One of the reasons Nikki never went to school in our suburb when she was young is that the schedule at our neighborhood school is not working-parent friendly. They start at 7:45 (30 minutes after we start work) and get out at 1:30 (45 minutes before our school day ends). In addition, it's 30 minutes away from work. Obviously, it is impossible for us to either pick up or drop off with this schedule. For that reason, Nikki attended the Catholic school right up the street from our school. They start at 7:30, get out at 2:30, and I even could go volunteer in the classroom on my prep since it was so close. Unfortunately, because Caleb needs speech and hearing services, private school is not an option for him.
Fortunately, we have a wonderful neighbor who is taking both the kids to school for us. This works out great except on days like today, when I get a phone call in the middle of class from Nikki, who is informing me that her brother is refusing to get dressed in spite of several already-imposed consequences. I then find myself shouting at my hard-of-hearing son (no hearing aids yet-he won't get dressed) via Nikki's speaker phone to listen to his sister's words. This while my students are staring, wide-eyed. Yeah. Fun.
And then there is the after-school fun of "Project Safe." I don't know what they think is "safe" about this program, but so far Caleb is covered in bruises. When I have gone to pick him up this week, I have seen boys play-fighting in the middle of the yard, kids throwing sand at each other, and a child tossing another's homework over the fence. All of this with no response from any of the adults, because they are not looking. Caleb is covered in bruises from the waist down, has three blisters on his hands, and is now sporting an impressive purple bruise on his chin because they let the kids play on these plastic carts for boxes (the kids use them like skateboards, but they're not wearing helmets!). Am I disgusted? ABSOLUTELY! Do I have a choice about whether or not to leave my son there? NO! No reputable daycare offers after-school care because there is no money in it. So I am forced to leave my son where it is not safe (perhaps they should call it "Project Accident-Waiting-to-Happen", or "Project Safety Hazard"), and have to run out as soon as school is over to minimize the time he is in this unsafe environment, which means my work is not getting done. We've begun to leave the house at 6:00 am so we can pick up some of the pieces while he is still sleeping.
I am praying for some sort of solution to this nightmare. The school itself is great, but I am appalled that the only childcare option provided to working parents is so disgustingly unacceptable. Sometimes being a working mom just sucks.
4 comments:
College Lutheran has a pretty dang good preschool/after school thing.
oh how I feel your pain! been there, done that, it sucks!
Have you looked into neighbor moms that do home day care? There are several on our end, they walk the little group of kids to school in the morning, & walk back in the afternoon, and home day cares are only taking care of 6 kids at a time, much safer.
Please call project safe main office, they need to know what is going on over there!!
On a scary note, your situation is quite serious. I had a gf that picked up her kid from childcare with bruises, later that night she had to take her kid to the doc, long story short, cps took her girl away because of those very bruises!
Rachel-If only he were going to school over by College Lutheran. If we leave East County, he doesn't get services.
Margaret-I didn't think about THAT!! Wow. That's kind of crazy!
I've asked around but none of the neighbor moms do after-school care.
GOOD NEWS!! We found a wonderful Christian woman who does childcare to supplement her husband's income so she can homeschool her four kids. She'll be picking Caleb up tomorrow. YAY!!!!
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