Originally Posted by Sugar Magnolia:
I stand firm in my opinion. I'm not bashing anyone, I'm simply saying that the OP and her staff DROPPED THE BALL in a big , serious and potentially life threatening way. When it comes to the safety of children, I see certain things as non negotiable, like providing direct supervision at all times. Its that simple. BC is correct in that we don't really know if the parent laughed it off. As a parent, I certainly wouldn't be laughing, and that's my opinion. Would anyone here laugh it off? Not calling her a "liar", just find it hard to believe. Period.
Go back and look at the title of the post. "problem child ran away". ...... I am sure she is difficult, but the problem was not tbe child, it was failed security. I'm willing to bet tbe op HAS come back and not liked my response and others. Not liking the advice she was given is her problem, not mine. Safety first, supervision at all times, head counts and secured doors and latches. I don't see that as lambasting. I DO see that as advise.
And since MV's post was private, I'm pretty sure the unregistered post was from someone who is actually a long time member as well. I'm not going to hide my opinions behind unregistered. Sorry. I try to be as diplomatic as possible, but sometimes, when serious safety breeches are posted, it bothers me to my core. And I will continue to speak up, especially on serious safety issues. I'm not perfect and don't pretend to be, but gosh darn it, safety first. And no, this wouldn't have happened at my center.
But I think as a veteran provider, it's our responsibility to get as many details as we can before passing judgment.
Saying it wouldn't have happened at your center isn't at all helpful as I bet MV thought the same thing. I think that's a pretty bold statement to make and one that "says" to those it has or almost has happened to that they are somehow less than or not good providers. I think those kinds of statements can be very hurtful.
I think as veteran providers our first instinct is should be to help and support newish providers before we pass down judgment or opinions.
We've all been new at this. We've all learned things the hard way. Some lessons harder than others and some A LOT more important than others but we were still all NEW and unexperienced at one point.
Also, if you click on OPs profile you can see she has NOT logged in since 7/27...5 hours after she posted so again, we don't know if she read or didn't read anything beyond that.