent who was parked smack in front of the building, sitting in their car finishing a cigarette. I remember thinking, Really? I’m the one feeling embarrassed that you’re smoking in front of a daycare center, and you’re the one who’s smoking! Just as there are places a cell phone conversation doesn’t belong, there are also places where cigarette smoking doesn’t belong either, and daycare is one of them! Not only is it a bad example for the little children, but it’s also corrupting one of the few innocent places children have left. Let’s keep daycare center parking lots free of cigarette fumes and cigarette butts. Your children and your health will thank you for it.
Amongst the daycare providers and staff, there will usually be some smokers. Providers should be very diligent about smoking away from the childcare center premises and be certain there is no remaining smell of smoke on them before they return to work. It becomes a trickier situation when you have a home daycare provider that smokes. When and how often do they give themselves cigarette breaks and who’s watching the kids during that time? If you ever smell smoke on your daycare provider or from your children because they were around them, these concerns need to be addressed immediately.
It’s very sad when children come in smelling like smoke, or when you see them leave in a car with someone smoking, especially when it’s in the wintertime and the window is barely cracked open.
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Skinny Jeans Are Not for Everyone!
Another thing that really drives daycare providers nuts is when children do not have extra clothes or underwear and we are left to figure it out. It may not seem like the most important thing to remember but when your child has an accident or gets dirty, they just want the comfort of being changed into their own clothes. If we don’t have any, then we need to find something that may not be what your child necessarily wants to wear. In daycare centers, there is often a box of extra clothes donated by parents, but in home daycares, this is usually not the case; instead, the provider may have only her own children’s extra clothes to offer, and in some cases nothing extra to offer at all.
A little 4 year old boy had been attending a home daycare for a few years and, as is often the case, the child had outgrown the extra clothes that his parents had originally brought for him which they had forgotten to update. One day the little boy had an accident and the provider realized the only extra clothes he had were a pair of jeans that were two sizes too small. The provider’s children were all girls so she chose a pair of grey sweatpants that had a few hearts on one leg and tried to pass them off as “boy” clothes. The little boy was disgusted and refused to wear the “girl” clothes, but his only option soon became his reality. While trying to keep a straight face, his provider squeezed him into the very small jeans and insisted that he looked fine. The little boy seemed uncomfortable at first, but then he went right back to painting a picture and soon forgot about the jeans.
Later that afternoon at pickup time, his dad walked in the door and as soon as he saw his son, he burst out hysterically laughing and said, “Why are you wearing skinny jeans?” Other parents that were also picking up began to laugh as well, causing the little boy to cry. This was not his fault but, as a result, he was not only uncomfortable for hours, but also embarrassed.
We cannot stress enough the importance of remembering to update your child’s extra clothes. Even if your child has extra clothes, do they still fit and are they still appropriate for the current season? You might just want to check.
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You know that nightmare some people have where they find themselves caught completely naked and everyone is pointing and laughing? This is probably what your child feels like when they have no extra clothes at daycare!
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