A day at the daycare

I just read this post and I was reminded of the day care experience of Chinipie. Had wanted to blog about it then, but as usual it took a back seat until I had completely forgotten about it. Now that I recollected the events of the day, I sat down to blog immediately.

A local daycare near DH's office was offering one free day to the employees. I guess this was a way of promoting their day care. As Chinipie loves being around kids and babies, I thought it would be a good outing for her. Also, had never been to a daycare, so was a little curious to check on one, just to see how they are. This was a good opportunity for two things in one go, so called them up and fixed the appointment. A friend of mine also joined in as we figured out that at least both the babies will play together, if nothing else works out.

On the appointed day, it wasn't the usual good bye to dad as he drove us both to the day care. The day care was clean and the manager was very friendly. Apparently, they had lost the information on the appointment and were a bit surprised when I told them that I plan to spend the day here. Nevertheless, they welcomed the idea and gave me the tour of the day care. They had different rooms for each age group and had two care-givers for each age group. The older kids were enjoying themselves. As it was the haloween time(Oct 31st), the decorations were still on. Many of the kids were in their haloween dresses too. They had a playground for the outdoor activities too. All in all, the day care looked cheerful and bright.

Finally, we went to the nursery and I left Chinipie in the playarea there. As she loves piano, I handed her one and went out. The nursery allowed babies until 18 months of age. So there, were toddlers too and as expected, she was happy to see them around. I gave instructions to the care-giver to call me if she gets very upset and came out of the nursery to the guest area. I had expected her to cry but she was so much absorbed with the babies around that she did not even notice that I was leaving the room (which anyways I had made sure by sneaking out when she was busy looking at the babies). Once or twice I peeped in the room from a window and saw her either playing with the piano or looking at the toddlers. There were these twin boys who were very active and running around in the play pen. One of them,even stepped over Chinipie to go to the other side. My heart almost skipped a beat when I saw this. But Chinipie was so busy watching them, that she did not even realize. So, I was okay. Meanwhile, my friend had arrived too and left her son in the play area. He is a few months older to Chinipie. After a while we could hear their screams in the other room that we were in. The care-giver was busy with the other babies so wasn't paying any attention to them. Here, I would like to add that I noticed that they had two care-givers for 15 babies(their maximum intake). That particular day only 10 babies were in and one care-giver was on leave. They had sent in an extra hand to help, which I very much presume was so because of us visiting. The primary person was good and constantly busy in feeding, nursing or changing diapers of the babies. No doubt, most of the times, the other babies were not being attended to. Obviously, the babies cannot get the same attention and care that they get at home from their mothers. But, seeing this broke my heart. Still, I restrained myself from going in as I knew she would have noticed by now that mom is not around. They changed her diaper (which they say they do every one hour! Even I do not change that frequently) and put her in the bouncer. She loves bouncing, so was happy for a while before she started screaming again. Both the care-givers were busy attending the other babies, so she was allowed to test her vocal chords to the highest. Meanwhile, my friend had already rescued her baby from their neglect and was busy pacifying the crying baby now. After 10 minutes of Chinipie's continuous screams, I couldn't take anymore and went to the nursery to pick her up. She stopped screaming as soon as I picked her up and started looking around happily again. As the younger babies were sleeping in their crib and the older ones were strapped in their booster chairs for the lunch, the play area was empty. My friend and I, put both our babies in there and sat down with them to play. Seeing us around, they started playing again. Chinipie pooped and had a diaper change and was beginning to get tired. My friend and I decided that the babies had enough of the day care and it won't hurt if they do not get to spend the whole day there, so called our drivers (read husbands) to drive us back to home. The care-giver apologized for not being able to spend more time with the babies as her hands was full. I completely understand her situation. She was clearly over-worked and never had a chance to sit down. Nevertheless, I was a bit surprised as I was asked by their manager to come on a Wednesday as they had lesser babies in on a Wednesday (I wonder why?!?). Anyways, our husbands had come and we were more than glad to go back home.

On our way back, DH asked my opinion and I declared that I am not sending my child in a daycare until she is ready to tramp on the other babies. The day cares might be good but I decided that my child did not need to go to one so soon. Not until she gets a bit independent. Under no circumstances, I was going to send her to one at such a tender age. Retrospecting, about it later, I realized there were both pros and cons of sending them to a day care. For one, they learn to be independent. All the toddlers in the nursery were eating by themselves. The youngest one was 13 months old who was eating with a spoon! I was really surprised to see this. But what was lacking there, was a bit of holding and cuddling the babies. And though they said they had music and reading sessions for the babies, I did not see them having any time left for those. So, for now Chinipie is just having me as her care-giver. No day-care for her now. Maybe when she is 12-13 months or 19 months (old enough not to go to a nursery) but not now!