Clover, SC
“There isn’t any room in the next room up. There’s nothing we can do.” This was the apathetic and uncaring response my husband received when he called the daycare to try to get our daughter moved up to the classroom that would have been the correct age group for her. Almost 14 months old, she was still in the infant room with babies as young as 6 weeks old. The room did not get food service. The room did not go outside regularly. The room did not get books read to them. The room did not have scheduled naptime. It had gotten so bad, her reports reflecting virtually no naptime at all, that I had begun driving her home at noon so that she could have a quiet place to rest, then driving her back so I could finish my workday. She was supposed to have been moved up at 6 months. She was 14 months old.
My husband persisted and was met with, “if you don’t like it, you can go somewhere else.” It occurred to him that these people who touted Christian values and genuine concern for the well-being of their charges in fact did not care. In spite of the hefty tuition we paid timely for two children, the fact that we picked up the kids by 4pm every day, the wonderfully dynamic and agreeable nature of both our children, the fact that we had patience with them throughout covid closures and countless issues involving both kids (including cuts and welts incurred by our youngest due to her being put in infant equipment, swings, jumpers, etc.), there was not an amount that could have inspired genuine concern.
He shouted back that they were lying, he knew for a fact that other children her same age had been moved up. Shortly after, we were dismissed from the school – simply due to his use of volume, and volume only (no cursing, no threats). They insisted he could not come to pick up the kids, and wishing to not provoke them further, as they still had our children, I went to get the kids alone. When I arrived, I discovered that the police had been called.
At this point, I would like to note that I am black.
I was shaken, to say the least, as I quietly went about collecting the kids. On the outside, I thanked the woman who handed them to me and attempted to maintain a cheery demeanor for my kids’ benefit. On the inside, however, my mind raced through all the different ways this encounter could go wrong. I thought of news headlines about George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery. I thought about a phone call about the care provided to our kids turning into them being down a parent.
Luckily, the police officer, a young black man, seemed just as confused as I was as to why he was there and left before we even did. My children thought they were receiving a special treat getting picked up in the middle of the day. I explained to my eldest that she would be taught at home now and she yelled exuberantly, “Bye school, see you never again!”
Thankfully, the police encounter was uneventful. Thankfully we are financially able to provide alternatives for our kids during this crazy post-COVID chapter of childcare history.
Thankfully, we will be ok.
However, I felt compelled to write my story. They have managed to disable Google reviews – there hasn’t been a new one in years. But parents, particularly parents of color, should be warned of the dangers of this facility, the fact that the cracks in the foundation of childcare wrought by the pandemic coupled with the hundreds of thousands of dollars in government aid that this facility has received and a waitlist around the block has coalesced to create an environment of callous, cold, and uncaring lack of accountability toward you and your children at Creative Kids Lake Wylie.
Zero stars.