Daycare Closed

Well that was a not-so-pleasant not-such-a-big-surprise.

Today we received an email from our daycare provider, telling us that she’d had a surprise inspection and been told she has to close until May 3 supposedly because her mother – who has been assisting her with the childcare because her employee of 1 day just quit – didn’t have the appropriate qualifications. So for the next two weeks – critical weeks for reasons to be revealed soon – we will no longer have the daycare coverage that we need and expected.

Why was this not a surprise? Because this woman disappointed us in a number of different ways. I use the term “disappointed” sarcastically – this woman whom I’ll call “Y” – painted a beautiful picture for us when we went to visit and interview her prior to agreeing to leave Juliette there. She had a qualified helper, she only fed the kids organic fruit and healthy snacks, the tv was only on for 15-20 minutes at the end of the day, she had a good feedback and discipline system… all the sweet words that parents want to hear from someone they are trusting their child to.

And it was revealed very quickly that Y was lying through her teeth for most of it. In fact, the first day Juliette and Becoming-A-Mom attended, Y fed Juliette (not yet a year old then) bread with Nutella for snack! Not only was the bread not organic, Nutella on top of that! I was really pissed off when I heard that, because children under a year old are not supposed to be fed nuts to avoid any possible allergic reactions, and during our initial visit with Y she castigated us for feeding Juliette cow’s milk at 11 months (you’re supposed to wait until after 1 year also).

Over the coming weeks it became apparent that Y was playing loose with the licencing rules as well – she was allowed up to 7 children of which no more than 1 under the age of 12 months and no more than 3 (including the infant) under 36 months old. Yet every time we went to pick up Juliette there were anywhere from 5 to up to 10 kids under the age of 3 years strapped into high chairs or other chairs in the living room.

As well almost every time we went to pick up Juliette – between 4 and 5 pm – it seemed that all the kids were strapped into chairs and not free to move about. This was a big concern, as it meant that these kids were probably locked into their chairs for at least an hour before being picked up.

Y’s helper was great, but we were dismayed by the lack of respect that Y showed towards her. And when that helper quit, we were not surprised and immediately worried about the quality of care without her there as Y definitely did not seem to really enjoy having the children around.

Then the new helper quits the very first day she starts – again not a big surprise from our point of view, but a very bad sign overall.

So we were going to find out how to request an inspection of the premises anyhow, but just not with that timing.

Anyhow I guess this has been a painful little lesson for us, one that we tolerated because we knew this daycare was going to be a short-term thing for us. So after 2 months it’s now pretty much over, just when we needed it most.

*sigh*

Then again, we’re both much happier knowing that what was a bad situation has been closed down, despite the inconvenience to ourselves and the other parents. After all, Juliette is the most valuable thing in our lives and we are glad that nothing bad happened in her time there.