The first nursery visit

Today a friend and I went to visit our first nursery (is it daycare in the US??), the start of our search for childcare for our proposed return to work later in the year. I left the place feeling what can only be described as horror! Well, that is perhaps a bit strong but it was certainly not a positive experience and left me feeling very worried about finding somewhere suitable for my baby.

I don't know if my expectations are unrealistically high but I do know you have to feel good about a place you intend to leave your infant for 10 hours a day! This place didn't make me feel that way at all. When we walked into the baby room it smelled funny, there was a chaotic feel about it, it didn't seem that clean and worst of all the staff didn't seem to care much. Am I expecting too much? I expected to see a bright, clean room with a warm atmosphere and staff who were engaging with the children. What we saw was a slightly grotty room with music blasting out of a stereo - they were supposedly doing Music & Movement with the children but what was happening was the children were just jumping around while one carer was looking completely uninterested in them and the other was running around after two kids who were being naughty - and there was still playdoh on the floor from the morning session. The most noticeable thing was that the staff seemed utterly disinterested and really didn't seem to interact much with the kids, the kids with them or even the kids with each other. And it was the same in all three age groups.

I came home and spoke to Hubby about it and he was the voice of calm and reason I needed to hear. He is concerned too but reminded me this was only the first of a few places I would visit and not to worry too much until I had seen the others. What we are both worried about is how tough it may be to get a place at a good nursery if we find one. We'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it but right now it all feels a little scary.