Aunt Tinas Daycare

One star for her being certified at level 4 on the Indiana Path to Quality program:
If it were not for that I would give her no stars.
Tina’s communication skills with us were nonexistent to say the least. In child care, communication with the parents is paramount.
We needed a new child care provider so we decided to try Tina Smith’s day care out. Our previous child care provider is not in the Path to Quality program (which sets pretty strict guidelines about what happens in a child’s day at daycare, see below) so the schedule was quite different from what they were used to. They had some trouble adjusting, but Tina failed to address any of the issues with us as parents to see if we could help the adjustment (mainly not getting along with the other new kids they didn’t know, and not listening to her because they didn’t understand that she is an authority figure) until the problems escalated far beyond what they should have.
She didn’t seem like she did anything to go out of her way to make my kids feel more welcome in a new environment. The change was a pretty big shock to my 3 year old who was at our previous child care provider from birth and he took it the hardest. When she told us that she was having problems with him not listening to her we tried to resolve the issue with him at home by encouraging him that at Tina’s house she is the boss. When we asked her how well he was listening, her reply was that she didn’t tell him to do anything so he did well. First, I don’t know how you can make it through an entire day without telling a 3 year old to either do something or not do something. Secondly, this showed me that she is not interacting with my child to avoid a confrontation with him, which didn’t help him feel welcome.
There were also some misunderstandings that I don’t believe ever got resolved. She misread a few situations and made assumptions about our intentions as customers. Instead of having a conversation with us about what her perception was and to clarify the issues, she just decided that she didn’t want to work for us anymore.
As far as safety goes, it seemed like a pretty kid safe, kid friendly home. I was a little concerned about a loft play area that was only accessible by a bunk bed style ladder. There were cushions at the bottom in case a child fell but it had to be about 5 feet off the ground, which is a long way for a child age 4 or under to fall. My 6 year old told me that my 18 month old tried to climb it, fell off, banged his mouth on the ladder and got a bloody lip. My 6 year old isn’t known to lie to us, and especially about things like that. We were never told by Tina that this happened, so I can’t be 100% sure that it did, but I don’t doubt it (especially considering her communication skills).
Discipline seemed pretty much nonexistent, other than a time out chair and that’s at an extreme. She uses the redirection approach, which is to try to distract a child from what he or she was concerned about. I don’t think this approach teaches a child much and kids can be persistent.
A note about the Path to Quality program:
The Path to Quality program is sort of like pre-​preschool. Tina did tell us that our kids probably wouldn’t need to go to preschool if we took our kids to her daycare. Everything is regulated. The entire daily schedule is mapped out. The meals are planned out so you always know what your kid is eating everyday. The Path to Quality is a great program, and it’s awesome that someone in our small community is certified at a Level 4 (the highest rating) but, we prefer having a childcare provider that is more motherly to our toddlers and not someone who is more like a school teacher. If the Path to Quality program is important to you as a parent you can give Tina a try, but be warned. Hopefully she has learned from this experience.
She definitely has some opportunities to grow and improve as a child care provider.