mommas, I'm going to have to pull my dd from her current daycare. I'm furious at some of the things going on there. Alas, I know I can get wound up, and I have a background in early childhood ed best practices that I'm sure is whacking me out also, so I need some advice/feedback/etc., from you all.
Dd (age 3)has been at 5 daycare arrangements total. We recently relocated again, and while she has always attended the "doctor daycare", I realized it was too monocultural of an environment, and she needed some exposure to people and ways that are not just.like.ours. kwim?
So, I chose a YMCA daycare based on two factors: 1: multicultural (black teacher, big plus) and 2: least expensive option (200/wk).
The first day I lingered and noticed the standard of practice of 4 positive statements to 1 negative was like 1:40 (yes, I counted, I know...) and the teacher demonstrated a lack of grammar usage "do he live in the hayloff" while crabbing at the various children to sit still. The director was quite proud of the early reading program connected to a local university and talked and talked about it. When I asked if there was a different class that had no reading program, she seemed to not understand. I asked another teacher, and no, there was no other option. The program is not advertised as 3K.
I began to receive green slips of paper every day; "dd had a good day". One day it was yellow; "dd had an okay day". No other information. Last week, dd figured it all out, and told me she was "good" and got "green slips" and thus got a sucker. Other children who receive red slips are dejected and ashamed when parents pick them up, and in general there is not a flavor of happy, perky children present. Add to this the mounds of syrup and waffles served up for "morning snack" and another diabetes-wanna-be bar of something in the afternoon (provided by parents, I understand) and the constant, really constant, wave of critical, badgering, nasty tones coming from every single classroom in the building as I walk past Every Day. Dd's day has previously been filled with endless baby-play, building, outside time, water play, singing, dancing and prolific freestyle artwork. All she's received here is a weekly cutout coloring page of one of their "themes" based on the early reading program and a sheet of senseless vocabulary words (one was wire pen). The day here is largely teacher-directed(crabbed) and sit-down-and-shut-up type schooly behavior learning.
On so many levels this environment screams "you all need some education" but I see it as an insurmountable effort. I've been PAID to do the fixing in daycares before. I don't wanna do it anymore. But I also know when I'm looking at substandard. I need to send a letter in explaining why we transferred (after the fact), but I may also need a reality check. Am I overreacting? I should note we're very AP/GD at home and this behavioral expletive makes me crazy. Montessori/waldorf is impossible due to $ and coordination at present. Please help! Do I need to just chill out? Do something? Just pull her? The next best alternative is another 100 a month and is going to create some problems in the budget, but seems necessary.
Dd (age 3)has been at 5 daycare arrangements total. We recently relocated again, and while she has always attended the "doctor daycare", I realized it was too monocultural of an environment, and she needed some exposure to people and ways that are not just.like.ours. kwim?
So, I chose a YMCA daycare based on two factors: 1: multicultural (black teacher, big plus) and 2: least expensive option (200/wk).
The first day I lingered and noticed the standard of practice of 4 positive statements to 1 negative was like 1:40 (yes, I counted, I know...) and the teacher demonstrated a lack of grammar usage "do he live in the hayloff" while crabbing at the various children to sit still. The director was quite proud of the early reading program connected to a local university and talked and talked about it. When I asked if there was a different class that had no reading program, she seemed to not understand. I asked another teacher, and no, there was no other option. The program is not advertised as 3K.
I began to receive green slips of paper every day; "dd had a good day". One day it was yellow; "dd had an okay day". No other information. Last week, dd figured it all out, and told me she was "good" and got "green slips" and thus got a sucker. Other children who receive red slips are dejected and ashamed when parents pick them up, and in general there is not a flavor of happy, perky children present. Add to this the mounds of syrup and waffles served up for "morning snack" and another diabetes-wanna-be bar of something in the afternoon (provided by parents, I understand) and the constant, really constant, wave of critical, badgering, nasty tones coming from every single classroom in the building as I walk past Every Day. Dd's day has previously been filled with endless baby-play, building, outside time, water play, singing, dancing and prolific freestyle artwork. All she's received here is a weekly cutout coloring page of one of their "themes" based on the early reading program and a sheet of senseless vocabulary words (one was wire pen). The day here is largely teacher-directed(crabbed) and sit-down-and-shut-up type schooly behavior learning.
On so many levels this environment screams "you all need some education" but I see it as an insurmountable effort. I've been PAID to do the fixing in daycares before. I don't wanna do it anymore. But I also know when I'm looking at substandard. I need to send a letter in explaining why we transferred (after the fact), but I may also need a reality check. Am I overreacting? I should note we're very AP/GD at home and this behavioral expletive makes me crazy. Montessori/waldorf is impossible due to $ and coordination at present. Please help! Do I need to just chill out? Do something? Just pull her? The next best alternative is another 100 a month and is going to create some problems in the budget, but seems necessary.
Sorry that I misunderstood. I would be looking for alternatives as well.
