why i feel i am a good mom, part one

so as you may know if you are a long time reader 1st time caller is that my kids have wierd food things, Owen is mostly lactose intolerant (drinks soy) and the girls pretty much can't handle sugar (frosting=puking malinda) so we have asked the center to not give our kids candy, cookies, cuppycakes or pretty much anything that any parent brings in...its taken about 18 months and 6-7 fuck ups by our center to get to this point where yesterday my girls are given cuppycakes (even though they told the teacher "we cant have those.", mommy hit the roof and fired this off to kindercare corporate:

Hello, I had previously discussed this issue with a regional manager, however I am still finding that this problem is happening. I have made it very very clear that our children (ages 3, 3, and 2) are NOT to have any desserts or sweets that have been brought into the center by parents as birthday/holiday treats, and that we would prefer that we be contacted for permission before outside food from the center is given to our kids, or sent home for us to review and dole out as we see fit.

In the past 18 months we have had this problem at least 1/2 a dozen times. The center director has assured us that she has made it very clear to her staff and on the intake sheets for our children that they can not have these items. Yesterday our girls were given cupcakes that a parent brought in to the center for a treat. My children were given these as a snack even after they informed the teacher that they could not have these cupcakes.

When my children have frosting they get ill which usually ends up in me cleaning up the vomit from my children. I did not enjoy having a sick child last night because your staff was unable to follow these instructions.

I have asked in the past to possibly review your company policy on birthday treats since even our school district prohibits such treats due to the overwhelming number of children with nut allergies, and I am posing the question again why your company would allow the liability of food being brought into the center when you do not have control over it?

I am not sure how this situation can be resolved? I have been assured and reassured by Dana that this information is on the intake sheets and that she has personally spoken to every teacher in the center that my children are NOT to have outside treats. This does not seem to have the desired effect because MY KIDS KEEP GETTING TREATS!

I am wondering what it will take for this to sink into the staff? Do you need to comp me a free day of care, a free week of care every time this happens, and pass that loss of revenue along to the staff-I don't know? Perhaps the only way this will sink in to everyone is if some sort of penalty is imposed for this instruction not being followed?

I am very glad that the worst that happens to my kids is that they throw up when they have too much refined sugar. I shudder to think what could happen to my kids if they were seriously allergic to a food that kept being given to them at the center because it appears that the written instructions and the verbal instructions are not being followed every time.

My husband and I and our children really do love KinderCare. They are happy in their classrooms, have many friends and enjoy their teachers. Overall outside of this issue we could not be more satisfied with the center and we do not want to change our childcare choice over this issue because KinderCare is the most accommodating center for our needs.

I have stated before that with the amount of paperwork I am required to fill out as a parent regarding my children's health history, eating habits, non prescription information etc... in order to comply with state licensing, with the fact that my kids can not even be given diaper cream unless I fill out a form and sign it; however parents are allowed to bring in treats and they are distributed amongst the children without parental permission or even knowledge.

If I was not called away from work to pick up my daughter the 1st time she threw up from eating chocolate cupcakes I would have never known you were feeding my children food prepared outside of the center. I find this very very unacceptable.

I am hoping that someone can contact me to discuss this problem and to see what you are going to do to compensate myself and my husband every time we now have a sick child on our hands at night because a non-parental approved treat was given to our kids?

We have been very happy to give permission to or deny Ms. Dana the request to feed our children a treat. All it has taken was an email or phone call to inform us that a treat was being provided and was it OK to give it to our children. This has worked out well, when it has been followed, and it also helps reassure us that our wishes regarding our children are being followed and observed.

The result? The center and all centers managed by the regional director are going "outside food free" starting Feb 1st...You can't bring in treats for your kids since there are so many food allergies etc... Whoopie! I feel super since its only taken the better part of 2 years to get this to happen!

Mail me!