Bump in the Road

With just over 2 months until I return to work we hit a slight unexpected bump in the road. There are days when I think the rest of the world didn't get my 'I'm trying to be more positive in 2011' memo.

Yesterday morning I was working away at my part-time work assignment when the phone rang and our awesome sitter was on the phone...which was quite odd considering that Alex wouldn't have been due to arrive there until 3:30 so he couldn't have possibly done anything to get himself in trouble yet in the day ;) I could tell she was very upset, so I my mind started racing to a pet death or something I'd have to talk to Alex about later but it wasn't.

One thing that is very important to me, if I'm going to be using my education and working, is that my children be raised in an environment that's very 'home' based. While I know regulation of child care is in the best interest of safety for children, I cringe at the site of cubbies, schedules and charting for infants/preschoolers and that's lumped in with regulation in this province. I'm no hippie parent but that atmosphere makes me feel like my children are numbers and lab rats. They get enough of that when they hit the school system, and for all of this pressure to 'grow up faster' I don't see any wowing results.

So what happened? One very vindictive resident of our childcare provider's subdivision decided to call the province to have our childcare investigated. If this individual honestly had the best interest of children at heart the two other unlicensed daycares would have also been investigated. To make a long story short, the four afterschool kids have to go immediately, which includes my son. Apparently the brief 30 minute lay over my son has there still counts as a number. Now with some maternity leave, and some juggling there isn't a long period of time before he's able to come home on his own. But seriously, the regulations do not take into account the number of adults on the premises, let alone Red Cross certified babysitters. The ratio of Adults and sitters to kids was 4:7 (4 of which being short term afterschoolers) where else am I going to find that kind of ratio?

What about Lily? She'll still start in April thank goodness, I couldn't imagine anyone else taking care of my little carrot. Ironically Alex will more than likely be going to a friend's home which will have more kids than his original arrangement. One of the babies that would have been coming will not be able to which is quite sad. Those kids have all grown up like one big family :/

Needless to say we'll survive but my heart absolutely breaks for Tracy, she's had some of those kids, since they were infants. It's one thing when one kid grows out of daycare or moves away but to take away 4 of them at once cannot be easy. Let alone what this does to her own families income. Some people are so cruel. Especially where her kids are never off the premises and are escorted from the bus stop. I've almost run over (and anyone that drives with me knows how slow I go) kids from the other daycare who are darting on the road without an adult in sight. Sigh.

Ridiculous Fact: In the province of New Brunswick, if you have twins or two children under the age of 24 months and happen to be getting help from your family (including your parents) and if you happen to have any other children, they are technically violating the Child care act and have too many children. Eventhough in most cases your parents are retired and both of them are on the premises...meanwhile if you quit your job to be a stay at home mom, you're on your own with three or more, and that's ok.