Main Page Blog Getting Pregnant Articles Pregnancy Articles Parenting Articles TLOL Article Directory Chinese Gender Chart Pregnancy and Parenting Journals	Hello, My Name is... by Jennifer McCormick About a month ago, I arrived to pick my son up at his day care after I finished work. Imagine my surprise to find him running around with his two-year-old classmates, all wearing a piece of masking tape on their backs with their names written in black magic marker. I asked the "teacher," a young girl I had not yet had the pleasure of meeting, why my son had his name taped to his back. She answered, quite resourcefully, I might add, that since she was new and didn't know the children's names, she had taped their names on their backs. Why not their front, you ask? Well, that was to prevent the kids from pulling their name tags off. I suppose she didn't think that another child might pull the tag from someone's back... And so goes the story of parents who struggle with their day care facilities and hope that despite the outward appearance, their children are receiving quality care. I have often felt like attaching a "Hello, My Name is Tyler!" tag to my son each morning after so many confused new workers didn't know me or didn't know who my son was. It's a scary feeling to call your childcare provider and ask the teacher how your child is to be told they are not sure which one he is. On the other hand, other times I call to check in and when I ask the teacher how he is, I'm told, "He's fine." That's it. No elaboration, no details. Well, I should hope he's fine. If he wasn't, I expect I would have already heard from them. Instead, I have to play dentist and pull teeth to get a few details about my son's day. Did he eat? Did he sleep? Is he happy, cranky, behaving himself, etc, etc. But apparently, those details are only provided to the persistent parent who has the time and inclination to put the teacher through an inquisition on a daily basis. The real detailed information is provided to the parent on the daily "potty sheet." At my son's day care, we are given a sheet each afternoon that the teacher is supposed to complete showing potty/diapering activity, sleeping, moods and the amount of lunch each child ate. Some days my son comes home with a potty sheet that is not filled out completely. On the other extreme, I once found a teacher filling the sheets out at the beginning of the day. Somehow her powers of ESP helped her tune into each child and assess how and when they would eat, sleep and go potty for the subsequent eight or nine hours. Then there are the days when my son's potty sheet mysteriously disappears. Once it was picked out of the garbage by the center's director the following day (so sorry about the stains!). On another occasion it was not found, but I was assured that the next day the five different teachers who had been in the room that day would rack their brains and recreate my son's sheet, providing me with an accurate replication. I guess I'm just lucky they can keep track of my son, since keeping tabs on a piece of paper is obviously a real challenge. I'm sure that somewhere out there, a place exists that children receive adequate care by qualified people. Someplace where everyone knows their name...Okay maybe not. Or maybe the only place this is possible is at home. One can always dream... Jennifer McCormick works full-time outside the home while trying to maintain her sanity and do the best job possible as full-time wife and mother. Luckily, she is blessed by having a loving husband, Will, and wonderful two-year-old son, Tyler, who both make the difficult times a whole lot easier. They are expecting a new addition to their family in June and Jennifer hopes to someday soon fulfill her dream of being a stay-at-home mom.