In anticipation...

In anticipation of beginning a new job in the next few weeks, today I began visiting daycare centers in earnest. Of the seven daycare centers I visited, only one was a place that I would actually send my daughter. I don't know if my standards are too high, or if I was spoiled by the quality of care that Reilly received in The City, but the daycare centers I visited today were poor. Just poor.

I ended my visits feeling very disheartened. To lift my spirits, I will now share some of the more shocking moments from my day:

1) At one daycare, the front door was open. By "open" I mean not only unlocked, but actually cracked open a good six inches. There was no barrier between the classroom and the front door, which was about twenty feet from a four lane road.

2) At the same daycare, Donna (who had bravely offered to be my right hand woman in Shawn's absence) asked the woman about the sick policy at the facility. The woman was bullshitting her way through the answer when I saw one of her charges had--and I do not exaggerate here--a six-inch strand of snot hanging from her nose. By the time the woman noticed, there were only two inches of snot left. Where the other four inches went I will leave up to your imagination.

3) At a different location, the director was explaining how she is very careful to not let anyone pick up the children without a photo identification. I though, okay, that makes sense. And then she added, "Because several of the children are in Protective Services."

4) We were touring the toddler room in another facility where the teacher was the most sullen woman I've ever met. What was worse was that she was changing a child on a WOODEN BOARD. No cushion. No pad. Not even a towel or blanket. I was pleased to see that she at least sprayed down the board with disinfectant when she was done.

In general, the children in these facilities were so unhappy. I cannot talk about the facility I liked because it was so clean, so beautiful; a place where all the children frolicked on the playgrounds singing happy songs. It was daycare nirvana. It had accredidation, it had well-educated teachers, and it had a ONE YEAR waiting list.