Day Care or Bully School

 Good communities support good daycares, bad communities support bad daycares. The old saying “It takes a village to raise a child” applies to daycares more than ever. A daycare is more than just a place to store children. It is also a place where children learn. Whether children learn to be rude, disrespectful and bullies or learn to be kind, respectful and polite is based on what they see, NOT on what they are told.

 In Manitoba like many other locations, daycare spaces are in short supply. Because of this, many government officials responsible for their operation are willing to turn a blind eye to bad daycares and allow them to operate in a very poor and dangerous manner while pretending to care by making occasional visits. Running a daycare on a residential street is not a right, but a privilidge granted to those that can run one in a neighbor friendly and safe manner without effecting the neighborhood quality of life.

 In order to understand what a bad daycare looks like, it’s important to understand what a good one looks like.

 Good daycare

 A good reputation

 A good home daycare should have a welcoming, friendly atmosphere and be well known for its nurturing environment in the neighborhood. Asking the provider for names and numbers of current clients and call them for references doesn’t work, as the provider isn’t going to give you the names of unhappy clients.

Talking to the neighbors is a good idea and  should provide a positive response. Neighbors provide an excellent source of information on what goes on during the 8 to 10 hours when the parents are NOT there. Neighbors will be fully informed of whom the children are and who to contact in case of an emergency.

 Established ground rules

 It’s important for a home daycare to be flexible, letting you pick up and drop off your child at different times, but it should also have clearly established regulations for everything from operating hours to how to handle emergencies, contacts names of the police, fire department and neighbors etc. That way you know the provider takes her responsibility, your child seriously. If the provider doesn't boast an open-door policy and encourage parents to stop by unannounced, chances are she's got something to hide. A great caregiver will go beyond merely letting you in and invite you to become almost part of the "family" by helping with activities, coming along on field trips, and so on. They will usually be a community leader that invites all neighbors to visit and lets them become familiar with the operation.  The best daycares are invisible to the neighbors and community and are respectful of others rights.

 A stimulating curriculum

 The best home daycares have structured schedules that include plenty of time for physical activity, quiet time (including daily reading sessions for groups and individuals), group programs, individual activities, meals, snacks, and free time

 Children should also have the chance to play outside every day (weather-permitting, of course) running, jumping, and skipping are good for them physically, mentally, and socially. As with outings, make sure children are adequately supervised while they play outside. Children should never be allowed to play near a street or road and should be in a fenced in area at all times.  The play area will be well hidden from the public and neighbors view with high fencing or trees and shrubs to protect the neighbors from noise, garbage and to protect their privacy as well as providing the children protection from strangers and animals. If you live in a city, where many houses don't have safe outdoor play yards, make sure the home daycare has the next best thing, a spacious indoor area.

 Home daycare providers should genuinely enjoy being with children and love to help them learn and explore. Note how the provider interacts with the children. Providers should be responsible, enthusiastic, and well prepared. If you see her getting down to eye level to talk with children as individuals, consider that a promising sign.

 Caring Daycare provider

 Children should be told about the neighbors and the neighborhood and told that respecting others rights is just as important as having their own rights respected.  Children should be told that on their street, people have a right to privacy and shouldn’t have to deal with trespassing.  Informing parents and children that people on residential streets should not have to deal with increased traffic, noise, garbage or a reduced level of privacy and any parent or child that disrupts neighbors’ rights will not be welcome at their daycare.

 Safety in emergencies

 Daycare providers should be introducing the children to the neighbors so they are aware they are there and can react appropriately should they show up during an emergency. Daycare providers that do not communicate with their neighbors on a regular basis can cause a minor problem to turn tragic if the neighbor doesn’t know what to expect or how to react. Neighbors that are not informed of who should and who shouldn’t be there, wouldn’t know if that next strange car is another parent, or someone looking to abduct a child. In today’s era of pedophiles, child abductions, parental abductions and kidnapping, parents and daycare providers would be negligent not to communicate with neighbors who can be your best witness to strangers in the community and provide helpful information to authorities should something happen.

 Safety as a rule

 Daycares on residential streets pose a tremendous challenge when it comes to traffic. Homes on residential streets are not designed to handle the large volume of traffic a daycare can create. The number of vehicles that can arrive at a daycare can far exceed the capacity of the driveway and street and can become a major hazard. Throw in school bus traffic and you have an accident waiting to happen. A good daycare provider would never leave any vehicles parked in the driveway. They would provide parents with staggered pickup times to ensure no more than two ever arrive at the same time and make sure that the visit is short. A good provider will meet with the school bus transportation department and make sure that only children associated with the daycare are dropped off at the daycare to ensure the safety of neighboring children not going to the daycare are not exposed to backup dangers from departing parents.

 Imagine its midwinter and it’s snowing and visibility is poor, a neighbor’s child gets off the school bus in a daycare driveway. The school bus leaves, but has many cars behind it so the child waits until they clear. Unfortunately parents with their kids were also waiting. They see the last car pass and back out onto the street not realizing they just ran over the neighbor’s child. They didn’t see the child, because they weren’t watching for them and had snow covering their back window.

There are no official Canadian statistics on low-impact vehicle collisions that do not occur in traffic. However, the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program (CHIRPP) of Health Canada helps quantify the issue. CHIRPP tracks visits to emergency departments at 10 children's hospitals and five general hospitals across the country.

The CHIRPP database recorded 237 injuries in driveways from 1990 to 1998. Of these, close to half (110) were age four and younger. In more than half (125) of the total cases, the injured child was standing beside or behind the vehicle and the driver drove over the child. The highest number of driveway injuries were seen during the summer (39 per cent), with spring a close second (31 per cent).

Another CHIRPP report, based on 1996-98 data, found that one-quarter of those injured by vehicles backing up (28 out of 107) were aged two to four years. However, 62 per cent of the hospital admissions were under age five, indicating that more younger children suffered serious injuries.

Want to know how dangerous driveway accidents are click below

http://www.kidsandcars.org/

http://www.safety-council.org/info/traffic/backing.html

 Clear rules and guidelines

 Every good daycare will have established rules and guidelines that protect children both on and off the property. Protecting the neighbors from excessive noise, traffic nuisance behavior is not only a requirement for a good daycare, it is the law. Clear instructions will be passed to each parent informing them of the proper procedure for arrival and departures as well as telling them to respect their neighbor’s rights by not parking in front of their house or using their driveways.

 Since a good daycare is the result of good government, the local government will usually give the daycare provider a guide to follow to protect the neighbors and street from obnoxious behavior.

 Sample guideline 1 issued by a good government

Sample guideline 2 issued by a good government

 In addition to good guidelines, a good government will confirm all requirements in the form of a conditional use permit. This permit serves only one purpose. To protect the neighborhood from hazards, traffic and nuisance behavior associated with the business. If it doesn’t is useless.

 Sample conditional use from a good government

 Note: In Manitoba, Child and Family Services is required by law to protect all children including neighbor’s children from any hazard created by a daycare operation. As such, they would be reviewing the operation with neighbor’s and ensure all concerns are addressed in writing. It’s the law!

 Bad Daycares

 A so-so reputation

Don't hesitate to judge a daycare based on what you've heard from the neighbors. While other parents may have glowing things to say, remember, 90% of parents do not know what goes on at the daycare between the time they leave and the time they return to pickup and it is unlikely that a daycare provider would ever give you the name of an unhappy customer. On the other hand, many neighbors are there all day and can see first hand what actually goes on. If you're even the slightest bit reluctant to leave your child at a home daycare, you should probably pass.

Rules and regulations are important for any institution, whether it's the federal government or the home daycare next door. Providers without clearly established guidelines for everything from operating hours, arrival and departure times to how they handle emergencies with police, fire and neighbor’s help are likely to have other organizational problems as well.

Closed door policy

If you run into a closed-door policy, keep looking. Any caregiver who balks at having parents drop by unannounced is probably hiding something from you.

A substandard curriculum

Bad daycares will have no daily program or routine or offer one that is static and unchallenging. If children spend most of their time in swings, infant seats, or other "child holders," if the provider does not offer organized activities that change regularly, or if television and videos are a big part of the day's agenda, cross that daycare off your list. It's also a bad sign if the provider seems rigid, with an inflexible schedule that doesn't leave room for children to explore at their own pace.

Proper supervision

If a home daycare provider thinks it's reasonable for her to run to the mailbox or the corner store and leave any of the children in her care unattended at any time, you don't want her looking after your child. Daycare providers should never leave children unsupervised at any time. A daycare provider is asking for trouble if it is acceptable for children to play on the street and/or driveway during business hours, tragedies can occur in seconds and are avoidable.

Unsafe facilities

Skip home daycares with safety problems, too. Outdoor play area should be level and secure. Strangers should not be able to see your children or be able to just walk in off the street.  Children should never be visible from the street and should never be allowed to play in an unfenced area, if you see children playing in an unfenced area drive on.

Few rules or regulations

A bad daycare will have few rules and guidelines that protect children both on and off the property. Protecting the neighbors from excessive noise, traffic nuisance behavior is not covered and the law is ignored. No instructions are passed to parent informing them of the proper procedure for arrival and departures and parents may even be told to use the neighbor’s driveway and property as they may even be storing vehicles on their own driveway thus being totally disrespectful  their neighbor’s rights by not parking in front of their house or using their driveways.

 No guidelines is one thing, a bad government will ignore all requirements when issuing a conditional use permit. For a bad government, the permit serves only one purpose to list off the various licenses and permits needed and to collect the fees associated with them.. No protection for the neighborhood from hazards, traffic and nuisance behavior associated with the business would be listed.

 Sample conditional use from a bad government

 Note; Manitoba Child and Family services approved this document and never contacted the neighbors to discuss any concerns.