I *did* learn a bit...

At our training on Saturday, I did learn something.

Apparently, since day care is not rocket science, the people who do the job are sometimes, well, not rocket scientists.

I'm the first to admit that I am not one, too, but damn.

The way trainings work for summer is that employees from several different areas all come together in one location. There is some mixing of people, I think that when you see the same faces year after year, eventually you start to form some connections. I know several of the site directors from other districts after ten years at this job. Some of us are friendly to the other ones, taking the time to chat with them between segments of training and even ::gasp:: sitting next to people we don't even know.

I know it's shocking, but when we have those trainings, that is exactly what I do. Choose someone I don't know and sit with them. Or, if I don't manage to do that, I join one of the little mini groups and make sure it's people I either don't know well or have never met.

I got hit with a little migraine on Saturday, so I mostly sat alone because even the smell of people's soap and shampoo can be too much when I'm not feeling well.

Oh look. I've digressed. I'm sure you're surprised.

But this isn't a prestigious or high-paying occupation. There is quite a bit of turnover, which is unfortunate on several levels.

It's not good for the kids. I mean, they adapt, and move on, but continuity in caregivers is actually a really good thing for them. It's something I've been proud to provide, that continuity. I will be beginning my sixth year as the site director at my current school. I am taking care of the younger siblings of some of the children I had my first couple years there. And of course the kids who were in the 5th grade that year are about to start their junior year in high school.

I'm glad that I'm able to stay where I am. It's important to me. :)

One of the groups that attended our training is a very new group. None of them have been with the company longer than six months, and they're all going to run a summer program together.

That's not necessarily bad. But then they started talking about their summer plans. Things like letting the bigger kids rub sunscreen on the younger ones. Yikes!! That's called 'child on child' contact, and is against licensing regulations for about a million good reasons. We don't rub sunscreen on kids, either. We supervise it, making sure that they remember to put it on the tops of their ears and the back of their necks, and that they get it on the spots that kids sometimes forget. That's different than actually rubbing them.

They also talked about letting kids take their shoes off for water play, which is a huge NO NO NO thing. They're to wear water shoes or bring a second pair of regular shoes so they can change them after they get wet. We run our summer programs on school grounds. School grounds are open to the public. Last year's fun finds on our playground were lovely things like broken glass, used fireworks, human poop under the play structures, a crack pipe, two joints, a bunch of soda cans and cups and gatorade bottles, a syringe... wearing shoes with closed toes and never being allowed to take them off is a safety regulation that I agree with 100%.

We explained about the shoes and the sunscreen, and although they said they wouldn't do them, they looked like they thought we were overreacting.

Most of the time, kids end up being okay, of course. But licensing and safety rules exist for a reason.

I always tell kids that I know it seems like we have a lot of rules.
And we do.

But I tell them that the adults have a bunch more rules to follow than the kids do.

"I have to know all YOUR rules," I tell them. "And I have to know a bunch more for adults. It's my job. So you don't get a choice on following the rules, guys."

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And still working on the Creative Challenge, hosted by Kelly... Here's another little sculpey thing I drew on in my spare time (hahaha, that's funny) this afternoon.