Expelled at 2 years old!
Danny started at a new daycare this week. One that was far more convenient for us, being only five minutes away instead of thirty-five. So when picking up Daniel on Monday evening, the teacher informs us of the following:
- Danny is far, far, far behind in his development. She puts this two-year old at the level of a one-year old.
- Danny does not understand language as he fails to follow her instructions.
- Danny is very disruptive in that he demands all her attention and she is unable to focus on the educational needs of the other children.
- Danny's schedule caused him to wake up in advance of the other children and his subsequent singing caused the other children to wake up.
- She doesn't think this is going to work out but is willing to give us a month. If things don't improve, we'll need to take Danny out of her daycare.
Oh well. Not particularly great news, but we have some time and hopefully things will work out.
The next day comes and at eleven o'clock in the morning we get a call; she's had it with Danny and we need to pick him up immediately.
WHAT???? CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS????
I'm glad that neither Inna or I were in a position to pick him up until 5pm at least (and in fact that I was blissfully unaware of any of this until I got home), but to say we are angry is quite an understatement. Sad at her impression of our child's behavior and development but angry at her for not giving him a little more time. And the fact that there has not been so much as a murmur about any problems with Danny from the other daycares makes us wonder about the validity of her concerns. Except for the fact that we know Danny is a little "slow!".
"Expelled at two!" my sister pointed out. We enjoyed a good laugh over that!
Not that any of you want to send your kids to a daycare in Buffalo Grove, but if you do, stay away from Alena's Home School!
posted by Mark @ 1:21 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Dear Mr. McNally,
I was really shocked to read this information.
My program and daily routine is designed for children 2.5 years old and older. I don't usually take children that are younger simply because they require an absolutely different program and daily routine, and it is a very important part of their development.
This was the first time that I made an exception because the Mother and Grandmother of Danny begged me to take him, assuring me that he is ready, having gone to day cares since he was 6 months old and thus being independent and capable of performing simple tasks on his own.
At first, I told them “no” because I understood that it simply would not work due to the fact that my daycare is designed to get kids ready for school. However, kids Danny's age require a daycare that has a group of kids his age and a different teacher-child ratio (1:4).
It was my mistake to do your family a favor and take Danny before he was ready for a group of kids older than him. There are no children under 2.5 years old at my daycare.
Yes, at first I promised Danny's mom a month to see if he'd adapt, but on the second day I realized that
1. All the other kids are left with no attention from me because I have to spend every second with him.
2. Danny was getting stressed and having hysterics because he instinctively understood that he's not keeping up with the rhythm of the daycare.
Since Danny's Mother and Grandmother had told me that'd he'd gone through stress in the previous day care, I especially did not want to worsen the situation by keeping him stressed out for a whole month. I truthfully told both the Mother and Grandmother the situation and gave them multiple tips instead of keeping him crying in a corner and just getting paychecks for a whole month, which does happen in some day cares. I do not believe that either one of us would've liked that.
I spent an hour on the phone with Danny's Grandmother, giving her advice on how to make the situation better for Danny in the future.
I absolutely did not want to hurt anybody's feelings. Danny is a great and cute boy and it's not his fault that the previous day cares did nothing to prepare him for the next age step, BUT they should’ve done so.
I'm sorry to say that the only thing this experience has taught me is to not do people favors.
I didn't mean to cause any problems, I was simply trying to do my best and be truthful and honest with you.
Thank you for everything and best of luck,
~Alena.
That's really funny to hear from same person that boy is "slow" and undeveloped. And yet at same time he:
"was getting stressed and having hysterics because he instinctively UNDERSTOOD that he's not keeping up with the rhythm of the daycare."
It makes me smile :)
Now we can smile about this too :-)
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