My kingdom for quality childcare!

What's with the quality of childcare in this country?

I started my day by finding out via phone from John (who does drop-off in the a.a.) that once again, we have lost another day care teacher. This is an all-time record. We lost this teacher before we even replaced the last teacher that quit. They're changing so fast I'm sure they're all going to have therapy when they are older because of their sense of abandonment, not by their parents dropping them off but by the new face that greets them every time they walk into their daycare class.

This all follows a weekend in which we had theater tickets on Saturday. No sweat because we have out babysitter who we have, on a steady basis, EVERY SATURDAY NIGHT. Notice I didn't say SOME saturday nights. The agreement is that she is scheduled with us EVERY Saturday night unless she lets us know she has a conflict. And we're understanding. Spring break? Sorority formal? Of course she can have those nights off. But the whole point of having an ongoing agreement for every Saturday is so that we don't have to call her every week and ask her. So we had theater tickets and , just to make sure, I call her and say "Hey just wanted to make sure we were on for tonight- we've got theater tickets.". Then I get the dreaded pause. "Oh, I didn't know you would need me THIS weekend. I have an exam on Monday so I have to study and can't take the time."

So, after calling all 3 of our backups unsuccessfully, we blew the tickets off and spent the evening with the Jackelope.

You know, it's not just the situation working moms are in that makes them feel the constant guilt of leaving their child at daycare daily. It's the knowledge that these are all just temporary people in your child's life and how can any of them care for him if they are in and out of jobs every few months.