The Tot Stop

My children only attended this daycare for about six weeks. During that time, I saw some issues I wasn't thrilled about, but decided to pull them out without making a big fuss for the sake of my kids. This was about five months ago. I wasn't going to write a review because I don't like to write negative reviews when I know people's livelihoods are at stake, but when children are treated poorly, that leaves me feeling obligated to warn other parents. This is a very small daycare with what seems like primarily a mother-daughter team with sometimes the teenage/young adult grandson/son helping. It appears that there's a main room with toys, a small eating area, and a separate space for infants who sleep in cribs. Their basic guidelines are what you'll typically find at any daycare and the facility seems clean enough. The prices are probably the lowest in the area and they're one of the few that still has openings. However, in the short time my children attended there, I feel that they were treated... not the way a mother wants her children treated. For instance, when we signed the kids up, I asked if my oldest daughter could opt out of nap time since she's 7 and doesn't really need a nap. I asked if I could give her a tablet with headphones to watch just during naps and/or some schoolwork and they said that was perfectly fine. But that's not what happened. Instead, they not only forced her to take naps, but refused to allow her to go to the bathroom for the entire nap time (at least 2 hours, if not longer), to the point that she wet herself. She's fully potty trained and hasn't had an accident in years, but when she feels anxious, she tends to have to pee more (I was the same way at her age - it's not just the sensation, but actually having to pee a normal quantity more frequently). That should've been the first read flag, but I was busy and in desperate need of childcare, so I let it go and hoped they learned their lesson from having to clean up pee. My same daughter also told me of an incident where they put her in time-out because they said she was "cheating" at some game. I asked if she knew what cheating was (because her vocabulary is slightly behind and I wanted to know if they explained what she did since it seemed extremely unlike her to "deceive by trickery"). She's one of those overly honest kids who doesn't even lie to avoid punishment, much less knowingly cheat. More likely, she didn't fully understand the rules of the game. (Which is probably my fault for not playing many games with rules with my kids). She had no idea what cheating was and no one bothered to explained to her what she was accused of. As people supposedly working with young children since 1995 and at least one with a degree in elementary education, they should know that this type of punishment (with no explanation) is simply spiteful and not productive. Besides that, I was once berated by the daughter part of this team for being 15 minutes late to drop the kids off in the morning because she was "up all night with [her] daughter" and could have used those extra 15 minutes of sleep. (Mind you, this was a completely new routine for us as my kids had never been in daycare before and we weren't accustom to having to get places early in the morning). This was followed by a refusal to take the kids before 7:30am (a full hour later than originally agreed), knowing I had to be 45 minutes away at 7:45... Yet, it seems they get plenty of sleep since my daughter reported this same woman napping during the kids' nap time. And while I may be able to get away with a nap in my house when my kids, who I know very well, nap, it seems extremely inappropriate for a daycare employee to nap while responsible for caring for other people's children. What if one of the children woke up early and slipped out (the daycare is right up against the road with no fence in front and the door is easily unlocked by a child) or got injured inside the facility? But the straw that broke the camel's back was what my daughter told me today, 5 months later. Now it makes sense why my kids were so excited when I told them they didn't have to go back there and complained more and more instead of less every day that I took them there. Apparently, the mother and daughter don't get along with each other either and constantly screamed at each other in front of the kids. This is exceedingly unprofessional and really unhealthy for the development of the children in their care long term. I feel guilty for ever subjecting my kids to such dysfunction from people I was PAYING to take care of them. I'm not one to overly shelter my kids, but daycare shouldn't be a place of constant stress because of immature adults.