This week was Hayden’s first experience in a day care. I dropped him off for half an hour at the gym’s day care on Monday and Wednesday (and now he’s sick; go figure!).
I watched the kids take things from him and push him. The day care workers tried to make it better. I kind of sensed (or wasa paranoid mom) that their reaction might have been prompted just because I was watching.
I came back later to peek in on him and he was sitting by himself, just watching other kids. After a minute, he crawled over to a ball and a little while later he was playing with a much older child on a kitchen toy. Still, it was sad to see him alone. I was sad that my little boy didn’t have any friends.
Oh yeah, there’s an upside of Hayden being sick: he slept through the night last night! That brings the total of nights I’ve been allowed to sleep through (although I didn’t actually sleep through the night) in the last year to fifteen.
4 replies on “Hayden’s first daycare experience”
well because of his age, he doesn’t play well with other children per se (and kids his age won’t play well with others either). Just because other kids don’t want to play with him doesn’t mean anything too bad, who wants to play with a drooly drool baby who can’t talk? =) I’ve seen it a million times! It’s ok!!!
I thought you wanted to play with him. 🙁
😉
I found your site because I was searching for day care experiences on the internet. After reading this…I am that much more anxious!
Two of my sisters (including the other commenter, Jaime) actually worked in a gym day care. The other sister told me that the babies get less attention in day care. I can see how that might happen naturally—it’s easier to spend time with kids that can talk to you. In fact, when I was peeking in on him, I saw four other, younger babies left alone—they were all asleep.
I also had a friend that was a day care worker. At full time day cares, they usually have a set (and possibly legally enforced) caregiver-to-child ratios, especially for young children.
I wouldn’t worry TOO much. Most kids survive day care. Good luck to your son!