There comes a time when a parent is forced to 'man up' or in our case 'mommy & daddy up'. It is imperative that Keith and I be the voices of our children if we think things are awry. This is easier said than done because Keith and I are both mild tempered. We're not fans of awkward situations or confrontation. Its just not where we excel as parents. But, sometimes you've gotta step out of your comfort zone and 'get buck'. On Friday October 7, 2011 Keith and I grew some major balls.
Here's the story:
Khyri goes to daycare three days a week Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Keith brings Khyri home from daycare on Wednesday in his shirt, and his shoes. What's missing?!?! That's right folks - PANTS! The boy came home in a diaper. *take a deep breath* I was LIVID. Of course I asked Keith what happened and he just answers "They said he had an accident at the school" *blank stare* Surely you asked for more information right Keith!?! Surely you think something is wrong here and that our son should not be in a diaper! Am I the only one upset about the situation? (because Khyri skipped into the house like he was in the poppy fields with Dorothy and friends. He was totally unphased) I am so angry I have to step outside and get myself together. I don't want the children to see me upset. Thoughts start going through my head Was Khyri embarrassed? How long was he in the diaper? WHY DIDN'T THEY CALL ME?
I jump on the phone and call the usual support team. I need to get some guidance and suggestions on how I need to approach this. My first reaction is to bust up in there and shut the whole place down... but that wouldn't result in anything but me going to jail and the kiddos being raised without a mommy. So let's explore some other options...First things first I need to get the entire story from the daycare. Keith doesn't ask questions - remember no confrontation, so I've only got bits of the story. If I'm going to raise hell I need to have the full story. So I take a deep breath.
Khyri is scheduled to go to school on Thursday, but I don't want to send him. I'm just not in the mood to deal with this mess - again no confrontation. Of course the longer I put off goingin to talk, the more I am getting upset and frustrated. My emotions are snowballing - all rational thinking is slowly leaving the building ahahha. Keith decide that we are gonna go into the daycare and speak to the owners about our concerns on Friday. We didn't want to go during peak times (pick up and drop off) because we wanted the owner's full attention. So we went during naptime. Now let me interject here and say that the night before I was talking to Keith and he was being all calm. I told him straight up "Look when we go into that daycare I need you on the same page as me. We need to be equally upset. Don't try to make it look like I'm the irrational mom making a mountain out of a mole hill. We are team Mosley... don't be the weak link." I didn't know what to expect from him - but I had put him on notice. Come hard or don't come at all!
So on Friday me and the kiddos head to the daycare from the park and Keith leaves work early. We get there around 3:30pm. I pull up with a crying Kielle and I see Keith jump out of his car and head in. I get out and pull Kielle into the front seat to nurse her. Keith comes back out "You ready?!" What!?!? Wait a minute sir - are you ready to 'get buck'?? whoa.. I guess he said if we're gonna be on the same page then let's roll full steam. Dang! I wasn't ready. I didn't have my game face on yet. I'm still in playground mode. 'Mommy up" Kahlillah! I asked for 5 minutes to nurse Kielle. Do you know he went back in there and started the conversation without me! hahahaha Talk about irrational.. geesh. ahhaha. So finally me and the kiddos roll in and I sit down and start in on the owner. "I would like to discuss why Khyri came home in a diaper yesterday." I explained my dissatisfaction with how the situation was handled. Apparently Khyri had peed through his jeans and the teacher thought that leaving him in just a diaper was an acceptable solution. The owner said she wasn't aware of the situation until Keith walked into her office with Khyri to pay the bill (yes Keith proceeded to conduct business while his child was in a diaper - allllllll bad. but that's another discussion for a later day *sigh*). She supposedly went back and asked the teacher what happened. My main concern was that we did not receive a call. I told the owner that even though she does a background check for her staff, she does not know the backgrounds of all the other people that enter that daycare to pick up their children. Anybody could have been looking at my son in his underclothes. Anyone. You cannot tell me that there are no extra clothes in the daycare for accidents like this - no lost and found?... no nothing?!?!? Then the owner says "I don't know why she didn't use the extra clothes we have" What!?!? so you do have extra clothes?!?!?! You need to talk to ole girl STAT. Apparently she is not aware of your policy or procedures. Get her straight immediately.
I was very firm when talking to the owner. I didn't waver. As I was talking - literally in the middle of my sentence my husband, Keith Farren Mosley Jr., blurts out in his deep I'm not in the mood to play games right now voice, "We should have gotten a call!" Uhhhhh ok. I see you Keith! Throwing in some backup nice.. a little unexpected.. but nice. ahhahaha At least we were on the same page. She definitely knew that we were both unhappy with the situation. The teacher wasn't there that day so we didn't get to speak to her. The owner said she was going to have a talk with the teacher "to hear her side". I don't know what side there is to hear. I mean look at the end result.. my baby came home in a daggone diaper. There's nothing else to discuss. Whatever... So we left the daycare feeling somewhat empowered. I definitely had my chest poked out a little. If anything, we made it clear that we are not sideline parents. We are very involved and not only expect the best for our child, but will call you out if you are not providing what we need.
So here we are today - Sunday and we have not heard from the daycare. I feel like we should have gotten a follow up call Friday afternoon. Remember - we still don't know exactly what happened. We only know that Khyri came out in a diaper. I don't know when he wet his pants. I don't know how the teacher came to the conclusion to leave him in a diaper. Where they trying to potty train him? Was his diaper on incorrectly? I don't know any of the actual events.
*sigh* So... now I gotta go back in there. I will send Khyri this Tuesday and per the advice of my SororMommy friend Dawn I will reintroduce myself to the teacher and let her know that I am always available by cell phone. I will tell her that I want to be called whenever anything out of the ordinary happens with Khyri major or minor. I will also shoulder some of the blame for the situation by acknowledging that I did not pack an extra pair of pants (although that's why they have the emergency clothing stash... but whatever). Hopefully this will solve the situation. Either way, we are looking for a new school. I had planned on moving Khyri into a learning center in March, but now its really kicked up to January and if the finances are right- even earlier.
I was surprised at how Keith and I jumped into protector mode. We did good! Unfortunately I'm sure this is just the first of many times that we will have to be advocates and protectors of Khyri and Kielle. If the events of last week are any indication, I know we're up to the challenge. Bring it - we're ready!
