As an aside, I was looking into daycares for my son too for next June when he is 1 insha’Allah and daycare for kids in Toronto is anywhere from $1500-2000 per month for infants depending on location and the cost goes down as the child gets older. Home daycares are usually $900-1000. A good friend of mine is putting her little girl in home daycare because of the limited number of kids that the lady accepts vs. a daycare but there are no registered home daycares in my neighborhood so that is not an option for me. How did you go about finding your son’s home daycare? Any tips would be appreciated! He’s been wait listed since before he was born because it is a 1 year wait minimum. Sigh.
Re: Pre-School VS Montessori
There are registered daycares that you need to sign up with. They will give you a list of possible daycare providers and it is up to YOU to go to them individually, interview them and see if that is a place where you want to place your child. I interviewed quite a few before I found “the one”. Ask as many questions as you can and trust your instincts. These are the two I went through. I signed up with two different daycare providers cause I wanted to find the best person possible to look after my child.
http://www.weewatch.com/index.html
I did put him in a public daycare for 2 weeks. Well, I signed him up for a full month and had to pay for that full month (I did not get back my money). Despite this being one of the “top” daycares, I was horrified at how the kids were being treated, so I withdrew him after a few days. I never left him there alone. In fact, they allowed me and my mother to attend before his month began so that he could get used to it.
My son does not wipe his nose on his sleeve and this is what they teach in the daycares, regardless of whether it is montessori or a public daycare (i’m talking about for little babies, not 3+ year old kids) … I saw too many kids with runny noses and the (three) teachers just left them and didn’t clean. I also saw how they were changing diapers. My friend has her son in one of the top daycares in Mississauga and she said they use the same technique there. That’s what turned me off about daycares. It’s different when they are 3+ because by then they are more confident and have certain habits ingrained in them.
When I asked the teachers, they said the kids have to get used to it and it’s ok to wipe on the sleeve. They didn’t comfort the kids at all when they were crying. One room was FULL of screaming 2 year olds and they put the music up (Bob Marley) and encouraged them to dance. Guess what? They continued to scream. I pulled him out within days.
I was really lucky to find someone so quick through the home daycare companies. She’s great, Pakistani and and so loving and caring. There are only 3 other little boys there, so they each get a great deal of attention. None of them are Desi kids, except for my son, yet they all mirror her when she reads namaz, say bismillah before they eat, and she lets them make their own roti shapes.
I work full-time and the reality is that kids LEARN from other kids, and he has learned a great deal, such as how to share, how to give, how to think of others, etc. He’s colouring within lines, knows his alphabet, counts 1-20, mashallah mashallah … and part of it is that I help him and encourage him, and he also has to be in a stimulating environment, which he has at the daycare.
I am all for montessori, but not at the age of 1-3.
Re: Pre-School VS Montessori
How do they change diapers, Mehnaz?
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Wow mehn....the daycare sounds horrible! Midget's daycare has only 7 kids with 3 caregivers....and there are tidsue box slots all over the playgrounds and tooms and well every few feet... They are forever cleaning the childrens noses... But u are right...sil's son got into the habit of cleaning his nose on his sleeve too through daycare. Mashallah at the lil guy knowing so much so early on....ure really a gret parent! :) They are changing the structure of dayvares here ....will apply the montessori sysrem instead where kids actually learn through proper classes with schedules.... Majority dont agree with it cuz it goes against their beliefs of "leting kids be kids" .... But i think for parents like me, its a plus..... Who have kids that need further engagement than just playing with finger pai ts and play dough. I was hearbroken over the diaper change system too... What was the deal at his old daycare?
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ok this was for the class he was in (18 months to 2.5 year olds). The kids remain standing during diaper changes, told to stand with legs apart, bend over and stick their behinds out. I saw them change a girl like this and another little boy. When asked, they said that is their procedure. Babies less than 18 months old get to lay down.
Frankly, they treat them like horses/animals and I found it too psychologically disturbing. I was NOT going to subject my child to that, which is why I only let him stay there for 30-40 minutes WITH my presence or my mother there. I asked my friend who has her son in Montessori in Mississauga and she said it is the same thing there. NO THANK YOU!!!
His home daycare is 15 minutes totally out of my way, which means it takes me LONGER to get to work ... but it is worth it.
7 kids with 3 caregivers is unheard of here, whether it is public or private school.
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Holy moses. What an odd way to change diapersI wasnt happy with diaper changes that occur in e presence of other kids....midget would cry so uch saying its shame shame..... So after a talk they said they will change him first or last. And alone....a BIG thing xuz they dont usually make exceptions. But they also change him standing up....but i dothat too.... He is too old to lie down for a nappy change. Its harder cuz he wears pull ups... Easier to slide up and down standing up.I was very aware of how they treat poop clean ip too...but was happy to see them wear gloves that tjey xhange after finishing with every child..... Wipe down the pad before placing another child on it. And they were also asked to not ask midget to stand ip and pee. Suddenly im happy bout the system here :)
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Yeah, they were doing it right in the middle of the classroom. 
Plus, these kids were NOT in pull-ups at the time. It was strange, weird and well, standard practice apparently. For babies, they are more careful but once they are around 18 months, the rules change.
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whaaa....no washroom?! taht is unhygenic man!
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Khawa, there IS a huge washroom. No daycare is set up to deliberately mess kids up, but you just don't know who the staff is. When I saw them cleaning the girl in the middle of the classroom, it was during the after school program, so the class had only a few kids in it. Still, I didn't like how she was bent over like an animal.
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changing diapers standing up!
umm I can never imagine doing that only for the reason that, wouldn’t…umm..u know…stuff..fall out?
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^^ lol sara!
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Haha… They chrck first…if the kid has pooped he gets to lie down. Mehn: that is just digusting…what r u teaching the child?! Hat u can change ure diaper wherever the hell u please? Ok now i love the set up here…agleast each class has its own wahsroom and supplies!
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Ohhhhh okay....whew
but thats still a weird way to change a diaper.
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Makes me sad.
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Its really sad and degrading,even for young kids…
Someone should share some nice stories too,otherwise I will be hiding mine in my dupatta…
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I wonder if there are any state requirements or procedures for this. If there are, then maybe such centers should be reported.
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What are the child protection laws like in Canada?
I know in the UK sometimes even hugging a child is considered 'inappropriate', placing a child on your lap is considered 'inappropriate'. Surely day care centres must provide some sort of reason as to why they change nappies in that way. Is it due to child protection laws?
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I'm sure they have their reasons since all the public daycares do this ... frankly, I don't care what their reasons are. Nobody is doing that to my kid.
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So weird!!!
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As an aside, I was looking into daycares for my son too for next June when he is 1 insha'Allah and daycare for kids in Toronto is anywhere from $1500-2000 per month for infants depending on location and the cost goes down as the child gets older. Home daycares are usually $900-1000. A good friend of mine is putting her little girl in home daycare because of the limited number of kids that the lady accepts vs. a daycare but there are no registered home daycares in my neighborhood so that is not an option for me. How did you go about finding your son's home daycare? Any tips would be appreciated! He's been wait listed since before he was born because it is a 1 year wait minimum. Sigh.
i put my both daughters in day homes on short term. they both r 4.5 yrs aprt so my exp is 4.5 yrs apart too. both of these day homes were unregistered but both times the ladies just started out. had their own girls n mine. so it worked well. u have to actually go to each day home and chk out ur options well b4 starting out. if the day home is well run n they have lots of kids ur child won't be given gr8 attention but with day homes where they have one of their own child(same sex works much better) and urs or one more , chances are ur child gets VIP treatment. also unregistered day homes have cheaper rates. do chk for first aid, cpr n police chk, non-smoking home, pets etc.