Daycare??

Personally i think you are being a bit paranoid.

I don't think your children are going to contract any crazy diseases, especially if a certain daycare

has a reputation, and no one has made complaints.

I don't really see too many options other than to deal with it.

I probably am, but I still think the place could be cleaned up better than it is and at least shampoo the carpets. I can't really be the only parent who worries about this stuff. To my suprise a few people I have talked to about the daycare, notice it's not the cleanest place, but haven't said anything.

Dont get me wrong, i am glad you are very concerned with your child's hygiene.

In all honesty though my childhood was spent rolling around in dirt and mud and throwing rocks at my neighbor

in a dirty driveway (yes we actually did that and it was fun).

We didn't die.

The way you paint the situation is, that you have zero other options. You won't be able to make the daycare pay

for what it would call unnecessary costs, it will laugh at you. The other parents wouldnt want anything done because

they want to go to work. So unless you drive your kids to a different neighborhood, (town etc) you don't have

many options.

Run, do not walk, but RUN away. Been there found it out and ran like hell. I didn't have a choice at the time either but found a way around it. I will NEVER allow that again. I drove 25 miles out of my way to make sure my son was in a better place. Seek your church, hire a nanny, take her to the next town. She is THE MOST important thing.

Are the kids at this daycare happy and well taken care of? That's what you should be focused on.

^^ and you may have just caught them on a bad day, bad time of day/week.
I've worked in daycares, it's completely unrealistic to expect a stellar floor. kids drop food. It's a fact of live and carpets will get stained.

If your provider is licensed I would look up the licensing standards for your state and the if you think there are violations discuss them with your provider. You may be seeing crumbs on the floor from kids having snack or a meal? She may able to explain it too you.

I agree with the poster above about it'll help her immunity. Once my son (who is now 22 months) started crawling he did get sick more often but it only lasted 6 months or so and now he's been cold free for almost a year. I have him in a nannyshare and we live in a big city (Denver) so we had options. Can you see if there is a nanny in town that could watch your daughter?

This. My kids have immune systems of steel!

the carpet has stains, food and dirty clothes on the floor, dishes all over the place in the kitchen

That sounds very unsanitary. I don't even want to think about the bathrooms. No way I'd leave my child in a place like that. Since there aren't any great daycares in your city, have you thought about watching kids in your home?

One of my favorite sayings "Don't ***** about anything you're not willing to change." Consider cleaning the daycare yourself. Maybe they'll give you a discount. Good luck.

Not very fitting to her post. If you walk into a gas station and need to take a *kitten* do you clean it first?

Employ a sitter to work in your home?

Employ a sitter to work in your home?

This is a great idea! (...nanny cameras...)

You said yourself your a little crazy about having a clean house. And I can bet no matter how anal you are about keeping things clean if you had a bunch of little kids running around your place all day it'd look pretty similar. If the kids there are happy then that's all that matters... it's gonna look messy, especially if you happen to stop by in the middle of the day. And you think she really wants her home being all messed up by other peoples kids? Probably not... but she's trying to make a living, so if you need a daycare provider and she's all you got then you probably need to just get over it.

Would you be able to afford an in-house nanny or someone who cares for children out of their home? I used Care.com (unfortunately not free) to search for a babysitter for my kids. I found LOTS of options and interviewed quite a few people. It was a wonderful tool, and we had a babysitter in our house for 9 months, until we decided my daughter needed to be in preschool. The preschool my kids go to currently is extremely clean. Every time I'm there, somebody is cleaning, sanitizing, vacuuming. It's constant. And my kids STILL got sick for the first 3 months. With that said, I knew it would happen, and I want my kids to be exposed to some germs to build up immunities. They haven't been sick in a really long time, fortunately.

If the daycare is truly unsanitary, then I would suggest a nanny or homecare. Otherwise, I agree with the above posters that a little dirt isn't going to hurt her.

I have a daycare in my home and for the most part it's super clean. I do have to say I got rid on my carpet except for one room because you get them cleaned and between kids and parents in a week they looks gross. I also let my house get dirty during the day they are kids and they make messes like little pro's. I do clean while they nap or after they leave but I tell parents my job is to play and have fun with your kids not keep my house perfect. I have so many family's who love how clean my house is but more important is that I play with the kids and don't clean my house while they're here. Having one kid and keeping your house so clean is wonderful, but having 4 can be super hard so try and keep that in mind.

Let me ask you this..How many times did you visit this daycare? Was it always dirty?

I love my daycare and its clean, but I went couple days ago to bring something to them and they just had lunch, OMG you had to see the floor ( kids trying to feed themselves, 1-2 yo, ya know)..

So what im trying to say is, you need to visit a daycare at different times of the day, before making a decision.

Let me ask you this..How many times did you visit this daycare? Was it always dirty?

I love my daycare and its clean, but I went couple days ago to bring something to them and they just had lunch, OMG you had to see the floor ( kids trying to feed themselves, 1-2 yo, ya know)..

So what im trying to say is, you need to visit a daycare at different times of the day, before making a decision.

I agree with this poster. I grew up with my mother running an in-home day care (licensed) and there is definitely a time of day that is bad to visit. Typically the breakfast and lunch dishes would be piled up in the sink until the kids were taking afternoon naps and there was time for clean-up. I would visit at another time of day and see if things are different. If not then I would look for other options. Kids will come home dirty from daycare, but it should be from playing outside not on the carpet.

I'll start off by saying I am a little crazy about having a clean house and clean everything all the time!!! I'm a freak about messes and dirty, undone things around my house it just drives me CRAZY!!

My daughter is 7.5 months old, crawling all over the place. I am starting a new job on Monday and she will have to start going to daycare. The only daycare that I can get her into isn't very clean. I understand toys and things laying around, but the carpet has stains, food and dirty clothes on the floor, dishes all over the place in the kitchen. I know it will never be up to my standards, but what is a nice way to adress the issue?

I don't want to seem like I'm being b*tchy or rude, but I think as a daycare with lots of young kids, the place could be a lot cleaner.

Any ideas are appreciated.

Thanks!

Being that I have worked at 2 daycares, I really don't like the sounds of this one. Toys on the floor is totally normal and not an issue but food and dirty clothes on the floor is disgusting. I understand in this environment it's easy for things to get hectic and you may lose focus on cleaning up, but they definitely need better cleaning methods. At the last daycare I worked at, we had professional carpet cleaners come in once a month and the staff was required to clean the whole place (including kitchen and bathroom) twice a day (at nap time and closing time). It worked out great. If you observe this place in that condition more than a few times, I really do think you need to speak up. You don't want your little one in a place full of germs. There will be enough germs as it is, so the least your daycare can do is try their best to manage what they can.