Daycare Worker Explains Why She Does Not 'Accept' Sleeping Children When Their Parents Drop Them Off
While they may be interrupting a child's sleep schedule, it is for their own safety.
Robert Kneschke / japansainlook / Shutterstock A daycare employee is revealing the horrifying truth of why she never accepts children who are sleeping when they are dropped off by their parents. While some parents may get annoyed with her for interfering with their children's sleep schedule, she has a perfectly good reason, and it is for their own safety.
The daycare worker will not accept sleeping children to avoid being blamed for injuries.
Sharing her experiences in response to a Reddit question, “What was the most satisfying time when you caught someone lying?” the woman explained why she and her colleagues wake up sleeping children and babies in their car seats when they are dropped off at the daycare center she works at.
Initially, the woman believed that it was due to the fact that the daycare staff wanted to keep all the children on a certain schedule, and awake at the same time. “So if Mom or Dad brought a kid asleep, I immediately woke them up and pulled them out of their car seat,” she wrote. “This made so many parents displeased with me but it's policy.”
However one day, the woman realized the true reason why they were required to always wake up the children and remove them from their car seats.
“One day a grandma brought a baby asleep and he was not waking up at all,” she shared. “[He] just raised his head, whimpered, and would go back to sleep.”
Photo: Smolina Marianna / Shutterstock
Fearing for the child’s safety, the woman’s boss immediately called 911. Meanwhile, the child’s grandmother, who dropped him off at the daycare, downplayed the situation, explaining to the staff that her grandson just had a long night and was tired.
“I knew this baby, he wouldn't sleep if he thought he was going to miss out, we had music playing and kids loudly singing and dancing,” the woman claimed. “In the chaos, grandma slipped out and at some point, someone called the parents.”
It was later that the woman and her colleagues discovered that the baby’s grandmother had a history of slipping her grandchildren drugs while she babysat to make them sleep longer. However, since the baby was only six months old, he was unable to wake up. He had to be transferred to a hospital and have his stomach pumped. “Legal actions were taken and the family moved away,” the woman added.
After the incident, she learned even more about the horrifying truth of why the policy was implemented in the first place.
“My boss knew abusers have been known to do this. They'd break the kid's arm, dose them, dump them with the sitter who lets the baby asleep all morning then because the kid was with the sitter all day, it's easy to blame them for the baby's injury,” the woman wrote. “Or worse, the baby died and they do this to blame the sitter.”
The woman claims that to this day if she babysits children, she will not accept them if they are sleeping and wake them up.
She also came to the realization of the cruel world around her. “I’ve pretty much stopped doing any child care because as much as I love kids, watching parents make bad decisions on purpose when they know better, was killing my soul,” she admitted.
Other Redditors were shocked and disgusted that such things would happen, and agreed with the daycare’s policy.
“This is so sad, but definitely a good thing for people in childcare to know. thanks for sharing,” one user commented. “That is truly horrible. Poor kids. I can totally see why you have that policy,” another user wrote.
Additionally, other users pointed out that even if children were not drugged, it was still dangerous to leave them sleeping in their car seats. According to experts, leaving infants asleep in car seats can result in positional asphyxia, which occurs when the positioning of the child’s head and neck block the airway.
A 10-year study conducted by the American Academy of Pediatrics of 11,779 infant sleep-related deaths showed that 348 (3%) babies died in sitting devices, in most cases while in car seats.
Car seat manufacturers advise parents that their babies should not be left in car seats for more than two hours within a 24-hour time frame to avoid injury or death.
While the waking up sleeping children policy may not be implemented at every daycare center, it is important to recognize when an infant is in distress or appears to be in trouble if you work in childcare.
Even if parents were upset with the woman and the daycare staff were upset with them for altering their child’s sleep schedule, it is for their own safety and well-being.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.