I have never worked in a daycare center. But I HAVE had the (mis) fortune of having access to live video feeds of a few commercial daycare centres. And by live feeds I mean I had access to view EVERY daycare room in the centre and see what was happening every second of the day in real time.

It was heartbreaking.

The kids are so ignored. The staff is indifferent at best. The kids run around like animals and the staff rarely does anything about it. There are far too few toys or the toys they have are often not engaging to the kids. Every surface is hard and "cold".

I have seen workers soooo unengaged. They do EVERYTHING in their power to not interact with the kids.

I have seen workers using brooms to clean left over lunch crumbs off tables (ewwww!!!). I have seen workers use ONE kleenex on multiple kids' noses. I have seen workers hurry kids to eat in such a manner that the kids can't even finish lunch.

I have seen really little ones sitting in car seats or swings or exersaucers for HOURS on end. I have seen little ones not nap the ENTIRE day because the nap rooms are not conducive to sleep because there are so many other kids who are not taught how to nap and self-soothe.

I have seen infants being fed ENTIRE bottles and not burped until the end. I have seen workers change multiple kids diapers and NOT wash hands in between.

I could go on and on.

I always claimed that if my OWN kids ever had to go to daycare I would put them in a center because I wanted to know there were lots of eyes so no "bad" stuff happened. But after having the opportunity to view cameras at MORE THAN ONE center I would never, ever put my kid in a daycare center.

It is sad. Really, really sad to the point that I just could NOT watch it anymore.

I am sure there ARE good centers and good center workers out there. But I have to seriously wonder if this is how the ones I saw operate when they KNOW they are being viewed then how are the ones that are NOT on a video system??

And the bigger question I have is that these centers have cameras accessible for PARENTS to view. HOW do you watch that stuff on camera and then ever send your kid there again???