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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>DCK Never Made It To School
jojosmommy 12:05 PM 09-13-2012
Omg! Today is the worst day of daycare ever!
Backstory, dcd signed up dck to walk from my house to school 1 week before school starts. Week 1 mom and dad walk to school with dck for pics ect. On the first day I am set to have dck walk from my house I let her walk, then walk a little bit behind her. Just to check but give her the confidence to walk independently. It is one block to school. She did good.
Fast forward to this week. Dck is only scheduled 2 days this week. Tu and today. Mom is off so she says she will be picking up dck and taking her to school. Tu she picks up. Today it is time for school and no mom. I send dck and leave a message with mom and dad that I sent her. Mom doesnt answer, dadcalls back "ok, great! Im a little nervous about my wife not coming though. Let me know if you get a hold of her."
10 min later mom calls. School called dck never got there.
. I freak out! Mom thinks dck tried to skip.... I call my hubs and he speeds home, I check the neighborhood. Mom does the same. School calls back, dck was there, she got lost in the building and didnt know where her room was!
Backstory, dcd signed up dck to walk from my house to school 1 week before school starts. Week 1 mom and dad walk to school with dck for pics ect. On the first day I am set to have dck walk from my house I let her walk, then walk a little bit behind her. Just to check but give her the confidence to walk independently. It is one block to school. She did good.
Fast forward to this week. Dck is only scheduled 2 days this week. Tu and today. Mom is off so she says she will be picking up dck and taking her to school. Tu she picks up. Today it is time for school and no mom. I send dck and leave a message with mom and dad that I sent her. Mom doesnt answer, dadcalls back "ok, great! Im a little nervous about my wife not coming though. Let me know if you get a hold of her."
10 min later mom calls. School called dck never got there.
. I freak out! Mom thinks dck tried to skip.... I call my hubs and he speeds home, I check the neighborhood. Mom does the same. School calls back, dck was there, she got lost in the building and didnt know where her room was!
lovemykidstoo 12:10 PM 09-13-2012
How old is this child? If mom was off, then why was dck at your house? Was the deal that you would walk her or the parents would walk her? Doesn't sound like the parents are too responsible. So glad that she's okay.
Oneluckymom 12:12 PM 09-13-2012
OMG!! I would have freaked out too!! Poor you, that has to be soooo stressful. When DCD said he was nervous about mom not picking up did you follow up with him, this would be a red flag for me. What happens IF she doesn't show up at some point down the road?
jojosmommy 12:13 PM 09-13-2012
I should add that now I am not sure I want dck back if she is going to walk alone. Obv mom thought she was going to skip, which is interesting in itself.
My emotions are all over the place. I posted earlier about mom not even meeting me before dck came. Now this. Its all too much.....
My emotions are all over the place. I posted earlier about mom not even meeting me before dck came. Now this. Its all too much.....
jojosmommy 12:19 PM 09-13-2012
Dad called to say mom had a misscarriage recently and has been physically and emotionally struggling. Didnt want to post that at first. Shes on med leave now. Wanted to start dck on reg sched since life at home has been crazy. That i get.
Willow 12:20 PM 09-13-2012
Glad kiddo is ok.
What's ringing in my head though is:
- where was mom, did you ever actually sort that out?
- why didn't she answer when you called?
- why did she answer only when school called her and not you?
- why after being able to successfully locate her classroom before could the child not to that today?
- why did mom assume she was trying to skip school??
The whole thing stinks to me.....
After such a scare I would ask them to sort out alternate arrangements for the child to get to school. I would NOT want to be held liable for mom slacking off again with no explanation, a child taking off to skip, or the child being unaccounted for again due to her inability to find her own classroom from day to day.
What's ringing in my head though is:
- where was mom, did you ever actually sort that out?
- why didn't she answer when you called?
- why did she answer only when school called her and not you?
- why after being able to successfully locate her classroom before could the child not to that today?
- why did mom assume she was trying to skip school??
The whole thing stinks to me.....
After such a scare I would ask them to sort out alternate arrangements for the child to get to school. I would NOT want to be held liable for mom slacking off again with no explanation, a child taking off to skip, or the child being unaccounted for again due to her inability to find her own classroom from day to day.
jojosmommy 12:22 PM 09-13-2012
And the original deal was she would walk alone. Its a short way and transportation wont pick up this close. Since that was the original plan thats what i followed. I just called dcd and dcm as a courtesy since mom said TODAY she would bring her. Not from here on.
Willow 12:25 PM 09-13-2012
Originally Posted by jojosmommy:
Dad called to say mom had a misscarriage recently and has been physically and emotionally struggling. Didnt want to post that at first. Shes on med leave now. Wanted to start dck on reg sched since life at home has been crazy. That i get.
Dad called to say mom had a misscarriage recently and has been physically and emotionally struggling. Didnt want to post that at first. Shes on med leave now. Wanted to start dck on reg sched since life at home has been crazy. That i get.
I am sympathetic to what she's gone through, really I am, but it's no excuse to neglect your child or leave your provider in a lurch not knowing what to do like that.
If she is that unstable perhaps she shouldn't have any responsibilities involving the child right now?
(trying to say that gently but good grief, as much as she needs to take care of herself the child still needs to be cared for too).
mema 12:25 PM 09-13-2012
How scary! Glad they found the child tho. Why would dcm think the child was going to skip? Isn't this a kindergartener? Do they even know what that is at that age?? I don't know that I would be letting them walk after that or that I would be willing to keep them either. I would make dcm or dcd pick up and if they didn't show up, I would be blasting their phones until they did. So, you have got to meet mom than?
I remember when my dcp called me at work one day to tell me my son never made it there after school. My heart stopped beating and I was frantic. She called the bus company and I called the school. School didn't have him and his teacher remembers him getting in the bus line. Bus radioed the driver who said he got off at his stop. Her kids went around the neighborhood and found him talking with a buddy. Needless to say, we had a loooong talk that night and he never did that again.
(((hugs)))
I remember when my dcp called me at work one day to tell me my son never made it there after school. My heart stopped beating and I was frantic. She called the bus company and I called the school. School didn't have him and his teacher remembers him getting in the bus line. Bus radioed the driver who said he got off at his stop. Her kids went around the neighborhood and found him talking with a buddy. Needless to say, we had a loooong talk that night and he never did that again.
(((hugs)))
Willow 12:26 PM 09-13-2012
Originally Posted by jojosmommy:
And the original deal was she would walk alone. Its a short way and transportation wont pick up this close. Since that was the original plan thats what i followed. I just called dcd and dcm as a courtesy since mom said TODAY she would bring her. Not from here on.
And the original deal was she would walk alone. Its a short way and transportation wont pick up this close. Since that was the original plan thats what i followed. I just called dcd and dcm as a courtesy since mom said TODAY she would bring her. Not from here on.
That's merely a coincidence as far as I'd be concerned.
If they're worried about her skipping and she is unable to locate her own classroom I'd question the child's ability to handle the responsibility of getting herself to school.
jojosmommy 12:28 PM 09-13-2012
Mom said she lost track of time. She said she still wants dck to walk but they have alot going on and have other things to consider so I assume they wont be returning for one or another reason.
The skipping thing is what bugs me.They thought dck would skip but didnt tell me, and let dck walk anyway?????!
I need advice on wtd. I dont want this happening again. I dont want to abandon them either but.... the whole thing makes me nervous.
The skipping thing is what bugs me.They thought dck would skip but didnt tell me, and let dck walk anyway?????!
I need advice on wtd. I dont want this happening again. I dont want to abandon them either but.... the whole thing makes me nervous.
sharlan 12:31 PM 09-13-2012
That is why I would never allow a child to walk to or from school alone. If I couldn't do it, I wouldn't take the child, plain and simple.
Oneluckymom 01:15 PM 09-13-2012
My house is literally less than .25 mile from my kids school and I don't even let my own kids walk to or from school let alone a DCK. Call me paranoid but too many things can go wrong.
I would probably not care for that child anymore if it were me. Esp. if they were worried about the kid skipping...you dont need this kind of stress.
I would probably not care for that child anymore if it were me. Esp. if they were worried about the kid skipping...you dont need this kind of stress.
sharlan 01:33 PM 09-13-2012
Originally Posted by Oneluckymom:
My house is literally less than .25 mile from my kids school and I don't even let my own kids walk to or from school let alone a DCK. Call me paranoid but too many things can go wrong.
I would probably not care for that child anymore if it were me. Esp. if they were worried about the kid skipping...you dont need this kind of stress.
Mine don't have to walk that far. It's literally across the street, down 2 house, through a breezeway, across the street, and enter the back gate.My house is literally less than .25 mile from my kids school and I don't even let my own kids walk to or from school let alone a DCK. Call me paranoid but too many things can go wrong.
I would probably not care for that child anymore if it were me. Esp. if they were worried about the kid skipping...you dont need this kind of stress.
lovemykidstoo 01:50 PM 09-13-2012
I would tell them that you about had a heart attack when the child was missing and you just don't want to be responsible. I would not do it. How old is the child?
e.j. 02:26 PM 09-13-2012
Originally Posted by jojosmommy:
I need advice on wtd. I dont want this happening again. I dont want to abandon them either but.... the whole thing makes me nervous.
If I were in your situation, I would feel terrible abandoning them but there is no way I would want that kind of responsibility. I would tell them it won't work for me and be done with it.I need advice on wtd. I dont want this happening again. I dont want to abandon them either but.... the whole thing makes me nervous.
mema 12:00 PM 09-19-2012
How did this work out? Did you decide to keep the child?
Blackcat31 01:37 PM 09-19-2012
Not to make light of this situaiton but a few years ago, I had this little Kindy boy that was all set to walk to school and back to daycare every day.
The school was only 3 blocks away from me. Mom had been dropping him off at daycare and letting him practice walking to and from daycare every day all of August, talked with him about not talking to strangers, looking both ways before crossing streets and all that stuff so that when school started he would be full prepared to do the walking with ease.
So imagine my pulse rate when the first day of school comes and he walks to school but doesnt make it here afterwards...
I call mom at work, she rushes over, we call the school, the police, neighbors and everyone else we can think of. DCM gets in the car and goes looking for him.
He showed up about 30 minutes later. When I asked him what in the world he was doing (as EVERYONE was freaked out by now)
He said "Shopping." When I said "Shopping????" He says, "Well, I had 50 cents left over from lunch and I saw this garage sale so I stopped and shopped around for a while. I even bought "T" a bear"
"T" was his little brother who was sad that big brother went to school and he didn't get to go.
So in the end, it was all good and it was kind of funny in hindsight that mom and I thought we had covered all our bases but little did we know that we should ahve talked about shopping on the way to school too
The school was only 3 blocks away from me. Mom had been dropping him off at daycare and letting him practice walking to and from daycare every day all of August, talked with him about not talking to strangers, looking both ways before crossing streets and all that stuff so that when school started he would be full prepared to do the walking with ease.
So imagine my pulse rate when the first day of school comes and he walks to school but doesnt make it here afterwards...
I call mom at work, she rushes over, we call the school, the police, neighbors and everyone else we can think of. DCM gets in the car and goes looking for him.
He showed up about 30 minutes later. When I asked him what in the world he was doing (as EVERYONE was freaked out by now)
He said "Shopping." When I said "Shopping????" He says, "Well, I had 50 cents left over from lunch and I saw this garage sale so I stopped and shopped around for a while. I even bought "T" a bear"
"T" was his little brother who was sad that big brother went to school and he didn't get to go.
So in the end, it was all good and it was kind of funny in hindsight that mom and I thought we had covered all our bases but little did we know that we should ahve talked about shopping on the way to school too