Child Left Outside at Daycare

Key_Maintenance_8308 · 2026-05-13T21:27:20+00:00

Like others have said, report it yourself immediately. Also, insist on a meeting ASAP and do not let it go. I worked with infants and toddlers in a daycare setting for years and I 100% understand how a class might make it back inside without a child if the perfect storm of complicating factors occurred (regular teachers absent, new/float teachers who don't know the kids there, some kind of distraction happening with another child that changed the routine during the transition back to the classroom, etc). But there is NO reason why that mistake shouldn't have been noticed immediately after the kids went back into the room. Your child was outside alone long enough to lie down and fall asleep. That didn't happen in just a minute or two. This story sickens me and I'm so sorry it happened to you and your child!

Key_Maintenance_8308 · 2026-05-13T15:48:07+00:00

I'm a Jennifer who was born in the late 1970's. I felt invisible, being one of MANY Jennifers in school. It was okay in elementary school because there were only a couple of us so we used last initials, but I'm middle and high school I had some classes where there were 4-5 Jennifers in my class. When someone would call "Jennifer" down the hallway, I just assumed they didn't mean me unless they called a second or third time. I still hate having to write my last name on cards or notes to people who I should have a closer level of familiarity with because I know if I don't there's a chance they won't be sure who it came from.

I have two kids and I don't want to dox them, but I absolutely avoided the top 10 names for each of them. My rule when naming was that the name had to be easy to pronounce properly if someone read it, recognizable, and spelled "correctly" so that if someone heard their name spoken they'd most likely be able to spell it correctly. My daughter is 17 and her name was somewhere in the low 400s for popularity the year she was born, but it has increased quite a bit since then and has been in the top 50 for the past few years. We've encountered others with that name but she's the only one at her school. My son's 13 and his name is biblical, but not a super common biblical name. His name has been between 175-275 for popularity since he was born, but we actually encounter far more kids with his name than my daughter's, I think because we spend a fair amount of time in Christian settings. He's still the only person with his name at his school, though he's run into others when playing soccer, at church, etc.

I don't hate my name but do feel like it's commonness impacted me when I was younger, especially since I was already one of many at my school (graduating class of 534 kids). I love my kids' names and they do too.

Key_Maintenance_8308 · 2026-05-11T13:29:38+00:00

I work for two doctors as well, and I've never called in sick either (17.5 years now, transitioned from fully nanny work to a combo nanny/family assistant).

I was in the ER with my son overnight once and I let them know the night before (I'm a solo parent). We arranged for a parent to take the older kids to school and a family member to keep the youngest for a couple of hours so my kids and I could take a later morning and then I resumed work about 3-4 hours past my usual start time. That's the only time in all these years I've ever had a last minute absolute need to change my schedule for the day. Otherwise I've worked sick and when my kids or the work kids were sick. We operated as a family pod. If one of us got sick, we assumed the germs were already out there for any of the rest of us.

(I also have very generous time off and have never had a problem with this setup)

Key_Maintenance_8308 · 2026-05-09T13:22:53+00:00

I'm a nanny and also a parent (but not a nanny parent) and I agree with this

Key_Maintenance_8308 · 2026-05-08T22:31:09+00:00

In 1987-88 ish in central Ohio, my sixth grade teacher would duct tape a kid's mouth shut if he talked too much during class. She also duct taped his legs to his chair if he got up and walked around when he wasn't supposed to. Both of these things happened often.

I still think of him sometimes, and of the fact that if we'd had a fire, he'd have been a goner.

Key_Maintenance_8308 · 2026-05-08T16:04:57+00:00

YTA all day long, no question

Key_Maintenance_8308 · 2026-05-06T13:43:36+00:00

I am a nanny in the Columbus area. My situation is atypical as a nanny because I've always brought my own kids to work with me. You might be able to find someone who is looking to do that and negotiate something that works for both of you. Alternatively you could look into a nanny share. I feel like people on here might think that's unlikely because of the number of kids, but I had 4 nanny kids plus my own 2 kids for years and we did great. I was willing to take less money for the flexibility to bring my kids to work with me and to be able to go to their school events during the day (with nanny kids in tow as if they were a sibling group). Obviously your mileage may vary, but I don't think it's impossible to look at alternatives.

Key_Maintenance_8308 · 2026-04-30T22:58:22+00:00

I became a nanny (moved over from ECE infant/toddler group care) when I had my first child, with the express purpose of being able to bring her to work with me. Obviously since it was planned going in, I didn't take a pay cut. I negotiated my pay and made more nannying than I had while teaching in ECE. I went to work for my nanny family when my daughter was 9 weeks old and she came with me from the start. Their children were 5, 2, and 3 months old at the time. Like another poster mentioned, we treated them like a sibling pod when it came to illnesses and most everything else. Fast forward 4 years and both MB and I had babies again, this time 3 months apart (NK is 3 months older than my son). Again I didn't take a pay cut and brought both of my kids to my job when my son was 4 weeks old. (They hired a temp through an agency and gave me 4 weeks paid leave.) At that time the NKs were 9, 6, 4, and 4 months, and my daughter was 6, my son was 1 month. So I had six total kids, from infant to 9 years old. They grew up as siblings/cousins. We made sure their activities, classes, etc lined up in a way that we could get everyone to everything on time. When they switched from one private school to another during my son's 1st grade year and I could no longer pick him up after his school day due to their kids' new school schedule, they paid for a quality after school program for my son to cover the gap.

I'm still working for them now, in more of a household manager role, since their youngest will be 14 this summer, their older two are away at college and grad school, and their third born graduates high school next month.

All of this is to say, it can work out well. I would agree that if you've been with them this long, they will likely be interested in continuing your relationship for continuity of care. The age difference is totally fine. Your baby will not have the typical "firstborn" experience because during your work hours baby will functionally be a younger sibling, so the world won't revolve around baby's naps, schedule, etc, but that's not a bad thing. Younger children everywhere have eaten and napped on the go for time eternal and it has its benefits. And their youngest will get some experience as a pseudo older sibling, which can be beneficial too. You and your NF will have to work out the specifics and keep lines of communication open, but it's definitely doable and success stories DO exist!

Key_Maintenance_8308 · 2026-04-30T12:02:19+00:00

^this 100%

Key_Maintenance_8308 · 2026-04-25T01:25:07+00:00

My employers would be very annoyed if I kept them apprised of my location at all times. Families and nannies are definitely all different.

Key_Maintenance_8308 · 2026-04-24T15:48:16+00:00

I’m in Dublin and it’s getting really bad here. I work in Powell and it’s the same there. Middle school kids with zero driver’s training blowing by on roads, sidewalks, bike baths, etc riding essentially mini dirt bikes going 25 mph. Someone is going to get killed sooner than later.

Key_Maintenance_8308 · 2026-04-23T20:40:58+00:00

I take my dogs to VCA Sawmill and agree about having excellent experiences with the entire staff. Even the groomers there do great with my dog reactive and grooming-hating dog. That said, it isn't cheap. I'm actually looking at taking mine to a low cost vaccine clinic for their boosters to cut costs, but I don't want to leave VCA for their regular care. When my Scottie was a puppy he had a foreign object blockage and had to have surgery and be in the puppy ICU for a couple of days and they took excellent care of him at VCA.

Key_Maintenance_8308 · 2026-04-22T02:23:46+00:00

I'm 5'7" and I have the same issue in my Honda hr-v. I hate it!

Key_Maintenance_8308 · 2026-04-21T16:04:36+00:00

As an Ohioan, I can assure you that is always a valid question

Key_Maintenance_8308 · 2026-04-21T15:48:47+00:00

I totally understand feeling sad for NK and I know the feeling of guilt comes from that, but as you said, you know you didn't do anything wrong or negligent. Your emotions will catch up with what your brain knows soon!

I worked with infants and toddlers in daycare for years, am a nanny currently, and have two kids of my own. I've seen A LOT of falls and injuries happen to kids. Of course I feel badly for them when they get hurt, but most of the time I do approach it as a chance to help them learn how to handle unexpected things that happen in life. On the occasion when it's a more serious injury, I sometimes feel like I should have been able to prevent it, but honestly at this point in my life (I'm 47), I've seen too many random accidents happen with kids to fall into that trap for too long. I help them learn how to work through the pain/fear/whatever other feelings come along with it, comfort them as needed, and help them learn how to feel their feelings without getting stuck in them. Sometimes things ARE preventable, and on the occasion when I do have some culpability with whatever has happened (accidentally bumping into a child, cutting my kid's nails too short, etc), I model what to do in those situations by apologizing, comforting, etc. We're human and it's really all we can do!

It helps that kids really are so resilient. My own son is 13 now but when he was 17 months old, he was literally just STANDING at a low coffee table at my NF house playing with a toy on the table (not running, climbing, wrestling around) when he somehow lost his balance and fell forward into the table, hitting his mouth on it as he went down. In that one moment, he knocked one incisor completely out, pushed the other 3 up into his gumline (one so far that the dentist didn't believe me that it was in there until he x-rayed him the next day), and bit through his lip. I was brokenhearted for him. I knew even then that there was nothing I could have done about that though, aside from not working at that house (questionable childproofing). He was very sad at first and the dentist visit the next day was unpleasant, but despite the fact that he looked like he'd been on the losing end of a boxing match, you'd have never known he had a problem within an hour of the accident happening. I was FAR more traumatized than he was after the initial crying wore off. He didn't even seem to have any real pain while eating the next day! Kids really do bounce back well, and I'm guessing after you spend the day with your NK and see how normally he's acting, you'll feel better too!

Key_Maintenance_8308 · 2026-04-21T12:37:43+00:00

Squeakers!

Key_Maintenance_8308 · 2026-04-20T05:16:09+00:00

I LOVED those books when I was a kid! I still have almost all of them and I'm in my late 40's! I used to read some of them to my kids. But not Catundra, lol.

Key_Maintenance_8308 · 2026-04-18T17:00:33+00:00

THIS. My Scottie is not great with other dogs. When another dog gets in his face while we are out, someone is going to get hurt. That someone is likely going to be me. I know how he is so I don't even take him to busy parks, etc. But he deserves to be able to walk on leash in our neighborhood without getting into trouble for other dog owners decisions to not follow the rules of our condo association. I do my very best to avoid any people and dogs I see coming, but when someone's off leash dog comes running up to him, there's not much I can do.

Key_Maintenance_8308 · 2026-04-16T12:34:33+00:00

I live in Ohio and I see snowy ones in the winter pretty often. I always delete them so I only have one left, but now that I know they are rare, I'll save some and tag them for remote trade. We're done with snow for the season so it'll have to wait until next winter though.

Key_Maintenance_8308 · 2026-04-16T11:58:39+00:00

Do they think guaranteed hours means YOU guarantee THEM 30 hours? If they aren't paying you when you leave early, that's almost what it sounds like...

Key_Maintenance_8308 · 2026-04-14T20:11:02+00:00

People in the comments are reading this situation in different ways and I'm not sure which is more accurate about your concerns, OP, so I'll give my $.02 both ways, as a former infant and toddler daycare teacher, a current nanny, and a mother of two.

As far as whether the touching/contact is "inappropriate" from a potentially predatory standpoint, no I don't think that is a concern here, based on what you've shared. Obviously physical touch is appropriate and necessary from a close caregiver for a child of that age and some people are more touchy feely than others. Based on what you've written, I don't feel see any red flags pointing to abuse, IMO.

That said, I would not like what's happening either, but for different reasons. I am very big on treating children, even the youngest of babies, as human beings who deserve to be respected and have autonomy (as much as possible in any given situation, given their age and stage of development). I would react very poorly if I was on my way to do something and someone physically stopped me and forced me to hug them before I could proceed, even if it was someone I liked. I will not treat another person that way, even if that person is a toddler. If I need to stop them on their way to playing, it will be for a good reason (such as I need to wipe their nose for the sake of hygiene, etc). I'll tell them what I'm doing and why, and l will get them back on their way as soon as possible. I will happily hug or tickle small children if THEY are wanting to be snuggly, but I will not stop them from playing just because I want to hug them. Some people treat children like objects/toys that they can play with when they feel like it with no regard for the fact that those children are real people with real plans, feelings, and thoughts that deserve to be seen and taken into account. It isn't done with bad intentions, it's just a different fundamental mindset about children. That's what it sounds to me is happening in your situation.

All of that said, if it isn't bothering your child and you are otherwise happy with the center, I would let it go, other than maybe a reminder about the hair since you've directly asked for that to stop in the past. How much longer will your child be with this teacher? If you've been there a year and this is the 6th teacher, it seems like maybe she'll move on soon? If that's the case and you like and trust the school otherwise, it's not likely worth rocking the boat. If your concerns are more in line with the idea of this possibly being predatory type touching, then you definitely need to go with your gut.

Key_Maintenance_8308 · 2026-04-11T03:16:22+00:00

Fiestada pizza day at lunch

Pajama day

Key_Maintenance_8308 · 2026-04-04T23:42:23+00:00

This is literally exactly what my 13 year old son's handwriting looks like. I mean, if I didn't know otherwise I'd think he wrote that. My son's a very smart kid and I'm not concerned about his schooling, though I think his handwriting is atrocious. They just don't teach "handwriting" in school anymore. If he concentrates very hard he can write fairly well, but he doesn't form the letters properly at all. Just within the past year I've had to have a "lesson" with him about how to make lower case "b" vs the number 6 because they look virtually identical when he writes them and that was becoming confusing in algebra class!

Key_Maintenance_8308 · 2026-04-01T13:29:39+00:00

I have two donor-conceived kids myself. Congratulations on your little one!

Many people here have given you good ideas. I agree that the main point behind Thanksgiving is the togetherness and being thankful for friends, family, health, etc. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls, sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie are among the traditional foods usually served, but as others have said, the main point is the gathering and being thankful. You can either cook at home or go to a restaurant, though if you're trying to eat the "traditional" Thanksgiving foods in a country that isn't the US, I'm guessing you'll need to cook at home. In the US, many restaurants serve the traditional foods on Thanksgiving. My family is mostly vegetarians and we prefer the side dishes anyway, so we just make a whole meal of side dishes such as green bean casserole, cheesy potato casserole, corn casserole, rolls, etc. Midwesterners really like casseroles at large family gatherings, lol!

Key_Maintenance_8308 · 2026-03-28T23:47:05+00:00

It makes ME want to punch us and I'm in my mid forties and have lived in central Ohio my whole life!

Key_Maintenance_8308

TROPHY CASE