Daycare = Day of UnCaring

Monday I had the big "conference" with Wyatt's daycare. It was supposed to be:

- me
- the Assistant Director in charge of the Pre-Toddler area
- 1-2 of his teachers
- the Training & Education Coordinator
- and, possibly, the Director of the Center

However, they "assumed" (that is a quote) I would not be attending the 4 p.m. meeting when Wyatt was out sick and cancelled the meeting with their director and two teachers. Which would have been fine, except that I fully intended to GO to the meeting and therefore did NOT call off the meeting with the daycare. Then the trainer actually told me I couldn't bring him to his classroom because I had said he had a fever at 4:30 that morning. Even though he had clearance from the doctor. Even though he was NOT contagious. This woman was definitely getting on my nerves. I said FINE, put some freakin' toys in your office and call it good. He'll be fine.

So the meeting with the Trainer & Assistant Director started on a sour note, because I was already mad about their "assumption." That's why it is called ASSUME - it makes an ASS out of U and ME! So I was already ticked off and the meeting hadn't even started. Sweet.

Anyway. We met. We discussed the same crap we'd been discussing for a week. It was not a positive encounter. This is basically how the discussion went:

I told them I wanted another person in the room to shadow the biters.
They said no.
I told them that was unacceptable.
They told me their "policy."
I told them MY policy and asked who I needed to talk to in the chain of command to make this happen.
And magically, we came to an understanding:

I understand that they are short-staffed and have just hired 3 new staff members. I also DO NOT CARE (thus, part of the Day of UnCaring).

They understand that I am not going to let this go. So the Assistant Director and Trainer agreed to be in the room as an extra set of hands during times of transition and when there is only one caregiver in the room, even when they are within ratio (1 caregiver: 5 children) because this is when biting is most likely to happen. They are providing a schedule of the times in writing to me of when they will be in the room.

They also understand that I will be doing drop-in visits to ensure this is, in fact, happening. They also understand that if Wyatt gets bit again, I expect a copy of the videotape upon my arrival to pick up my child, and they better be sure that everything in their power had been done to prevent that bite from happening.

I am having major mommy guilt over this whole thing. Especially after having spent the last 2 days at home with Wyatt. Especially after fighting traffic this morning on the way to work and driving only 4 miles in 53 minutes. Why, why, why did I ever think this was a good idea???