Wednesday, July 05, 2006

What does she really do in daycare?

Little g has been going to daycare consistently now for the last 6 weeks since my aunt and Alyssa went home to the Philippines. Since then, she has been sick three times already....ok, that's a separate story. g is finally getting into the daycare groove. She used to keep such an inconsistent schedule when my aunt was here that I think she never quite adjusted. Sometimes my aunt would prefer her to stay home and we would keep her home. Now g has been going 3 times a week for the last 6 weeks and she seems to have adjusted well. She used to cry and make a huge fuss even before we get into the door. The crying would escalate once we got inside the center and the only thing that calmed her down was giving her a huge bottle of milk. Nowadays although she doesn't bound towards the daycare with glee, she at least goes with no crying. She would sometimes whimper like she did today. I did find it interesting though that today when I dropped her off, the first thing she noted upon approaching daycare was "mahney" (aka Barney....yes, the purple dinosaur).

I will admit that it does bother me that Barney is her first association with daycare. It also doesn't help that the television is usually on when I drop her AND pick her up at night. I am hopeful that in the long interim hours that there are other activities. Now I am not one of those crazy moms that want their children to know the native language spoken by the Bantu tribe, but it would nice to think that she is doing more than watching cartoons. No matter how educational these shows are, by nature, TV is passive. I think g would benefit from more engagement in tasks rather than just watching things happen. I know that the chances of me changing how the daycare operates are fairly small. I do what I can at home, but she does spend the bulk of her time in daycare. Can I really stand not to do anything?

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