Center care; must walk @ 18 month?

I have a little one (she will be 18 months old) who I have had for the last 10 months and took on as a temporary contract until March (when I have a DCB & his baby sister returning from mat. leave for full time care). Parents are concerned as she still is not walking anything beyond a few steps, then crawls (I have seen no development beyond just a few steps in 4 months). The parents are concerned because apparently it is a requirement for her to walk in the 18 month room that she is going into @ the new Daycare center in March. Is this so? I'm just not familiar with center care guidelines at all. She's been home with Mom for the last 3 weeks, I was hoping with the one on one and quiet of home she'd be walking up a storm, but, no change. It's so tough at this stage...you just can't force walking. Really, at this point it is out of my hands; parents have been begging me to keep her on until she's fully walking (nope!).

I find it very rude that they want you to keep her until she's okay to go to the centre. Talk about using someone. Parents dont appreciate that this is where home daycare shines above centres. We dont have hard set rules about the developmental milestones that children have to achieve at specific ages or they cant come. I dont know about many center rules but I suspect that they dont want to be lifting kids. The parent should perhaps be more concerned with why the child isnt walking yet.

I've heard that about centres as well, though it wasn't like that when I was in them many moons ago. I think it's more of a safety issue...not having crawlers in a room with a bunch of exuberant walkers/runners - risk getting stepped on, etc. Also, they want kids to be as autonomous as possible, even as toddlers. I wouldn't keep them on in your shoes. If they wish to move to daycare centre, that's their call, but you have your own business to think about. They want big daycare centre, they get all the not so awesome parts of it too :)

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Originally Posted by gramma

The parent should perhaps be more concerned with why the child isnt walking yet.

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I had suggested they consult a Doctor as well, but beyond that we as daycare providers are pretty powerless. @ 8 months when this little girl came to me she wasn't even sitting up on her own yet (parents admittedly would sit her in exersaucer at home in front of Disney channel for hours because " she loves TV"!!!). So, with a lot of work on trunk control/strength exercises I got her sitting up in no time etc. With time, she will walk well. She is a very bright but naturally very cautious child & very 'solid', which makes it more difficult, I think?

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Originally Posted by cfred

I wouldn't keep them on in your shoes.

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Oh, don't worry, not in a million years;). Child is a dream, but I have had so many issues with these parents...and, with a pick up time of 6pm (all of my others are 4pm), it will be fantastic to have some relief @ dinner/after school time when chaos seems to reign it's ugly head in our house;)

I had a little one (14 months) that would shuffle along on her knees and I just kept standing her up and when she dropped back down again I stood her up .... Didn't take long .... But I have never known a healthy child that didn't walk by 15 months at the latest ..... I would be going to a dr if I was the parent.

My oldest son didn't start walking until 17 months and he was and still is very healthy. We worked with him very day, so did the daycare, he just didn't want to walk. It just depends on the child.

Wow I've never experienced that !!

I have heard that rule before - some centres won't take a child unless they're walking. If it is a private centre, then it's completely their choice.

I don't think it's rude at all, or using someone. Their agreement was to end in March. They both decided on this.

It has to do with the criteria per room. The mom is expecting to not pay the infant rate and to have the child in the toddler room which will be cheaper but yes the child has to be walking to get into that room and there will be guidelines for moving from there to the preschool room. That is pretty standard in any daycare centre.

Most children walk by 16 months but have until 16-18 months before the doctors will even consider assessments. The fact the child is at home would be more reason for her not to walk because that is the expectation there. At daycare you are more likely to push her to progress and she is more likely to accept that she should at least try.

I currently have one in care that is 16 months and only now pulling up to a stand and cruising. His legs still buckle under him when he does. It will be awhile yet before he has the strength to let go. He is a very cautious type child so it takes a long time for him to feel it is ok to try something too. I am keeping a watch on him because he rarely babbles and has absolutely no words other than a few meaningful grunts.

Basically the Ontario DNA has a line that states "all non walkers must be kept separate from walkers" .... so it depends on how the centre is interpreting that how they make their rules ... cause reality is that some kids walk at 9 months while still in the infant room and well you cannot move up to the toddler room at 9 months so they have to figure out a way to meet that child's early development ~ so how are they keeping those kids 'separate' from the non walkers by using play areas where non walkers are kept 'safe' from being stepped on by those walking. They should be able to do the SAME thing up in the toddler room and if the client really PUSHED how do they handle 'infants' who are walking in the infant room and what is the difference than they could push the centres hand to allow the toddler to start!

Lots of centres I worked at had toddlers who were still 'bumming/crawling' around and once they were up in the toddler room seeing ALL the other kids walking/toddling they quickly realized they better get motivated to do it!

This is no different than the 'old' rule that preschoolers had to be toilet trained to graduate into preschool ~ the rule was because preschool rooms were not equipped with 'change tables' well eventually children came a long who were just not 'ready' to train but were ready in every other manner for the preschool room and so parents were getting angry their kid was being discriminated against over something that there was no control over and well now preschool programs have change tables and being toilet trained is no longer a requirement.

If the child has some physical disability 'preventing' walking well all the more reason the centre would be required to take her cause well you cannot discriminate service based on disability ~ they would have to accommodate unless they can prove undue hardship which they cannot ... we had preschoolers in our programs who could not walk independently and used braces or a wheelchair ... it is called inclusion and all centers are required to practice it!

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Originally Posted by playfelt

The mom is expecting to not pay the infant rate and to have the child in the toddler room which will be cheaper but yes the child has to be walking to get into that room and there will be guidelines for moving from there to the preschool room.
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Re: Mom not wanting to pay. I think you've hit the nail on the head;)

[QUOTE=LittleFeet;356 26]It is actually normal for a child to not be walking by 18 months.QUOTE]

I've been caring for kids for 34 years and I've only had one child from birth to eighteen months who wasn't walking by 18 months. She was profoundly delayed. She had early childhood intervention and has had extensive special needs assistance. She's ten now and lives around the corner from me.

I have had one kid who came to me at 2 who was a "late walker". He is also profoundly delayed in every area. He has extensive intervention.

My experience is that about 1 in four kids walk by the first birthday... about half between 12-13 months and the other quarter between 13-15 months.

I have to agree with Littlefeet that there are children who are not walking at 18 months. It happens and all children are different.

Can't the centre keep the little child back in the infant room or whatever they call it until they walk if that's their criteria for moving on to the next room. It shouldn't depend on their age, but their ability by the sound of it. Very strange.

I think you have to also take into consideration that there is a difference between can't and won't. Some kids especially boys are lazier by nature so don't bother to try as early as girls, although that isn't always the case either. My nephew was running across the room at 9 months lol he couldn't walk as it mean't he needed to have more control and balance but by 10 1/2 mths he had it perfected. My son was 17months and is perfectly healthy. Mentally, he is gifted so the complete opposite of being delayed. I think a lot of factors are involved. For example a 2nd child(like mine) whose older sibling does everything for them, parent's carrying the child everywhere, a child being strapped in exersaucers and highchairs constantly and confined to playpens throughout the day when they are at home. A child who isn't as physically active !!TV BABY!! and is still constantly put in a stroller to go out and about and is never encouraged to walk and be more independantly mobile. As the times change over the years, so do the expectations of how old a child should be when they reach certain milestones. Hence why Dr's test for physical and mental delays later now as it is so hard to judge every child on the same scale.

I wonder what the parents are doing to encourage walking? If there still plunking her in an excersaucer and putting her in front if the t.v all the time how has she been able to strengthen her core.

Typically, the marker for getting concerned is 18 months. If a child is not walking (and not even close to doing so), the medical professionals involved will probably start looking for a "reason".
BUT; I agree that there is a huge difference between "can't" and "won't"!!

I would only be concerned if the child wasn't meeting other milestones, or showed other signs of there being a delay of some kind.

That being said, it sounds like Mom is only concerned because she wants to pay for toddler care as opposed to infant care. If that's her issue then she needs to work on it at home.

My first daughter didn't walk until 18 months. She was meeting all other milestones, but was slow on all of her physical development ones. She didn't sit up on her own until 10 months or crawl until that time either. She was however, able to talk more than the other children in the daycare she was in. She was a very early talker and even now at 2 1/2 she gets strange looks because people think she's older just by some of the things that come out of her mouth haha.

I have never heard of a child centre doing that before...

Pretty much every daycare centre has rules for determining which room a child belongs in using a combination of age/development. A centre has a room for each group whereas in home care we just have one room for multiple ages. Funding and fees are determined by the rooms too with more paid for a child in the infant room than the preschool room.

The issue is not so much about the child not walking but that the mom is expecting the home daycare to keep her child temporarily till she is walking so she can go into the cheaper priced grouping - walkers have a higher ratio of child to adult than crawlers hence the lower fees owing. The provider has the right to feel used and the right to say well too bad should have thought aboaut that when child wasn't walking at 12 months and put name on list for 24 months instead.