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Parents and Guardians Forum>Beware of this Daycare
ConcernedMotherof2 06:07 AM 04-13-2009
My children have been in several different daycares since they were born, so I have seen a lot... but this one in particular really takes the cake. Whiz Kids in Little Rock, Arkansas... I'll be pulling my kids as soon as I can find an alternative, that's for sure.

I dropped my kids off this morning, kissed them goodbye and got back in my car to head off to work. I had just started the engine and put my car in gear and looked up to see my six year old son's face in the passenger window. When I took him back inside, I asked the two women sitting in the room where all the kids were if they had seen my son run back out the door and their response was just as startling as the image of my little boy's face in my window as i nearly pulled out. "We saw him come in with his sister, but we didn't see him run out... he must've been really fast."

My question is... what if it had been someone else's child, what if it had been a toddler that had run out and gotten behind my car... what if I hadn't seen him? What am I paying these people for? My children may be just as safe if I left them at home alone... For that matter, this daycare has been open for 20 years, surely the sex offenders in the area are aware of how negligent the staff is... what if they hang out near the parking lot and wait for a stray child to step outside the door. It only takes a moment for ANYTHING to happen.
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Unregistered 08:42 AM 04-23-2009
If you have such serious concerns, why are you leaving your children in the care of this provider????

I would pull them out NOW, no matter what sacrifices I had to put up with until finding a new provider.
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Unregistered 11:14 AM 05-04-2009
Good grief. I have been looking around for a place for my daughter for next year and was looking at Whiz Kids. It's been there for so long and sounds like a decent place from what I've heard until now.

Thanks for sharing this, I guess I will look elsewhere. Have you looked at Primrose Methodist? It is in the same general area.
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ConcernedMotherof2 06:50 AM 07-15-2009
My children are in Primrose Methodist and I can say nothing but good things about it

I hope you had luck finding a decent daycare... it's so difficult around here.

And just an update--I pulled my kids out that day and brought them to work with me before and after school for over a week before I finally got them in a daycare. They weren't safe there, I wasn't leaving them there.
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panthatheprince 10:19 AM 08-05-2009
It could have been just one innocent mistake or lapse on Whiz Kids' part. I would give them another chance.
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Sara 07:12 PM 08-08-2009
As a daycare teacher I can tell you watching a lot of kids at once can be a challenge, especially if you have runners - I have occasionally had one make it out the door but we usually notice before they get about 5 feet. What I'm wondering is why their outside doors weren't locked? At every centre I've worked at the outside doors are always locked, so even if a kid gets that far they can't get out. Also, anywhere where there are toddlers there should be baby gates on every door.

I wouldn't be worried about the child getting away from the caregivers (nobody's perfect, after all) I'd be worried about the lack of locks and gates.
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Former Teacher 02:21 PM 08-09-2009
at my former center we were required to have the all the doors unlocked. The back doors were self locking doors so we had to get a piece of duct tape to hold the lock in. It was those heavy doors. These doors for whatever didn't have a key to lock or unlock. If it did, I never saw it in the almost 20 years there!

Of course, this was a center. Maybe home daycares have a different standard that they must follow. As I said we had to keep our doors locked for a number of reasons ie: parents must have access to the children at all times, licensing must be able to come in at anytime, fire escapes etc. However the doors must be unlocked at all times during business hours.

Then again we are talking about TX Licensing!
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ConcernedMotherof2 10:26 AM 08-10-2009
Every other state I've been in, the doors have had to be locked. There was either a buzzer on the door for the parents to ring a bell and be let in after recognized by staff or you had to beat on a heavy metal door to get in (that was a hassle, but otherwise that particular center was great for my kids... and I always knew they were safe). Here in Arkansas, however, there seem to be different rules, since the two centers I've had my children in have both kept their doors unlocked.

I know it is a challenge to keep a handle on a large number of children. HOWEVER--that is their job. I do not nit-pick their job, things happen. But when it comes to a SAFETY issue, I do not believe there is ANY excuse. Several times before this particular incident, I had seen children from the daycare outside unattended. However, those children were quite a bit older than my two and though it caused a little bit of concern for me, I didn't know that they weren't told they could go outside to play (in the parking lot, near the dumpster) or if they were helping take out the trash.

While I understand that running and working in a daycare is challenging and things happen, mistakes are made and accidents occur, the line has to be drawn somewhere. As far as a mistake that could have cost a child (not just one of mine, any of the kids at the center)their life, I don't have any tolerance. Which is why I withdrew my children immediately, explained the situation to the director, reported the incident to the state and paid for two weeks that my children went to daycare else where (double out of my pocket for one week). Whole seperate issue--my choice to discontinue care, I signed the contract... I probably could have fought it, but a network of calls was made to all the daycares in the area and nobody would accept my children until WK got their money. And honestly, I just wanted done with the whole ugly situation.
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tinytotzdaycare 03:49 PM 09-28-2009
It really could have been a mistake but the part that they didnt notice is not good, if they had been right after him...but they didnt realize he was gone, that is a problem
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jen 04:30 PM 09-29-2009
This should be reported....
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ConcernedMotherof2 06:50 AM 09-30-2009
Originally Posted by jen:
This should be reported....
I did report the incident the very day it occurred. The problem is that one little report really doesn't go as far as it should. This dc has been operating for over 20 years and is respected in the community (as far as I can tell). I wasn't the only one to pull my kids out... there have been a few others who I noticed shortly after my two started at their current dc (which, btw, is AMAZINGLY GREAT). I really felt the need to let as many parents know about the situation as I could, so that this doesn't happen again. I don't want to wage a war and get them shut down--I merely want the problem fixed. There is an obvious supervision issue, among other things that I've learned since discontinuing care there. However, I can only post here what I witnessed with my own eyes, not what my 6 and 7 yo children have told me or what I've heard from other parents. Similarly, I can only report what I saw--this is why it is so important for everyone who has such an issue to report. Eventually, all the little reports will become one big problem for the dc and they will either have to fix it or shut down--either way, the safety of our children is paramount.
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Tags:6 year old, bad providers, blame game, parent - its a verb, parenting styles, school agers
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