Mom Outraged After Daycare Writes On Her Child’s Stomach To Remind Her To Get Diapers

If you’re a working mom, you know how tough it can be to find an ideal daycare facility for your child. There are plenty of them out there, but you want to make sure you pick the very best available.

And fortunately, there are many fantastic daycare facilities out there.

But every once in awhile, you hear a cringe-worthy story about an incident or issue at a daycare that leaves you baffled or disgusted.

You have to be able to trust the daycare you choose. And it’s devastating when a member of the staff violates your trust by doing something appalling disrespectful- to your child.

One upset mom’s Facebook post has gone viral after she sought advice after her toddler son came home from daycare with a request for more diapers written in marker on his stomach.

Who.Writes.On.A.Baby?? 

Heather Chisum is a single mother of two young boys, Fin and Milo. Her sons were both enrolled at the Children’s Education Center of the Islands on Sanibel Island, Florida.

Heather explained in her post that in order to keep parents informed, the staff provides a daily report sheet that is placed in the children’s lunch boxes. The sheet:

says what mood he was in for the day, what times they changed his diapers, and if he needs diapers or wipes.

And granted, parents can get behind on sending in supplies at the proper time. We’ve all been there- I’m chronically guilty of letting my kids’ lunch fund dip too low before remembering to refill it.

Heather admits that she didn’t see the request for more diapers to be sent in:

I’m a single mom with a full time job and two very young children.

SUE ME FOR NOT READING THE REPORT EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Fair enough. The day prior to the incident, the staff must have indicated on Milo’s report that he was out of diapers. 

Heather neglected to read it, and didn’t send in any diapers.

But she also pointed out that she sees several of the teachers at drop off and pick up every single day, and not one mentioned the depleted diapers to her in person.

Instead of vocally alerting Heather that Milo needed diapers, one staff member sent a visual reminder- and it was scrawled on Milo’s belly.

The message:

Mom, I’m out of diapers pls read my report.

And to add insult to injury, it was permanent marker:

The fact that her son was WRITTEN ON is upsetting enough. But the marker would not come off, even after several scrubbings.

Heather had planned to take her sons to the beach, but was mortified at the thought of anyone seeing Milo’s marker-covered body.

Heather asked a question that many of us are undoubtedly wondering as well:

Why a big long message needed to be written across my sons stomach is beyond me.

OR WRITE IT ON HIS DIAPER
OR YA KNOW, JUST TELL ME?!?

The truly tragic part:

THIS ISNT THE FIRST TIME. They’ve done this several months ago too.

THIS HAD HAPPENED ONCE BEFORE.

Heather had written the post with the intention of gathering the opinions of a few local friends, but it quickly went viral after righteously raging moms condemned the daycare’s actions. 

Within two days, Heather’s post earned over 30K shares and 22k (dis)likes. News of the incident quickly hit the media, and the daycare issued a public apology.

Executive Director Cindy Carter Decosta stated:

We are aware of the incident at the school, and we are terribly sorry for the distress it has caused the family involved as well as all of our families.

It was a breach of our professional ethics on the part of the teacher.

The unnamed teacher in question has been fired, but the Florida Department of Children and Families is also investigating the incident, as is the Early Learning Coalition of Southwest Florida to assure that inappropriate actions like this don’t happen again.

It’s certainly good that the state is investigating… but they shouldn’t have to because something like this shouldn’t happen even ONCE, much less more than once.

Again: Who.writes.on.a.baby?? 

He or she should have “IDIOT” written in permanent marker on his or her forehead, so that we can all steer clear of permitting said person to work with children ever again.

Is this the type of behavior a working parent should ever have to consider when selecting a daycare?? 

Hopefully Heather’s viral post will serve as a powerful reminder to those that operate daycare facilities to DO BETTER in selecting their staff members.