Corporate Daycares Don’t Care—About Children

I was pleasantly surprised to hear that there was no waiting list at the most expensive daycare in our town. Logically, I assumed my baby would get the best care there. Unfortunately, the highest price does not always mean the best. If you take a tour of a corporate daycare, you will see classrooms filled with new books and toys, but what they hide is that they take the “care” out of childcare. Headquarters is not concerned about children. Their priority is making a profit. In order to do that, the centre director moves children and teachers around whenever the numbers get low—numbers as in children.

Let me tell you how it all works. In New Hampshire, the ratio in a toddler room is 5 to 1—five children and one teacher. There are usually ten toddlers in a room with two teachers. If you ever sit and watch, it is usually chaos. The teachers are up to their elbows in dirty diapers and calming the child who is crying the loudest. When the numbers get low, they put two classes together. Therefore, the teachers never get a chance to spend quality time with their tiny students. The other ramification of this process is that the teachers are always moving around, so the children don’t get to be with a constant teacher for very long.

When I pick up my toddler, I usually take a minute to look through the one-sided mirror to watch him in his environment. The other day, I saw my one-year-old sitting at the little lunch table. I wondered why he was there with no snack or project in front of him. Then I saw a strange teacher approach him with a shirt. She yanked off his wet one without unbuttoning it, and then shoved on a new one. Later on, I saw that Michael’s nose was all red and scraped. I assume the buttons from his shirt caused it. Yesterday, I got a call at work that a “friend” bit my son. The director told me that the teacher didn’t see it happen, she just saw his arm. “He didn’t cry,” was the explanation. She also said that it was unacceptable, but normal. I was not comforted.

You may ask, “If you are so dissatisfied with your corporate daycare so much, why don’t you put him in a non-profit, or get a nanny?” As for a nanny, it is hard to trust a stranger alone in your house in the first place, but to trust her with your child all day is very hard. My son is on a waiting list for a non-profit, but there are no official openings until June 2009. I put a non-refundable deposit on a possible number two as well—just in case!