When Kat was a baby, I worked full-time. She used to go to daycare for two full and two partial days each week. Before she was born I went to every daycare in town. I toured, I listened, I interviewed, I watched. The ones I looked at were all basically the same. Two women in a brightly colored room filled with toys and babies. A minimum of chaos at each one.
We ended up picking the one that had a moderate price and was central to home and work. Kat was there for 15 months. It worked well for us, we liked her teachers, she was always happy when we picked her up or popped in unexpectedly to check in on her. She got bit twice but that is bound to happen when you get teething toddlers in the same space.
We dis-enrolled her when we found a small, home daycare run by a housewife. She pretty much only took care of Kat (and later on Drew) each day. I liked that they were in a home setting, that the activities included folding clothes and making dinner. It was natural and normal.
Later on Kat went to Montessori school and the grandparents started taking care of Drew while I was at work.
Then the other day I opened up the local newspaper and saw Kat's first daycare provider there. She'd been convicted that day of second degree murder and child abuse. This woman was "slow" but patient and kind. She loved the children in Kat's room, she did her job well. But, she found herself pregnant and unwed and couldn't bring herself to shame her old world parents with her pregnancy. The baby was born in her bedroom and she smothered her within minutes of her birth.
She's currently in jail awaiting her sentencing which may go up to life in prison. Such a sad thing, such a waste of two lives. If only this woman had reached out to anyone at work, they would have helped her.
This is a tragedy.
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