I joined the local Y so that I could drop off Nick to the daycare there, use the pool, and bring Nick swimming. Half of the value of the membership to me is that I can bring him to daycare there. I have used it twice. The system that they have is they give you a nametag for him and one for you. When you go to pick him up, they check the nametags. You sign in and sign out at a desk and go through a gate. The first time he slept the whole time. I was swimming and out of the pool every 10 minutes peering through the locker room into the infant daycare room. I picked him up, don't recall if they checked the nametags to match, I left. The second time, a worker was holding him, and I walked up and just took him from her, gathered his things and left. No one checked the nametags. I signed out, no one checked anything, and left. I haven't been back since. I feel like it is a horrible system and no one is checking and any psycho could go ahead and walk in and claim him.
Since then, I've dropped him off to my dad who works from home - but this is not fair, he is working, and unless Nick is asleep, he has to take a break out of his workday. I try not to do this.
The daycare at our old gym (our membership expires the end of next week) is iffy. First, we cancelled our old gym basically because it isn't as nice as the Y and there is no pool. So I can't take Nick swimming nor can I swim myself. I brought him there today to try it out and basically becasue I can't take him to the Y with any peace of mind. It seemed OK. A large foreign woman was the only one there, and she was in a rocking chair holding a little one maybe 6 months older than Nick. There were 3-4 other kids in there, mostly 2 and under. She was watching the View or some kind of trash TV, and at first glance I thought she was nursing the baby she was holding, but she wasn't, the baby was just all in her bosom. I was iffy, but I got on the closest elliptical to the door, and just kept curling my body back to check on him. He was asleep when at home around 9:30 but as soon as I got him out of the car, he was awake (10am). He sat in his carseat most of the time. At one point, during my every 2 minutes check on him game, the lady was looking at me and holding him. I looked back and she was pointing to his diaper. He pooped. I went in and changed him (hadn't left the bag with her) and put him back in his carseat. He was content. There were only 2 other little ones in there now. I finished my workout and picked him up. When I picked him up, she was holding him in the rocking chair, watching the View, and the other 2 kids were passed out in chairs next to her. Nick was happy. This will do for an hour at a time, but one worker per how many kids? I guess it doesn't matter. The gym is dirt cheap and it isn't that much time. Now the Y, do I cancel my membership there? Use my sister's membership who is living in DC? They don't have it together there at all, so I feel pretty confident they would never notice and I could still swim and take Nick swimming. I didn't do that in the first place because it is wrong. But the Y is expensive and the whole daycare thing not working out is not worth paying for. What do you think??
I love your new banner! Congrats on the race BTW!
ReplyDeleteThat is a tough call about the daycare when he is so little. At least when they are a bit older they can talk and know it is you that you are picking them up. I personally would raise holy heck at the Y and see if things change.
Ok...
ReplyDeleteBefore you go all canceling memberships, I would to complain to the daycare at the Y. They are a daycare and are supposed to 'look' after your kids while your at the gym. The system is crap and its terrible that they didnt even look at your id. Complain to the head person and explain your concerns. I would hope that even the biggest idiot would understand and come up with a better plan.
Then again if they arent paying attention to such a thing now, do you really want that irresponsible of a person watching your kid? hmmmmmmm
I'm such a f-r-e-a-k-o about that kind of stuff. I would also complain. I mean shiz, the people at Chuck E Cheese do a better job at checking IDs (or in CEC's case, hand stamps) than that joint from the sound of it.
ReplyDeleteHmm, what a tricky situation. I can't believe they don't check and let you just WALK out! Trust your gut on this one, and good luck.
ReplyDeleteDitto that you might want to try talking to the Y first. Go straight to the program director. The Y is a huge organization, so I guarantee they have strict policies in place already, it just doesn't sound like the employees are following them.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad that childcare isn't a valued profession here, so you're dealing directly with people who may adore kids (with any luck), but just don't get modern safety and business concerns (kinda like my mother-in-law ;).
Love the picture of Nick at the top of your site! Too cute.
ReplyDeleteThat's a touch call about the daycare. We are lucky in that the daycare at our gym is very vigilant. I have to show all kinds of ID to get Zach out of there. I agree with others, complain and see if you can get comfortable with the daycare. Having that daycare option will give you a tremendous amount of flexibility.
I would be scared to leave him at the Y but maybe they just remember whose kid is whose?? I would try talking to the people at the Y because they seem to have a good system but maybe things have gotten a little lazy and they need to be reminded about the rules of watching children!
ReplyDeleteI would seriously talk to the people at the Y about their policy. That's a big liability on their part if they let someone walk off with a baby that doesn't belong to them. Even if you don't stay there, you'd be helping out a bunch of families by bringing it to someone's attention how lax and lame their daycare policy is.
ReplyDeletecan't help on babysitting... other than to say is there another gym you can look in to?? Or can you talk to any of the other mom's there and see what their long term experience has been.
ReplyDeletelove the pic!!!!
I'm with everyone else. Don't quit your membership until you bring up the situation with management. That just shouldn't be happening!
ReplyDeleteLOVE the pic! TOO CUTE!
our Y is sort of the same, but the same people are there when i drop off and pick up andra. we sign in and out, but really there's no official checking of anything. i just talk to the ladies when i go in, and by now they know me. i guess maybe i should be more paranoid, but i'm not...??
ReplyDeleteThat sucks! My Y has amazing childcare. Sorry yours doesn't :(
ReplyDeleteI would mention something to the Y about the daycare and see what they say. Bottom line, you have to be able to leave Nick somewhere you feel comfortable and confident with.
ReplyDeleteAre there any other options you can explore?
I personally would talk to someone at the Y about what happened, regardless of if you stick w/ your membership or cancel. Something bad could happen to someone else's child. It's a really poor system if they aren't following it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone else here - bring up your concerns with the director(s) at the Y before leaving - at the very least if they don't listen you can say you did all you could before cancelling your membership. It's very possible that it's an employee and not the management who is at fault.
ReplyDeleteLove, love love the new blog pic!!
Honestly (and this isn't at all helpful!), I never felt entirely comfortable leaving my kiddos at the Y when they were that small. I just didn't think they got the attention they needed.
ReplyDeleteWe have to sign our kids in/out at the Y, but I admit that the security doesn't seem very tight. Now, in my case, my kids are 3 and 5, so I don't worry. I know they would never leave with someone who wasn't me, plus we are regulars, so the child care people definitely know they belong with me.
Definitely talk to the director because I KNOW they have policies in place, but sometimes the workers they get are just lazy, plain and simple. My girls only like ONE of the people who staff the place, but I worry less because they're old enough not to need much one-on-one for the hour and usually play with other kids instead.
Good luck!