Spying On Your Daycare Provider Is A Really Terrible Idea

A while ago, CBS MoneyWatch has put out on an article on How to Spy on Your DayCare Provider. Or, the more likely outcome, how to really piss them off. The whole premise is wrong because spying on your daycare provider is a lot less helpful than actually talking to your provider. Two of their tips are even less helpful. They suggest things that you don’t keep a consistent schedule and show up unannounced. Apparently, this is done to surprise your daycare and see what happens when they aren’t expecting you. In reality, this is the best way to have your daycare prodiver HATE you. It also makes the caregiver think that either, you don’t trust them (because you don’t). Or that you’re incredibly irresponsible, because you can’t stick to a damn schedule. 

I could tell you how rude and unfair it is to never keep a constant schedule, but I’m going to hope that your provider has told you that themselves, because they should. I will say that the best thing you can do is create an open and honest relationship with the person you are trusting to take care of your child. This is the only way to know that your child is happy and healthy while you’re off at work. 

Get used to the fact that you won’t always agree with your daycare. You don’t have to. People who run daycare centers take care of a lot of different children and sometimes they formed pretty strong beliefs about what works and what doesn’t. Normally, they’ve formed these opinions through observing a variety of families, parenting styles and discipline techniques. That doesn’t mean that their opinion is always right, but I don’t think that it should be dismissed either. Listen to their thoughts and try to explain yours as fully as you can. Basically, once again, communicate! Talk to them! In the end, I bet you both are just trying to do what’s best for the child and that should be something to come together on.

Sometimes your child will misbehave and the teacher will have to tell you about it. That doesn’t mean that you are a terrible parent and your child will soon drop of high school and get a criminal record. It means they had a bad day or they are developing a bad habit. The only way to correct that is for you and your caregiver to agree on a plan that you can implement together. Consistency is the best teacher a child can have. 

So talk to your daycare provider, then you shouldn’t need to spy on them.