Daycare in Lagos particularly has probably become a necessity as we now have more working mothers compared with the time when I was of daycare age (I'm not revealing my age don't bother! lol) I doubt that there was anything like that in my time. These days, mothers need to spend long hours at work and are left with two choices; either leave your child at home with a relatively unknown child minder/house keeper or send the child to daycare where you expect that competent people are on hand to watch over them.
A few years ago, a friend of mine just got a new maid to care for her three year old and for no apparent reason, she didn't feel comfortable with the girl so she decided to install CCTV cameras in her flat. On the very first day
after the cameras were installed she was of course in a hurry to check out her new gadget so she got home after work and went straight to watch the footage. It initially was uneventful as her son was asleep most of the time. Just as she was about to switch off with a sigh of relief, the action began. Her son woke up and immediately the beating began! Without any provocation and for no apparent reason, this maid kept hitting her son even while she was feeding him. I was in shock just hearing the story let alone the mother who had just seen for herself. No prizes for guessing what the aftermath of that video screening was.
So ordinarily, the choice for me between home care and daycare would be obvious......until I received the video below.
http://video.ak.fbcdn.net/cfs-ak-prn1/v/611141/732/3581411693187_50747.mp4?oh=bdd244433511cbdfd853fadfaf3179e2&oe=50131100&__gda__=1343426816_cca9c4e3a44a6191626dacb7fe0dfdf3
I am generally of the opinion that a daycare will have enough trained professionals watching over the children in their care at all times but alas this doesn't always seem to be the case. A friend of mine went to pick up her daughter from daycare in Lagos recently and while waiting for the child to be brought out, she sat watching the CCTV footage in the establishment. To her astonishment, she saw her daughter climb on something (a table or a chair I cant quite remember now) and tumbled down with the table or chair falling on top of her. This happened without anyone noticing.
Another friend of mine in the UK was on her way to pick her son up from daycare when she came across him along with at least four other children (one in a push chair) walking on the road with a single minder. The minder was apparently left alone with all the kids and had to go and pick up another from school so she took them all on a long walk! This is in a country where there are strict regulations in place. I was at least thankful that she did not leave them alone and unattended in the house that was being used for the daycare. I have also heard of cases where a single spoon is used to feed all the children, food getting mixed up etc.
Going back to the video above, should it be normal practice to keep children of different age groups together? How many children should be assigned to one carer? Do we really have standards which operators have to follow? These institutions seem to be springing up with such speed that I am left constantly wondering.
Which way do we turn now? It feels to me, like being caught between a rock and a hard place. I am at a loss here, what is your take?
This is my area of expertise. I owned a childcare facility and I understand the dangers that children face. The different municapiliies strive with safety standards to make sure our children are well cared for but it's the owners of these establishments that need to implement the rules. We arent' caught between a rock and a hard place, we are caught between our choices in life... Do we all have to work, in some instances yes. However in many instances NO.
ReplyDeleteSo let me start answering your questions.
No it's not normal practice to keep children of all age groups together as they develop differentl. You should not keep infants with toddlers and you should not keep toddlers with preschoolers. There should be no more than 5 infants ( ages 6wks-24mths) with one caregiver. There should be no more than 10 toddlers (2-3) to one caregiver and no more than 15 preschoolers 4-6)to one caregiver.
And yes there are rules in every country except ours that should be followed. I doubt if the states in Nigerial understand that it's an epidemic.
The speed with which these facilities in Nigeria are spring up is very dangerous and unless attention is called to it there will be a continous issue.
ReplyDeleteTo emphasis again, we are not stuck between a rock and a hard place. We are stuck between our Material needs and our marternal needs. I had to make the choice to stay home with my kids, not an easy one, but a neccessary one, even with owning a childcare facility in the USA, my children were affected. I saw mothers drop their new born infants (6weeks old) at 6.30am and picked them up at 6.PM... you got to love these babies, they didnt attach to their moms, they attached to you,...... Isoken.. it's a peronal choice that we are making in Nigeria.
Lala
Thanks for the insight Lala. While i agree with you that it is a choice on the part of the mother (quite like everything else in life) shouldn't such a mother be entitled to quality service for the money money and trust she is handing over?
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