Daycare Diversity

As a single parent, it was never a question as to whether or not my daughter would go to daycare. Living in a small town (pop. about 800), I've been very fortunate to find the quality of daycare that we have here.

The daycare that she goes to is actually a daycare center that cares for about 40 kids each day. They are in the process of remodelling right now, but the way it currently set up there are two "sides" the "baby side" (under 3 years old) and the "big kid side" (3 years and up).

One thing that I love about my job at the school is that I get finished before most of the other parents. I get to daycare when they are just finishing snack. Most of the time they are getting cleaned up, and if it's nice out, they are lining up to go outside. I love this time of day. Usually it's mass chaos! The staff is super busy, which means that there is usually a baby that is in desperate need of being held. Anyone that knows me, also knows that I love any excuse to hold a baby! I also love to watch the interaction between the kids. Toddlers have such a unique way of communicating with each other. I am so grateful that Onna has the opportunity to develop relationships with these other kids.

As I sit back and observe the kids, one thing that has amazed me is the diversity that our small South Dakota town brings into one little building. In this group of 40 kids there is one family (a brother and sister) from Holland, and a girl that is adopt (by a single mom) from Russia. There are two kids who are (Spanish speaking) Hispanic, and two kids who's dad is Black. This is not meant to be offensive to anyone at all. It just really surprises me. When I was growing up in this same community, I could have named the non-white members of our town on one hand. In my opinion this will help our children be so much more prepared for the differences that they will face when they leave our community and enter "the real world".

For example, Onna has already been exposed to two languages other than English. My sister Sara and and Onna had an argument not too long ago about Harry's Papa. My sister said that Harry's dad picked him up from daycare. Onna argued and said it was his Papa. Well, technically they were both right. Harry's dad did pick him up from daycare, but the Dutch word for Dad sounds very similar to Papa!

On Tuesday when I stopped to pick her up, she didn't notice right away that I was there. Usually the other kids announce it to her right away, and of course, she comes running to me. She gives me a big hug, and then continues to play, but I always wondering if she plays differently when I'm not around. Back to Tuesday, I "snuck" in and they were using some of their gymnastics equipment. It's a set of steps, a small soft bridge, and then a pit that they jump into. I give kudos to Lisa, the daycare staff that day, because she had 8 two year olds, TAKING TURNS using this equipment. It was amazing to me. They would jump in the pit, get out, go to the back of the line, go up the steps, cross the bridge, jump into the pit again. EIGHT OF THEM~TWO YEAR OLDS! They did this for at least 10 minutes, while I stood there in amazement, for one I couldn't believe what was so fun about it, and for two, I couldn't believe that they all continued to do it! They were laughing and giggling and having a great time, but they only needed a gentle reminder here and there to wait their turn or to go to the back of the line, otherwise they did great. What great skills they are developing!

Another day, and this was probably two months ago. I was able to sneak in. They were going on a BEAR HUNT. This was on the "baby side" too. That day Cindy was with them, and she had the CD on. She had all of the kids involved, even the littlest ones, in the exersaucers! I watched almost the whole thing. It was SO cute! It's moments like that, that ease the guilt of dropping her off there every day when I go to work.

Next week on Friday, we get to go on a field trip to the Watertown Zoo. I've never been to that zoo, and Onna's never been to a zoo at all. It worked out really well, because I don't have to work that day, so I get to go along to chaperon. I'm so excited. Onna was really worried at first because we were talking about animals that might be at a zoo. She named, elephants, then monkeys (she asked if there would be beds for them to jump on). Then she said crocodiles. Then she said she didn't want to go to the zoo anymore. I asked her why, and she said, "because the crocodiles will bite me!" I told her that if there are crocodile at the zoo, they will be behind a fence, so they won't be able to bite us. It was pretty cute, but it was too bad that she was so scared that she didn't want to go.

Any of you that have read my blog for long, know that I've had issue with our daycare. I wanted to share some of the positive things that go on there too. Like I said, I don't have a choice as to whether or not to take her to daycare. I don't want to turn this into a debate about whether or not daycare is good or bad, etc, etc,... I just wanted to share something positive for a change.