Horrible Childcare Supervision at the park today!

[AfterSchoolMom]

We went to the park today, and there was a group of children there from a local childcare center, along with two adults. This was probably the worst behaved bunch of kids I've ever seen! They were physically fighting amongst themselves and with others (two of them tackled my own child and I had to intervene), they were climbing the outsides of the climbing equipment and jumping off, two little girls were throwing sand in other kids' faces, they were winding up the swings on purpose so that their legs would fly out and hit other kids...the list goes on and on.

The worst part was that these two adults did NOTHING. Zip. Zero. There was no discliplining, no correction, no interaction with the kids. In fact, at one point I overheard a child of about 9 tell one of them that his lip was bleeding (probably from all of the fist fighting!) and she said "oh, you're ok, go get some water". They mostly talked to one another, and at one point one of them was listening to an Ipod and had her eyes closed for awhile as if she was napping (how she looked when we arrived).

THEN they filled a bunch of plastic cups with water, drank, and threw them all over the ground and left without picking anything up.

This all happened in the span of about 20 minutes!!!


I'm wondering if it would be appropriate for me to call this particular center tomorrow and tell a director what I observed. Would it do any good? I can't imagine that any parent would enjoy finding out that this kind of thing was going on.

[laundrymom]

Yes. I would call. And I would make sure to keep calling if it happened again.

[DaisyMamma]

Holy crow!
Did you call?

[sharlan]

Yes, I would call.

I called a local center years ago after an outing at Chuck E Cheese. We left because the other kids were so horrible and not supervised. I called the center the next day and spoke to the director (or someone who claimed to be the director). She was offended and said she had no idea what I was talking about because she was there and the children were all well behaved as she doesn't allow such behavior. She did NOT appreciate my call. Ok, then, there were a bunch of kids with your daycare's t-shirts on climbing on top of the games, throwing things, knocking kids down, etc.

[EchoMom]

Yes I would absolutely call.

[countrymom]

I would call. Daycares like this give the rest of a bad name.

[Heidi]

I would also call. I'd take the approach that you are sure she'd want to know, and you are concerned. I would not give any identifying info or that you are a provider; only that you were at the park yesterday.

If it was really out of hand, I think I would call licensing as well. In our state, they would get a lack-of-supervision citation, or at least, there would be some follow up visits. If possible, I would also not tell licensing who you are. Not sure if your state allows anonymous complaints.

[Kaddidle Care]

Was it a Childcare facility or a Camp? Either way it should be reported to the Director who should have been there IMHO. How did you know what Center it was from?

[momofsix]

Please call...that's terrible

[AfterSchoolMom]

Was it a Childcare facility or a Camp? Either way it should be reported to the Director who should have been there IMHO. How did you know what Center it was from?

The adults had shirts on with the Center name, and the kids had on name tags.

[renodeb]

I would call. When ever I'm in public with my dc kids I always make sure that I conduct myself professionally. (it comes pretty naturally to me now that its been 6 years of doing dc) because you never know who is around, who you will meet, or who you might get a dc call from, or who you will be able to hand a business card to. Its definately worth calling.
On more than one occasion I have had people ask me "are you the lady with the daycare I saw at the park" or 'Oh we saw you at playroom. Or "Oh your the lady with the bright yellow t shirts" (I put them in matching tees when we go places) Im always proud when I'm recognized (and I know I have left behind a positive impression)
I cant believe that dc would want that kind of thing going on.
Debbie

[Unregistered]

would you have been upset if the teachers were watching and the kids just weren't listening? thats why I dont take my kids out.

[countrymom]

so did you call.

[AfterSchoolMom]

would you have been upset if the teachers were watching and the kids just weren't listening? thats why I dont take my kids out.

I would have been upset at the behavior (tackling my son is NOT ok), but it would have been more understandable if they had been at least tryingto keep the kids in line or to show that they were even paying attention.

I did end up calling - talked to the front desk person and then the director, who was kind of "blah" about the whole thing - they listened and thanked me for letting them know, but I don't really think they took me seriously. At least I tried.