Great Example Of The Definition of “Service”: Daycare

Last summer, my wife was researching daycare facilities for my then 2 yr. old daughter. Although we thought the ‘curriculum’ being ‘taught’ at the different schools was important, to us, the most important criteria was that the school provide a caring and comfortable environment for our daughter (sounds easy enough, right?) 

After a couple of weeks of researching, interviewing and touring several facilities, my wife came across “Wendy”.  Wendy ran the Strawberry Hills daycare and my wife just loved her.  So, I decided to go and meet her as well.  Although I thought she was very nice - the school was empty - I didn’t get the same feeling as my wife (I didn’t realize at the time that most of the children were away with their parents for summer vacation).

Anyway, I convinced my wife to go select a more “known” daycare (lets call them: “KinderX”) because they seemed so much more professional and orderly - totally forgetting the key criteria (CARING) that my wife and I discussed and agreed upon.

Now, fast forward to today.  While my daughter loves the daycare, to be honest, its a fairly sterile place: they didn’t even remember (or care) about my daughter’s (or any other child’s) birthday.  Plus, heaven’s forbid if I was a day late with the weekly payment.  

The final straw was when I could not find her cubby to place her hat and gloves.  Since she is  a part-timer along with the fact that they have taken on so many additional kids, her cubby was moved and was now being shared with another part-timer.  That was it for me.

So, I bit my tongue and told my wife that I wanted our daughter to go to another school next year.  I was also a little curious to see if we could try “Wendy’s school”.  That turned out to be a good move - my wife was secretly hoping I would come around - and she immediately scheduled a meeting with Wendy.

As soon as Wendy saw my wife she immediately  hugged her and asked how my daughter was doing.  And, get this, she even remembered meeting my mother-in-law!  Yeah, that did it for us.  She later told my wife that parents invite her to their children’s birthday parties and holiday functions - she is a part of the family.  How could I have missed this diamond right there in front of me!  She cares.  

We cannot wait for my daughter to attend Strawberry Hills in the fall. 

All the best -

Daniel