A Changing of the Guard
There is something to be said for sending your kid off to daycare; more often than not, that something is bad. I’ve heard it referred to as Day Scare, or “that horrid place where parents abandon their children.” This particular daycare, however, is more like home. A place full of warmth, laughter, play and music. It’s a place where I grew up, though that isn’t the reason I think of it as home. I grew up there, sure, but it is owned by my mother, thus I never had an escape from her. Yeah, I sound horrible, but at that age, I was. I was one of the worst, if not the worst, child at that….I’m going off on a tangent. The point is, I wasn’t always sure that I would have a kid, but I always knew that if I had one, he or she would end up at my mother’s daycare, and I wanted nothing more than that.
The daycare, to me, has never been a place or a building, but an extension of my mother. You walk in, and are overcome with a sense of pride and of welcome. Music is almost always in the air, whether it is the playful, teasing banter of the teachers; or the laughter of children; or even actual music, artfully plucked on the piano. Music is a huge part of this daycare. Performances are held during the winter, with the young ‘uns, and during the summer. It is a vital part of growing up, and I believe being a part of these shows helps kids grow to be self-confident and all around better people. I suppose every now and then, you’ll get the odd Rachel Berry, but usually those who grew up at CCC (Children’s Creative Center) keep it in check.
The community surrounding the daycare, moreover the community created by the daycare, never ceases to astound. Parents make time to volunteer with field trips, the summer musical, and parties. CCC is a ray of sunshine in a community that isn’t always basking in sun. There are families all about who are not terribly fortunate in means, but that does not mean they don’t have a place at the daycare. There is a scholarship fund which makes sure all families who need care, and who approach my mother seeking it, receive it. The aforementioned performances (with the occasional party for the parents), all raise money to go into the scholarship fund. Think of the daycare as a type of Disney World (my mom will love that, but without the water costing $20. When you’re there, you just sort of forget any negativity. It’s kids having fun, and grown-ups joining right in.
Respect is also a huge staple there. The kids respect the teachers, who in turn respect the kids. There isn’t a tyrannical authority of, “I’m the adult, you’re the kid, I’m right, you’re wrong.” When a kid does something wrong, it is not overlooked, but it becomes a learning experience. They will sit in time-out, but will know why; precisely why. They will not leave time-out until they can say what they did wrong. This way, they don’t repeat it (ideally). Even if they do repeat it, they know it’s wrong. They develop a conscience at a very young age, and I see more nice behavior and sharing among these kids than I do with adults at work. Perhaps congress could take a field trip to CCC…learn a thing or two about respect, compromise, and fun?
All in all, I can’t imagine a better place for my son to go when his mother and I are at work. The great-grandparents fly south for the winter in a week, and while it will be torture for them, I’m glad there is such an amazingly wonderful alternative as Children’s Creative Center. Nick will grow to be a wonderful person, thanks to Grandma La-La and her daycare. I can’t wait to go along for the ride.
I think any child can thrive coming from a daycare environment, unless he/she comes from the maybe 1% of a bad situation, and we all know mothers who can be terrors. My only question concerning daycare is there a way to have enough staff for attachment parenting for newborns up until a year old?
It’s a good question, and it’s largely based on the number of infants in the daycare center at a time. I should think it would be quite difficult for staffing to be enough when there is more than two infants. It calls to question the number of staffers, the number of other kids who are older than one, the peak age of the children who attend, and the amount of money one spends on payroll.
There are a lot of factors, one of the most important of which is the attachment parenting being that of a staff member, and not that of the actual parent.