Wyatt and Lacey's Fabulous Blog

People...Why...

So my whole sordid affair...I work at a daycare for the school district. This year I am doing the baby room again. Last year I was the only teacher so it was me and 4 babies, this year we increased to 8 babies so the new assistant director works with me. She is a little dramatic but she knows what she is doing so it wasn't so bad. Last Wednesday our Director was out so the Assistant covered her class and left me with a brand new substitute. We had 6 babies so I was very busy making sure everybody was kept on schedule. The new girl helped, but it was difficult because I had to tell her everything that had to be done and how to do it. Between 11:00am and 12:30 pm everybody eats lunch. During this time I had 3 of the babies "blow out," or for those of you who don't have kids they pooped out of their diapers all over their clothes and whatever they happened to be sitting in. Needless to say it was a little bit crazy. Once I had gotten everybody fed and changed I sat down to write down everything I had done. We send home daily sheets that tell the parents when their child ate, slept, and was changed. For one child, Porter, I wrote down that he had 2 oz of fluid at 12:30pm. I forgot to write down that he had his solids at 12:00pm, a mistake...I will admit...But a mistake nevertheless. So 2:00 comes and it is time for me to go home, the lady who replaces me is sick so she is not coming in. I told the assistant that I could stay if she needed me too. She was concerned that I would catch the strep that was going around and insisted that I go home. I told her that I didn't think it was fair to leave the new girl alone but she said it would be fine. So I tell the new girl the rest of the schedule for the day and leave her my phone number. I told her to call me with any questions and then I left.

The next morning I come to work and the director is back and she says that we need to talk. She says that there had been an incident with one of the kids. She went on to explain that Porter had not been fed and that his mother was going to file a neglect report with the state. I was in shock, they asked me what Porter had eaten and when. I told them that he had solids at 12:00pm and 2 oz at 12:30pm. The director told me that the solids were not written on the the paper and that I was to be suspended for two days while they sorted it all out. I asked what happened after I left. They said that Porter didn't take he 2:00pm nap and was screaming. When the assistant came down at 3:20pm she asked to see his sheet. She saw that he hadn't eaten since 12:30pm and said out loud, in front of two other parents, "oh my gosh, he hasn't eaten since 12:30pm, he must be starving." She then preceded to flurry around in her dramatic fashion trying to get him fed. He ended up eating 8oz. I told the director that I had told the new girl to feed Porter at 3:00pm if he wasn't sleeping so I was confused as to why I was the one in trouble. She said that since I had been the head teacher that day I had to be the one suspended. They told me to write down everything that had happened that day so they could give it to the state. The assistant starts talking about how serious the matter was and how there might be criminal charges so of course I start to freak out. How could I be in trouble for forgetting to write something down?? I had fed him on his schedule, his last feeding of the day was only 20 minutes late and I hadn't even been there. I ended up just going home in complete shock and I stressed all day. My parents, and Wyatt kept telling me that there was no way that they had any kind of case for neglect, it hadn't even been 3 hours in between feedings. I stressed anyway.

The next day the director called me and said that the state said that there was no substance to the parents claim and that there was nothing to worry about. She also said that I was only going to be written up for forgetting to write down Porter's solids. I said that was fine since that was true that I had forgotten to do so. She said that I couldn't be fired because I had to be written up for three separate instances before I could be fired. She said however that 3 parents were now threatening to pull their children from the center if I continued to work there. She said that she would be fine if I stayed and wouldn't care if they pulled their children. She also said that she would understand if I wanted to leave, she didn't know if she could handle staying if she were me. Both the director and the assistant told me that they were very mad at how a tiny thing had gotten so out of control and they they completely trusted me and they thought that the parent who were upset were way out of line.

At this point I am very angry that I had been suspended at all, and I am feeling very unappreciated at a place that I have worked for more than a year. I knew that if I chose to stay that it would cause lots of problems and that my every move with be watched with scrutiny. Why should I spend my time and energy working with children when their parents don't trust me and don't see all the extra time and effort I put into caring for their children? I don't want to stay and feel resentment towards these people and take the chance that I might transfer that resentment to how I care for their children. It just wouldn't be fair to those sweet babies. Not to mention the stress would be bad for my own baby. Do I really need a job that is run by parents who are so full of themselves that they cannot even admit when they are wrong? People who have so much arrogance as to think that they can push people around with their idle threats? So Wyatt and I talked it over and we decided that I should just leave and let them try and find someone else to care for their children like I did. Go ahead, find someone else with a degree who is willing to spend endless hours knitting Santa hats for the Christmas show just because she knows the parent will adore it. Find someone to do art projects with your babies and read them endless stories. Find someone who cares more about children then money in Park City. If I didn't have a house and a baby to worry about I may have stayed to just to prove to those parents that they can't get what they want by throwing out idle threats. But then again I doubt I would have stayed anyway since I am not like them, I am a decent person who can say fine, if you feel that way I will go, just know that I did nothing wrong and you are only hurting your children. Thank heavens I am done now with these people. In a way I am glad it happened, I am no longer around the germs, I no longer have to deal with the politics of people who only care about money and feeling like they are better than others. My only hope is that they do find someone else who cares about the babies like I did, they deserve it, no matter who their parents are.