Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

The Unlicensed Daycare, or, This Won't End Well

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • The Unlicensed Daycare, or, This Won't End Well

    There's a lady in my neighborhood who lives about a block away. Starting fairly early in the morning, you can hear the blood-curdling screams of children playing in her yard. (I'm not sure what it is with little girls and that blood-curdling scream. I wouldn't make a sound like that unless I'd discovered a body.)

    It doesn't take much investigation to uncover the fact that the woman is operating as an unlicensed daycare. The kids only show up in summer, when school's out. She has no kids of her own, but her lawn is a riot of big plastic outdoor toys. I've walked past and seen as many as thirty kids playing on her lawn, while she sits with swollen ankles in a cheap lawn chair and chain smokes. She's about seventy years old.

    There are a number of reasons why this is an extremely bad idea. For one thing, there are about six lease violations visible just driving past. You can't run that kind of a service business out of these apartments, or junk up your lawn with toys. That's not counting the state rules regarding what qualifies as a "daycare" and the variety of different ways she's in violation.

    So, you think to yourself, it's just a little old lady trying to make extra money and a bunch of parents who either couldn't afford a proper situation or couldn't find a slot. Except that the woman has no control over these kids whatsoever. Their hellraising in the yard spills over into the street, which is littered with scooters, bicycles, and pedal cars. The children glare silently at you like the Children of the Corn if you should dare approach in a motor vehicle. They're not playing in the street, you're driving through their playground. It's a miracle no one's gotten hit. I saw one little boy who, on the approach of a car, leaped out of his pedal car and ran back to the yard - leaving the pedal car in the middle of the road. Twilight comes, and these kids are still whooping it up in the road, only now they're practically invisible.

    I doubt the parents know that they're sending their children off to Lord of the Flies Preschool when they head off to work, but I'm not sure what would change if they did. What happens if this woman is suddenly no longer able to watch their kids? If a better situation was available, they'd be in it.

    Or maybe not. About a mile away is a large, licensed, bonded daycare center called Krayon Kollege. That "New applicants welcome!" sign has been in the window for as long as I can remember.

  • #2
    Hmm... calls to Child Protective Services, city level police non emergency number, state health board, and, if needed local media services would seem to be in order here. It's possible to make all those reports anonymously, if you don't want to get directly involved.
    You're only delaying the inevitable, you run at your own expense. The repo man gets paid to chase you. ~Argabarga

    Comment


    • #3
      Yikes! Those poor kids And what happens when this 70 something woman has a heart attack or falls and breaks a leg or .... just ups and dies?

      Comment


      • #4
        Time to call in Johnny Law, before someone, anyone, gets hurt in any way. It's people like her, good intentions or not, that LED to things like daycare laws being PASSED ya know.
        - They say nothing good happens at 2AM, they're right, I happen at 2AM.

        Comment


        • #5
          Anyone want to bet Lord of the Flies Daycare is one hell of a lot cheaper than a licensed, regulated facility?

          In this case cheaper is _NOT_ better!

          Comment


          • #6
            Quoth Ben_Who View Post
            Lord of the Flies Preschool
            That's gold right there!

            Seriously, I agree w/ the upstream posts - ya gotta narc her out for those kids' sake, and for the sake of whatever poor motorist who would be traumatized should they hit one.

            Comment


            • #7
              As someone who WORKS in childcare, I can say explicitly, CALL THEM. NOW.

              There's a whole nest of issues, including ratio among others. So please, for the kids sake, CALL THEM.
              The best professors are mad scientists! -Zoom

              Now queen of USSR-Land...

              Comment


              • #8
                Quoth eltf177 View Post
                Anyone want to bet Lord of the Flies Daycare is one hell of a lot cheaper than a licensed, regulated facility?
                Very likely. An excellent example of getting what you pay for.

                I'm with the others here: Blow the whistle, anonymously if at all possible, before one of the kids gets hit.
                I'm trying to see things from your point of view, but I can't get my head that far up my keister!

                Who is John Galt?
                -Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

                Comment


                • #9
                  Quoth taxguykarl View Post
                  Very likely. An excellent example of getting what you pay for.

                  I'm with the others here: Blow the whistle, anonymously if at all possible, before one of the kids gets hit/sick/lost/sold.
                  Fixed that for ya...

                  Agreed, this place needs to be shut down and pronto!

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    LOL

                    First let me say that I agree she should be shut down if for no other reason than she is letting the kids play in the street.

                    This made me laugh though because I remember when we first moved to Kansas, a bitter bitter struggle on craiglist between the registered daycare providers and the non registered. Lots of cop calling and videoing and all kinds of crazy drama. It was hilarious.

                    And just so you know just cause you pay for REGISTERED day care does not always make it better. We had a state licensed, run by the hospital and endorsed by the hospital, across the street from the hospital day care that was perceived to be the best daycare in town. And then we found out the providers were tie ing the kids down to chairs with towels and socks. They were throwing blankets over the kids and sitting on them and stuffing kids under the sink to bring them under control. I wish I were kidding. I only know cause A it was OUR daycare. B our son was one of their throw a blanket and have four people sit on him til he calmed down kids C it was all caught on video. We paid 150 a week per kid for that.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Quoth sms001 View Post
                      That's gold right there!
                      No, that's gold-ING!

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Quoth Lachrymose View Post
                        No, that's gold-ING!
                        Ka-Ching, Ka-Ching.
                        I am not an a**hole. I am a hemorrhoid. I irritate a**holes!
                        Procrastination: Forward planning to insure there is something to do tomorrow.
                        Derails threads faster than a pocket nuke.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Quoth cleorose View Post
                          And just so you know just cause you pay for REGISTERED day care does not always make it better. We had a state licensed, run by the hospital and endorsed by the hospital, across the street from the hospital day care that was perceived to be the best daycare in town. And then we found out the providers were tie ing the kids down to chairs with towels and socks. They were throwing blankets over the kids and sitting on them and stuffing kids under the sink to bring them under control. I wish I were kidding. I only know cause A it was OUR daycare. B our son was one of their throw a blanket and have four people sit on him til he calmed down kids C it was all caught on video. We paid 150 a week per kid for that.
                          You're right in that registered doesn't always mean better, although running a family daycare still has its own restrictions. This is why word-of-mouth can sometimes be a good thing.

                          There have been quite a few cases over here of late involving childcare workers doing god-knows-what to the kids and in one case, the company actually lost their contract with the school over it.
                          The best professors are mad scientists! -Zoom

                          Now queen of USSR-Land...

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            One problem is that the kids in this neighborhood are bedeviled by a worrying lack of sense when it comes to playing in the fucking street. Children who stand in front of my car clutching a basketball and stare at me in utter confusion, or ride their bikes straight at my hood, are not limited to this one yard. The speed limit is only 20, so it's not like there isn't plenty of time to stop, but this has happened a few times:

                            Kid is playing in the road. Mother is nattering away with the neighbor in the yard. I pull my car up, stop, and wait for the kid to get out of the way. Kid stares at me like I'm a Dalek.

                            Mother: "Murray!"
                            Kid: (stares)
                            Mother: "MURRAY!"
                            Kid: (stares)
                            Mother: "MURRAY GODDAMMIT!"
                            Kid: (stares)

                            Mother finally rousts herself from her seat, marches into the road, grabs Little Murray by one arm, and DRAGS him or her out of the road. And the kid never takes his/her eyes off me THE ENTIRE TIME. He/she remains exclusively focused on my car until I drive past. I don't know what the fascination is or why it seems to be universal, but it is VERY strange. And these aren't toddlers, either; I'd wager that little girl who lives down the street and keeps chasing her ball into the road is like eight or nine.

                            As far as the Lord of the Flies Preschool goes...well, I have a feeling she gets narc'ed out every once in a while. When I posted the OP, I was thinking of the festive atmosphere surrounding the area on Friday; had I brought it up today, I would have looked like a lunatic, since the lawn was clean and empty and there wasn't a child to be seen within a block of the place. Whenever this happens, I find myself hoping that someone brought the hammer down.

                            Or maybe it's not an unlicensed daycare at all, and they're all her grandchildren. Either way, it's an old lady chainsmoking in a chair, watching far more children than she can handle on her own, letting the kids run riot.

                            I wish I had a better relationship with my neighbors. Gossip's worth its weight in gold.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Do these kids have pure black eyes? ....
                              The Copyright Monster has made me tell you that my avatar is courtesy of the wonderful Alice XZ.And you don't want to annoy the Copyright Monster.

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X