What's Been Your Biggest Flub To Date......

[Logged out for privacy]

I am logged out for privacy, feel free to do the same. I had my biggest oops yet this morning and am looking for some reassurance. I hold myself to a pretty high standard and hate when I screw up, this morning I just plum forgot to put a peanut on the bus to get to school and the child's parents called just in a frenzy panicked something horrible had happened. The school called them and let them know the child never arrived and of course they assumed the worst. In my defense kiddo only goes to pre-k twice a week, my food program rep stopped by unannounced this morning in the middle of breakfast (I have a mere 20 minute window to get the child and my kids fed before getting them on the bus), kiddos grandma dropped off this morning and set kiddos backpack on the floor behind a chair so I didn't have the visual cue I usually do to help me remember and to boot the child's infant sibling is smack dab in the middle of teething and has been screaming for days on end whenever I set him down to do something like - make breakfast. Which is distracting enough itself.

Not that anything said in my defense is any sort of excuse. Believe me when I say I still feel like the biggest jerk on the entire planet. All I could do was bawl out apologies to the parents. Even though they were far more relieved kiddo was ok than angry at me for my flub I'm going to have a very difficult time forgiving myself for what happened.


Anyone else care to share some examples of how we're all human?

I know we load it on about how awful some parents can be and sometimes I think we forget we are fallible too. .....or at least I do

[Blackcat31]

Hey, we are all human so do NOT beat yourself up over this. First it is super nice that you accomodate parent requests to load and unload children from the pre-K bus in the first place.

Plus, any parent should understand that we do a million things at once at sometime those time or schedule expectations don't always mesh with what is going on in real time.

Our YMCA has a bus come for preschoolers who take swim lessons.....I bet you I forget to get them ready and prepared for the bus atleast once per month.

Don't fret....worst things could happen. At least the child was safe with you and not left and forgotten on the bus like a recent Head Start child was in my area....3 hours in the frozen weather!!

You are human! It IS ok!

((((Hugs))))

[cheerfuldom]

wow, if that is your worst mistake, congrats on being the best provider ever! seriously, it wasnt that big of a deal. please forgive yourself and move on.

[littlemissmuffet]

I forgot to get a child up from nap once. All my older children sleep on nap mats in one room, while my younger children sleep in cribs in another area. It was 40 minutes passed nap when she woke herself up and tipped me off by crying. I simply forgot. Things happen, it's life.

[Lucy]

I am logged out for privacy, feel free to do the same. I had my biggest oops yet this morning and am looking for some reassurance. I hold myself to a pretty high standard and hate when I screw up, this morning I just plum forgot to put a peanut on the bus to get to school and the child's parents called just in a frenzy panicked something horrible had happened. The school called them and let them know the child never arrived and of course they assumed the worst. In my defense kiddo only goes to pre-k twice a week, my food program rep stopped by unannounced this morning in the middle of breakfast (I have a mere 20 minute window to get the child and my kids fed before getting them on the bus), kiddos grandma dropped off this morning and set kiddos backpack on the floor behind a chair so I didn't have the visual cue I usually do to help me remember and to boot the child's infant sibling is smack dab in the middle of teething and has been screaming for days on end whenever I set him down to do something like - make breakfast. Which is distracting enough itself.

Not that anything said in my defense is any sort of excuse. Believe me when I say I still feel like the biggest jerk on the entire planet. All I could do was bawl out apologies to the parents. Even though they were far more relieved kiddo was ok than angry at me for my flub I'm going to have a very difficult time forgiving myself for what happened.


Anyone else care to share some examples of how we're all human?

I know we load it on about how awful some parents can be and sometimes I think we forget we are fallible too. .....or at least I do

If you have a cell phone, I would set a standing alarm for those 2 days at about 10 minutes before you have to leave.

For me, I'd have to say the worst isn't really that bad. We have late school starts on Wednesdays. The bus comes right in front of my house. Twice over the years, I've sent the kids out at the normal time on Wed morning, meaning they were actually there an hour early. I kept wondering why the bus was so late. The first time it happened was 6 or 7 years ago, and I still remember one of the girls coming in and saying, "don't we have late start today?" I felt so stupid!! The 2nd time was just last school year, and this time it was me who remembered. I just opened the door and said, "just kidding! It's late start day!" They rolled their eyes and groaned. . They had to remove coats, backpacks, shoes, etc. Oh well....

[MarinaVanessa]

wow, if that is your worst mistake, congrats on being the best provider ever! seriously, it wasnt that big of a deal. please forgive yourself and move on.

That's what I'm saying!!! If that's your biggest flub to date then good for you!!

I did something similar, sort of but worse so don't feel so bad although I deffinetely know how it feels like to feel like a jerk.

Once a DCM that brought her kiddos to me 3 times a week let me know on a Friday morning that the kids would not be at DC the following week. She paid me as usual and all was fine. On that following Monday I got a call from DCM asking me if there was any way that I could pick up DCG from school on that Thursday (not a day that she was usually here) and if she could attend until closing and that she or her husband would pick her up. I picked her up from school on the three days per week that she and her younger sibling attended so it was not an issue and I agreed. DCM agreed that she would pay extra for this non-scheduled day even though I offered to do it for no extra fee since she was paying for the week and neitehr kids were attending (she was a good client and never took advantage).

Well Thursday comes around and I get a phone call from her asking me if everything was ok since I didn't pick up DCG . I FORGOT!!!

I was so embarrassed and was piling up the kids into the van as I was speaking to her and hurredly assured her that I would be there in 5-10 minutes and I was leaving as soon as I had the kids loaded. She assured me patiently that it was ok and that she was already on her way with her husband to get her. I felt like the biggest dummy ever. . She was simply calling me because I never forget and she was worried that something HAD HAPENED TO ME!!! I felt even more awful because the previous week I had been 10 minutes late in picking up DCG because my DD was let out of her class late so I ran late .... DCG had been worried and I told her that I may be late sometimes but that I would never forget about her . I felt AWFUL.

On the following Monday DCM drops DCB off and still TRIES TO PAY ME FOR THURSDAY!!! I of course reject the money and didn't take it, I apologized again and again and she just laughed and told me not to worry about it. Then she goes on and tells me that she's just glad that I was ok because the previous week had been awful for them. Her husband's father passed away and so she and her husband took a week off of work to plan the funeral and on that Thursday was the funeral and DCG had not wanted to attend. They left the funeral when I forgot to pick up DCG and picked her up and she ended up having to go to the funeral anyway. I felt like the biggest POS ever. I felt so bad that I offered her a free date night any time that she wanted. She kept assuring me that all was ok and that she was not upset and that things happened. I swear if she had yelled at me I would have felt better.

So yeah, I know how you must feel right now. You goofed, it happens. But at least you forgot DCB and he was in your house, you didn't forget him somewhere else.

If you have a cell phone, I would set a standing alarm for those 2 days at about 10 minutes before you have to leave.

After my incident this is exactly what I started doing. I also bought a planner that I write in each child's name that will be attending that particular week and even put in their hours. I look at it every day a few times a day and then have set alarms on my phone of when to get up in the AM, when to start loading the kids in the car to pick up the kids, etc. It helped me have a little piece of mind.

[crazydaycarelady]

My biggest mistakes have been keeping families that I knew in my gut were not working out.

But also, I had a dcm ask to bring her child on a specific day. She did not have a routine schedule. Anyway I totally forgot and left the house with the kids and was not here when she came to drop off. Dcm ended up dropping baby off at the grandmas work while grandma continued to try and get ahold of me. I felt like a total moron!

[DaisyMamma]

wow, if that is your worst mistake, congrats on being the best provider ever! seriously, it wasnt that big of a deal. please forgive yourself and move on.

I agree!
Things happen. No biggie.

I'm terrible remembering things, so I set the alarm on my phone to remind me.

I had a DCP drive all the way to her college for class and forgot to drop DCB off on the way. She got to school and saw him in the back! Ooops!
I'm near her home. Her school is 25 min. away!

[mom2many]

Life can get crazy doing daycare, so I totally understand how this could happen, especially when the normal routine gets disrupted. Don't be too hard on yourself! We are all human!

Once I forgot it was Tuesday and the S/A kids always got out an hour early on that day. Fortunately I realized it a few minutes before pick up, so I was only a couple minutes late!

I've had lots of p/t kids over the years, who have had sporadic schedules that changed week to week...I always feared I would forget to pick up someone, but so far that has been the only time I flubbed up on that!

A few weeks ago, I lost track of time and didn't have one of my dcg's changed into her leotard and tights with her hair up in a bun, when her ride came to get her for dance. She gets picked up early one day a week and we literally have 40 minutes after I pick her up from school till she leaves my house.

I had gotten home and changed diapers on those that had been napping and given everyone a snack. Moments later, one of the kids spilled their apple juice, so that meant changing their entire outfit. I was in the process of mopping up the kitchen floor, when her Aunt came to get her and I felt bad that I had not realized what time it was and she was not ready to go...but LIFE happens and her Aunt totally understood. I pride myself on trying to do it all...so I was irritated at myself for a minute till I put it all in perspective! ::

[Evansmom]

Don't beat yourself up! Just keep on going

Once I had to go to the bathroom which as we all know is a really tricky thing to do being a child care provider. I was having a bit of a tummy ache so I stayed in the bathroom a little longer than usual. At that time I had a very small and sedate group of kids (only 3) and I never had a problem before, never had any incident what so ever so I wasn't worried. I came back out to find the living room empty and noise coming from upstairs. One of my older kids had forgotten to lock the stairs gate!!!! I run up there to find all 3 kids totally covering themselves in oil based model car paint!!!! One girly girl had smeared the horrible smelling stuff all over her mouth as lipstick!

If anyone ever needs to know, olive oil gets that paint right out!

[nanglgrl]

Oy, I have 24 alarms set on my phone. 24 times a day that someone is coming or going. I have 2 in preschool and 2 in school and even with the alarms I've forgotten on occasion. Sometimes the alarm goes off and I totally disregard it or am in the middle of something so I turn it off and forget to do whatever the alarm was reminding me of. The buses pull up right in front of my house but they each come anytime in their own 10 minute period. Daycare is in the basement so it's hard to bring all of the kids up so I can watch out the window everyday for buses. Next year I'm not having any school agers but my own. My kids know how to watch for their bus and go out when it gets here where as my daycare kids will see their buses pull up and not say a word. I did start changing my alarm sounds and that helps for a while but I've already had twice this school year I've had to call and tell a parent to come take their child to school because they missed the bus.

[LK5kids]

I got into a disagreement with a dcm who wanted me to go shopping for a birthday present for her son who was going to a bd party that afternoon. I said I couldn't and she got upset and we both raised our voices.

She grabbed her son, left and as she was going by my open window I went over and called her a b!/€h. Can you believe it? I never swear. I thought, "What the heck got into me?". She pulled her son, went to a neighbor's day care and came back about four months later. We never had any hard feelings!

I don't remember how we patched it up, but we were good friends for many years. She even helped me through my divorce.

[Patches]

Enrolled my friends daughter.....bad idea.

[BumbleBee]

3 come to mind:

20 three year olds were lined up to go outside. I did a head count, grabbed the clip board and one of the kids needed their shoe tied. Put the clipboard down, tie shoe, grab clipboard & tell the line leader to lead the way to the playground (I always walked at the end of the line with the distractable kids). We get outside and the kids are playing. 5 minutes later my boss comes out with one of my kids. I neglected to do another head count after I tied the shoe & only took 19 kids out. Apparently the kid walked into the bosses office and asked where everybody was.

Same group of kids. We lined up to go inside. The door from the playground to the the building locks when it closes. I do a head count & we get to the door. Line leader knocks, boss opens door, line leader holds open the door for all of the other kids. We get to the room, wash hands, sit down for snack. I hear this little voice from the screened window of our room (window is about 10 ft from the locked door) "Excuse me, can I come in and have snack? I'm really hungry." Yup, after holding open the door for everybody the door shut, locked, and this poor kid was left outside. That's when I started doing head counts when we got to our classroom to.

8 yo walked 1/2 a block from school to dc center where I was assistant director. She didn't show up one day. I went and walked the route to the school, asked the school if she had been in attendance that day-they couldn't share that info with me, ran back to the center and frantically called dck parents-no answer, call everybody on emergency contact list-no answer, call director (she was taking a personal day)-no answer, call police. Police arrive and I'm telling them what happened when director calls-"Check the notebook" she says (we kept a notebook for all dck vacations, days off, injuries, discussions with parents, etc.) I go check the notebook where it says "Dck will not be in attendance on *date*" I hadda tell the police officers I screwed up.

[Hunni Bee]

3 come to mind:

20 three year olds were lined up to go outside. I did a head count, grabbed the clip board and one of the kids needed their shoe tied. Put the clipboard down, tie shoe, grab clipboard & tell the line leader to lead the way to the playground (I always walked at the end of the line with the distractable kids). We get outside and the kids are playing. 5 minutes later my boss comes out with one of my kids. I neglected to do another head count after I tied the shoe & only took 19 kids out. Apparently the kid walked into the bosses office and asked where everybody was.

Same group of kids. We lined up to go inside. The door from the playground to the the building locks when it closes. I do a head count & we get to the door. Line leader knocks, boss opens door, line leader holds open the door for all of the other kids. We get to the room, wash hands, sit down for snack. I hear this little voice from the screened window of our room (window is about 10 ft from the locked door) "Excuse me, can I come in and have snack? I'm really hungry." Yup, after holding open the door for everybody the door shut, locked, and this poor kid was left outside. That's when I started doing head counts when we got to our classroom to.

Why were you the only teacher with 20 3 year olds?