Spot Check

the first few days of amir's daycare went quite well. he would go off with hubby quietly in the morning and be all cheery when i pick him up at the end of the day. he seems fine, even remembering some of the teacher's...well...teachings at home. the one i love most is him sitting on the floor next to me, one day, and put up his hands as one would while doa-ing and then wiping both hands to his face, complete with a proud look on his face.

but for the past 3 days, he would scream the house down every morning when he realises his daddy is sending him off to school. and i mean scream! in the car he would look up and watch me standing at the window, still screaming.

i decided to do a spot check on the daycare yesterday. nae suggested picking amir up earlier rather than just watch from afar (as i initially decided). i went around 3:30pm, knowing their naptime ended at 3pm. the curtains were drawn, when i drove up to the house. maybe they were still sleeping. but then i heard voices of a lot of children coming from inside. i knocked on the door and the teacher opened, surprised to see me no doubt. she was a bit kelam kabut in getting amir's bag, and it gave me the opportunity to observe the condition of the place (while there's children about...)

what i noticed...
1. there were lots of children at the place, around 14, not including the babies upstairs - the teacher informed me there were only 9 children.

2. there's 2 teachers at the daycare, not including another one who takes care of the babies. when i was there, one of the 2 teachers was cooking, which means only 1 was looking after the 14 running around.

3. there was a boy, naked after a shower, standing in the kitchen, presumably waiting for someone to help put on his clothes. who would do that since 1 was cooking and 1 was looking after the children. will the one looking after the children leave her post to put on the child's clothes, or will the one cooking do it (the latter is a very scary thought).

4. what if one of the children disturbed the cook or ran to the kitchen. it seems like they are short-handed.

5. when i asked the teacher, she assured me that amir is fine and hasnt been crying. but he was bawling the past few days especially when hubby handed him to her. he also cries when we pick him up. maybe "no, he hasnt been crying" is just a recorded answer she gives to all parents.

6. while i was waiting for the teacher to get amir's bag, one of the children voiced out to me "dia selalu menangis", refering to amir. i wanted to query more, why does amir cry, but the teacher had returned.

7. before amir saw me, he was playing with a ball alone. then one of the bigger kids went up to him and grabbed the ball from him. what i would give to whack that kid there and then. should the teacher have left the children like that? cant they separate them according to thier ages?

8. amir said "bola" a few days ago. what?!? we never used the word "bola" at home...its "ball" to amir.

now i'm upset. in two weeks, i'm leaving my 2 month old baby there. did we make the right decision?

** ninuk, there's a daycare in BJ??