One notable observation for both days was at the lunch time. The day care actually offers a webcam but my company's policy disallowed employees to watch videos online. I don't want to get in trouble, so I seldom watch it. I just happened to have a short period of downtime at lunch on Tuesday, so I decided to take a peek.
They were playing outside until about 11:30 when they came back in the room. The teachers set up the lunch table and served foods. Kyleigh was sitting at her chair with a plate in front of her, but she didn't self-feed and the teachers were busy setting other kids up. I couldn't tell for sure but I didn't think she was eating.
At about 11:44, the teacher started feeding her and the other kid next to her. I figured they would be taking a while, so I flipped over and checked my work stuff. When I flipped it back to the webcam at 11:47, most of the plates were gone! Kyleigh still had her plate in front of her, but I didn't see anyone feeding her. Another few minutes later, her plate was also taken away. The quality of the webcam is fairly low and the lag time was long, so I can't say I saw exactly what happened. But it would be impossible for 8 kids to finish all their food in minutes. I really don't know what to think of that.
On Wednesday, I didn't get a chance to watch the webcam at lunch time. However, my mom did. She claimed that she did not see Kyleigh eating (because Kyleigh was on the other side of the dining table off the camera). However, she saw Kyleigh went over to another kid's seat, picked up the food dropped on the floor and put it in her mouth, as if she was starving. I find that hard to believe though. Even though I think this day care is questionable at this point, I don't think they would do that bad. Besides, the quality of the webcam is really unlikely to allow my mom to see that much detail.
I just missed both teachers this evening when I picked Kyleigh up, so I didn't get any answers about her eating. Until I can make unannounced visits to the day care during lunch time (or any time), I will have to change my strategy and call them during nap time. Maybe then they will have more time to talk to me since they won't have to deal with active kids.
On the other hand, there are positive points. It seems that the day care does listen to my complaints and make adjustments accordingly. When my husband or I go to pick up Kyleigh these days, the manager always proactively tells us that they just gave Kyleigh some extra snacks around 5 PM (whether it was true or not, or how much it was). Also, Kyleigh was the only kid that remained inside the room, while all other kids were playing outside in the playground. This was probably because I had told them that I would prefer not having her outside due to her sickness.
Now, let me think "scientifically". Since Kyleigh started day care 2 weeks ago, she has gained about 1 lb (compared to the check-up 3 weeks ago). She has also been very sick for over a week and didn't have much appetite at home. If she were really starving at the day care, she would have lost weight. So, I generally believe that the day care is not "evil" and Kyleigh was eating well at the day care. I guess everything could be just in our heads. We will continue to observe though.
For more stories about my baby Kyleigh, please visit Kyleigh's Stories Group.
recommend this
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 13
Having worked in a daycare, a long time ago (before parenting), I know how picky the kids can be. I remember on the days the kids had spinach-cheese pie, they all walked into the kitchen groaning, because of the smell!
Jenna - Not sure what the Star program is. I will have to check that out.
If your concerns are valid - and I hope you are checking up on them VERY CLOSELY, then I would hunt for another day care pronto!!
Even the very best day care is rough on a child the age of your daughter.
So she deserves THE VERY BEST YOU CAN FIND, not something that kind of works out.
Just my two cents
Cristina
This reminds me of the eating arrangements when I was in Navy Boot Camp. We didn't actually sit down to eat - it was just gobble down what you could on the way to the garbage can. Upon arrival, anything uneaten was thrown away, which would be most of it. What a waste!
Okay, regarding the web cam. Would there be some way to record the feed for viewing later, at your convenience? Because this is being sent over the Internet, that might not be so easy to accomplish. Considering that I have no need to save Internet video for later viewing, I haven't looked into how it might be done. But, there must be software available somewhere for that purpose.