[speaker001:] Very good. Uh, discussion or on child care.
[speaker002:] Do you have any children?
[speaker001:] Uh, they're all grown up.
[speaker002:] Oh [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] I work in a day-care center and.
[speaker001:] Oh, well, you know all about it then.
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER] Yes, I enjoy it a lot.
[speaker001:] It's been quite a few years. I have grandchildren but, uh, haven't really been into selecting child care for [LAUGHTER] them, so.
[speaker002:] Oh.
[speaker001:] And it's been quite a few years since I've had to think about that.
[speaker002:] Do they go to a day-care center or do they stay at,
[speaker001:] No. Uh, m-, my daughter that has three stays home
[speaker002:] Oh, that's nice.
[speaker001:] with her children, and one of my daughters has one but an aunt keeps the baby.
[speaker002:] Oh, that's nice.
[speaker001:] But I would, I would not really know how to go about selecting one nowadays, but I would imagine it's very hard.
[speaker002:] I, I think so. I think it's hard to find a good day care. I have worked in anoth-, at some other ones that were not very good
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] in my opinion. But this one that I'm in now is, is very good. And one of the key things is how many adults are there in ratio to the children.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] And like in Pennsylvania for babies, that's what I work with, there has to be a one to four ratio at the most.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] No more than four babies per care giver. But we keep it down to like two to one.
[speaker001:] Oh, well, that's good.
[speaker002:] Yeah, that makes it a little easier to deal with.
[speaker001:] I've always thought, you know, it would be really tough. What if you had a fire or something with babies?
[speaker002:] Oh, I know. We,
[speaker001:] You would have to be able to have enough, you know, you'd have to be able to get them all out.
[speaker002:] What we do is we have these cribs in the back room
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] where they sleep that are, um, low to the ground and they're reenforced real strong and they'll sit four babies. We would just lie them in there and they roll real well and maneuver.
[speaker001:] Oh, well, that's, that's a,
[speaker002:] That will get them out.
[speaker001:] I hadn't thought about that. But I was thinking, oh, my gosh, if they had very many babies, they couldn't possibly get them all out.
[speaker002:] No [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] But you could put them in one of these cribs and then roll the crib out I guess.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] Oh
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] well, that's neat.
[speaker002:] Yeah, that's certainly something we hope [LAUGHTER] never happens.
[speaker001:] Well, do most of your day-care workers really care about the children, or is it just a job for them?
[speaker002:] Most really care, in this center, really care. Uh, most everyone has a college degree in like early childhood education.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] And really there's only like eight children per room and then there's like two or three, mostly three care givers in each room.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] And that enables them to spend more time with the children. Sometimes I feel like all I'm doing is changing diapers, giving bottles, and putting babies down for a nap. So, it's nice to be able to play with them and really get to know them.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] It's easy to get attached to them too.
[speaker001:] Yeah. How old a group, how old are the children go with this center where you work?
[speaker002:] Um, in my room they go from eight weeks to nine months.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] And throughout the center it goes up to like age twelve.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] So, I have the real, real young ones [LAUGHTER] in my room.
[speaker001:] You've got the little bitty ones.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] Those are the, probably the bestes-, the best group to have.
[speaker002:] They're, you know, they're wonderful. They don't complain too much [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] And they're fun.
[speaker002:] Yes. They are a lot of fun.
[speaker001:] Babies are fun, and they're not quite big enough to be getting into everything yet, so.
[speaker002:] Not quite. It's a, when they start to crawl they try to climb up on things and
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] you have to be real careful all the, everything is baby proof. You know, all the doors have latches and stuff so they can't get into anything but they try.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh. Do you
[speaker002:] But, yeah,
[speaker001:] think there's very many really good day-care centers around your area?
[speaker002:] In my area because w-, I live in a college town in Penn State University
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] so I, there is a lot of, [lipsmack] a lot of college educated people and stuff that are in the centers that really seem to have an idea of what's going on.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] And, uh, in general though I've, I've been really disappointed with a lot
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] of other centers I've worked at, and it, all and all it's not my choice for when, when I have children but, but some people don't have a choice.
[speaker001:] Sometimes it's a have to.
[speaker002:] Yes.
[speaker001:] I hear a lot of the girls I work with, uh, constantly, oh, I wish I could find someplace I really felt good about. You know?
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] Most of them don't really feel that it's a great place to leave their kids.
[speaker002:] That is sad.
[speaker001:] And it's really bad, you know. One of the girls she was leaving hers at where she felt like was a really good place, and then they called her one afternoon and said, well, we thought we'd better call and tell you before you got over here. Lacy fell asleep on the bus after our field trip today, and we just now found her.
[speaker002:] What?
[speaker001:] They had left her on the bus closed up all afternoon.
[speaker002:] Oh, my God.
[speaker001:] And so immediately she says, well, I can't have any confidence in them anymore, if they'll take a group of kids to the zoo or somewhere and then come back and not even count them and realize they're one short.
[speaker002:] Oh.
[speaker001:] But one of the teachers happened to walk by and see her pounding on the window trying to get out of the bus.
[speaker002:] Oh, my God.
[speaker001:] And this was four hours later, you know.
[speaker002:] [Gasp] Oh, that poor child.
[speaker001:] And, uh, so, {D you know, i-, what do you do?
[speaker002:] That's awful.
[speaker001:] So she has switched to a different center now and, uh,
[speaker002:] [Very faint] Well, I,