Why You Should NEVER Put Your Kids In Daycare

Do not ever put your young child in daycare. Ever.

While most daycares may paint a pretty picture, and may seem like a serene place where your child will laugh and play all day, taught by people who really care, this is never the case. Daycares are a deceitful place designed to drain wallets dry, while showing no interest in the welfare of the children. I know this because I work in the childcare field.

At first, I believed that working with children would be a delightful experience, and in many ways it has been. Once you gain their trust they become these little humans that rely on you for everything: food, care, comfort, hugs and kisses, tickles, smiles and if you’re lucky, hearty laughter. But many times the good is overshadowed by the true corrupt nature of these horrible companies. They are like factories; many of them chains that are privately owned by people who are just looking to buy a new BMW rather than enrich the lives of the children they care for. Parents shell out as much as $2,800.00 a month believing that their child is receiving the best care possible, while their child is pretty much better off eating feces out of a garbage can.

Most of these places entice with their bright colors, bubbly staff (usually staff of women), and promises of an early education. It is all a farce. The bubbly staff will very quickly turn mean the second that you walk out of the door. Literally. The. Second. Screaming in your child’s face, humiliating your child, sometimes hitting your child, and showing absolutely no concern if your child hurts themselves. Believe me. I see it every day, and I’ve seen it in more than one place. It is not specific to a certain center itself. It is running like a disease in all of them. These women (and in rare cases men) are usually horrifically underpaid to spend eight hours a day caring for your children. It is not an easy job, and more often than not they take out their frustrations on the children they’re being underpaid to protect.

You will pay a large sum for the promise of nutritious meals, when really you’re paying for the equivalence of a TV dinner three times a day. On many occasions I have seen my coworkers pick food up off the floor, and put it back into a child’s plate. Many of us are basically just trying to kill time to get through the day without driving our heads through a wall. All of these places offer the cloak of comfort by having cameras all over the room. This means nothing. Let me make that very clear: it means nothing. They decide what they want to see on those cameras, and many of the workers are well aware of that.

Many, if not most of these workers are uneducated in childcare, and are extremely good actors and actresses at pretending otherwise. In my first horrific daycare experience, I witnessed the teacher that I was hired to assist literally torture our tiny students. She targeted two students in particular, both sixteen months old at the time. She would pinch their cheeks so hard; she would leave welts on their faces. Their cries of pain would only seem to delight her, and she would pinch harder and longer. She would encourage the children to fight one another, many times leaving one child’s face bleeding with scratches. When I asked her why she was doing this, her response was simple, “how else do you think I’m going to get my rocks off?” I ended up reporting her to my superiors, and was terminated the following day. I thought surely this was some freak incident. It turns out, it wasn’t. This chain of daycares is under investigation in seven different states for hiding abuse allegations. It is an epidemic.

I started working at their competition shortly after, desperately hoping for the wonderful experience I was searching for. I’m still waiting for it.

The beautiful facility, and friendly faces fooled me, but I quickly learned that there wasn’t much difference. They throw children around in different classes that are not in their age group to keep from hiring new teachers. They are constantly lying to the unsuspecting parents as to what goes on in the classrooms every day, and if you refuse to be their puppet and keep up with the masquerade, they rid of you. Law requires anybody who works with children, to report any signs of maltreatment or neglect to the state; they never do. The promise of money in the pocket is too enticing for them. You can almost see them salivating every time a family comes in for a tour. I have seen parents come to pick up their children visibly intoxicated, and they turn a blind eye, but then put on a horrified face, or make a sick joke about it. By law if a parents comes in to pick up their child, and they are visibly intoxicated, we are immediately supposed to call the police. They never do. They allow these children to go home every day with their intoxicated parents, and risk their lives; all for the promise of a paycheck.

If you put your child in daycare expect that you are being lied to constantly, because chances are, you are being lied to.

I have seen it time and time again. My superior has lied in front of my face to parents about the way their child was injured, how their child did that day, or even how many times a diaper was changed, and I have been forced to stand there and smile awkwardly, all the while feeling dead inside. I took this job in the first place so that I could help these children, and there is no room for that here. They do not want to help the children. They don’t care about the children. They care about keeping up appearances and creating an empire for themselves. These places are also highly unsanitary. There are cockroaches all over these places that somehow always go into hiding when a parent walks in the door.

I know that in this economy it is now necessary for both parents to work, but please, I beg of you, do some serious research. DO NOT go by the testimonials on the website, or reviews on google, because many of these were written by parents who fall for the lies every single day. Dig deep. That is the only way that you will find out the truth about these companies, and the truth is hiding in plain sight. Do not be fooled by the friendly faces. They are there to entice you, and to make you feel comfortable. Once they have gained your trust, they will lie through their teeth to get your money. It is a disgusting line of work to be in. If this article can change the mind of just one parent, then I am ok with that. We cannot keep letting these companies get away with endangering our precious little ones all for a profit.