Dear Dr. Laura,
I am 29 years old, my future husband's girlfriend and my future kids' mom. I am holding out for the kind of man who you talk about on your show, and especially a man who will make sure I'm a SAHM.
This is a day care horror story I recently saw which makes me sick to my stomach. During the school year I am a school teacher, but during the summer I work for a city recreation department and we offer a free summer parks program for kids in elementary school. We have the kids for 4 hours and we do things like arts and crafts, sports, games, and sometimes field trips to the movies and the pool. Also, every day the kids get free lunch which is provided by the school district.
Three days ago, a big van dropped off 7 kids. The driver was a day care worker who was pawning off the kids in her facility on us. These kids were dropped off with us at 10:00 AM and who knows what time their parents dropped them off at the day care. They were all STARVING as the woman at the day care did not feed them breakfast. One girl even started crying standing in line for lunch because she was so hungry. She told me the woman made breakfast at the day care but ate it herself, and did not give any to the kids. And she is getting over $350/month per kid to watch and feed them. For 4 hours a day, she drops them off with us so she can have a break and still get paid for it. I am looking more into who she is so I can report her.
My mind is blown how a parent can pay this woman so much money only to have her starve their children and not even watch them. If the parents dropped them off with us instead of her it would be FREE FOR THEM! I have not seen her interact with the children as of yet, but the kids have relayed to me that she is very mean to them. I am not sure how I can reach the parents to tell them what is going on, but would they care? If the kids are old enough to tell us what is happening at the day care, they are old enough to also relay that information onto their parents. Why their parents have done nothing is beyond me.
Thank you for opening my eyes to the horror of day care. It is true when you say nobody can replace the love of a mother. I was rather young when I started listening to you and had never even thought about what I would do as a mother. Thankfully you made the decision unbelievably easy. My kids will never step foot into a day care as long as they live. You have changed my life, you have changed my future husband's life and you have changed my future 82 kids' lives.
From the bottom of our hearts we all thank you.
Jerilyn
