What to do when primary care giver (at a daycare) speaks a different language.

[turalis]

I am going back to work full-time in Sept.  My second DS will be joining my first DS at his daycare.  DS1 started at this daycare when he was 12 months and was there for a year on a full-time basis and for his second year while I was on mat-leave with DS2 he went 2 days a week to keep up the routine.  So I've been happy with this daycare for two years and unless I find something closer to home, I will have both or one of my kids there for the next 2-3 years.  

The tricky part which I'd like some feedback on:  DS2 will be in the 'baby' class made up of 5 babies all around 12-14 months who will be looked after by a woman who only speaks Spanish (most kids and parents speak a mix of English and/or French).  Apparently another woman, who speaks english, will be joining her in the afternoons to help with the babies.  When DS1 was in the baby class there was an english speaking care provider so I didn't have this issue.  My question is, do you think this will affect DS2 at all?  

I have to say that when I first found out I wasn't please, but in reality I'm most concerned that DS2 is physically taken care of; fed, changed, comforted, smiled at, made to feel safe - all the things where language isn't really an issue.  I figured that maybe he'd pick up on some Spanish words, make the connection to the English equivalent and his brain would sort it's self out and everything would be fine.  Until today when another mum asked me what I thought and then went into a huge rant about how if we're paying big bucks then our kids should have care providers that speak the same language as we do at home.  But if you do the math he'll be dropped off around 9 am and assuming the other woman comes around lunch or after nap then it will only be 3-4 hours in the morning where he has someone talking to him in a new language and then he'll have two people there until I get him between 3 & 4 pm.

Am I 'under' reacting?  Is this other mum over-reacting?  How much is this going to affect DS2 seeing as this will be the case for the time he's 12 months to about 20 months.  

Just to add, all year long when I dropped DS1 off for his days I usually saw this woman with a little one parked in her lap (all the age groups have free play together in the morning) - either happily sitting there or being comforted because they were sad.  

Any thoughts? Experience?  

Thank you!

[pammysue]

I would be more concerned about your communication with the teacher than your infants. Will you be able to pass along instructions or have a conversation about his development, feeding, etc?

[LilMomma83]

Well our kids go to a spanish speaking (home daycare) but we speak English and Spanish both at home (mostly English) so we actually wanted someone who at least spoke some Spanish. My kids have picked up both languages fine, they mostly speak English, but, some words they typically say in Spanish or usually if someone asks them a question in Spanish they answer in Spanish (DS1 was about a year when he started and DS2 was 9 days old, they are 4 and 2 now and they both speak fluent English, and pretty good Spanish).

The biggest concern as PP mentioned would probably be YOUR communcation with the daycare teacher if you do not speak Spanish (is there someone who can translate for you?) I am not fluent (DH is) so it has sometimes been a challenge but sense our DCP speaks a little English and I speak a little Spanish and of course gestures etc we can communicate pretty much everything we woulld need to on a normal basis and DH just calls her if it something complicated (like our son was evaluated for allergies and so we needed to follow a certain diet and write down what he ate etc so he called her then, but, for a daily report of how they did we can figure it out just fine).

I think at that age (as long as you have a way to communicate with DCP) it would be her heart and manor with the kids more than anything...

[lookatreestar]

yeah, i would have no issue with them caring for the child, i would just make sure i could communicate with the dcp so we could discuss how the day went, etc.

[turalis]

Thank you all!  There is another women who works there who is bilingual English/Spanish so there will be someone to communicate important care instructions and such.  

All your posts made me feel much better.