Awarding our DayCare Provider

So, after some nightmare-ish daycare circumstances when Ammon was a little baby, we found our current daycare provider, Marci. She has saved our sanity.

Every year, the Office of Child Care presents awards in "Excellence in Caring" for those providers whose parents' nominate them and then they pick the best nomination.

Well, Marci didn't even tell any of the parents about the nomination, I actually found out by the Office of Child Care directly about the nomination because I had already contacted them, letting them know how pleased I was with her. So this nomination was unbeknownst (is that a word?) to Marci. In fact, not only was she nominated by me, but she WON!

So there is a dinner for her on Friday night, 9/28, and of course, my chemo had to start that day, so we won't be attending, but I'm so happy that she won because she deserves it above ALL OTHERS.

My nomination is 4 pages long, so here is a a tiny bit of what I wrote:

1. How does this provider show excellence in caring by showing
responsibility to the children?
Marci shows excellence in caring by showing responsibility
to the children many ways. The first thing that I noticed when starting my son,
Ammon, with her is the fact that all the children like each other. I grew up in
day care and even with Ammon’s previous day care experiences, I have
never seen such harmony between the children. She takes the time to notice
and appreciate the differences in each child. She takes that special individual
time with each child to ensure they feel loved. Each child feels like they’re the
most important person in the world.
But also, each child is taught and lovingly disciplined to respect each other. I
can say that all of the children in her care are my son’s closest friends. I think
that’s rare.

Marci ensues a deep sense of appreciation for nature. She recognizes that
children need to get outside and enjoy the fresh air and discover the world
around them. She takes them out on walks every day that she possibly can and
takes them to a nearby school playground, but also has a shaded playground in
her yard. They have sprinkler days, where every child has to bring their
swimsuits to go outside and enjoy the water. She has bicycle/tricycle days,
where they bring their bikes and ride around outside. My son has such a blast
and gets to enjoy grass
and sky and clouds while with her. The experience with other daycares my son
had been in wouldn’t take him outside and the few instances they did, it was
out to black pavement in the summer. If I have to work, I
want my son to still have a meaningful childhood.

Marci goes above and beyond when she teaches children about upcoming significant
events. For example, she teaches them about each holiday that
comes up and they do activities and make crafts to learn about the
holiday. She recognizes each child’s birthday and makes them feel special on
that day. And we recently had another baby in our family and Marci bought
Ammon a book about being a brother to a new baby and read the book
to all the children, explaining to them that Ammon was getting a new brother.
Then she gave us the book when the baby arrived.

Marci loves the children as her own and has invested her life into making their
childhood a wonderful learning experience that prepares them for interacting
with others and going to school. She doesn’t have to teach them letters and
numbers and words and animals, but she does. She ensures that they have
structured school time, and unstructured play time. When I take my son to
other places like nursery in church, he is the first to
sit down after playing and listen to a lesson and it’s because he’s used to it. I
think that’s an important attribute to have.