Masks at Daycare?
HI everyone, our daycare has recently fully opened up but none of the staff or teachers wear masks, and when we inquired about it, they seemed to imply that's just the way it is and that they are not going to force anyone to wear a mask. They ask that parents wear masks during drop-off and pick-up. I'm curious what other daycares are doing in terms of asking staff/teachers to wear masks? I've heard of some reasons against it as young children can be scared of masks, but in this environment with COVID cases still rising so quickly in our county (we are in Oakland), it seems like wearing masks for teachers/staff is the right thing to do? Curious what other daycares are doing. thanks!
Jun 24, 2020
Parent Replies
Our daycare does not use masks either and I'm happy about it. Parents have to wear masks and kids take off outside shoes upon entering or the shoes get wiped clean. Young kids learn so much observing teachers expression and watching them speak (key for speech development) that it will delay young kids' development to be around masked caregiver all day long. Our daycare is small and young kids cannot wear masks anyway so as long as the caregiver are ok not wearing masks (it is home daycare so they are all owners or their family members) as a parent I'm happy with it.
At our school (Little Elephant too!) in Berkeley, all caregivers wear masks.
Wow. I assumed every school/daycare was. Our preschool (Colibri in Oakland) all the teachers are required to wear them. It is optional for students (I don't think any are). Parents must wear them at pickup and drop off.
Our preschool which has kids 18 months to 6 years has all providers wear masks. I have seen photos from preschool though throughout day where masks may be pulled down during instruction which I prefer. It will be easier for kids to communicate and listen to instruction in addition I'm a firm believer of children seeing facial expressions at this age in life. Part of the reason we felt comfortable with sending our kid to school is by discussing this with 2 pediatricians from our practice who both said kids are not big spreaders of Covid.
I'm only looking at daycare/preschools that are taking the risks of this virus very seriously. Many are requiring all staff to wear masks, including Guidepost Montessori, which is where I'm currently leaning towards. I have a beloved babysitter watching my daughter (19mo old) a few times a week (for about 4 hours a day) and she has not had any trouble wearing a mask the entire time and my daughter has not shown any possible negative reaction to it. She's very used to seeing them at this point and will remind us if we don't have our masks on when leaving the house. I think it's a very reasonable and smart expectation at this point. For me, if a place did not require them, it would reflect poorly on their judgment and safety concerns for their staff.
Our daycare (18months - 5 years) does have masks on kids older than 2, teachers, and parents. It's the only reason I felt safe sending my kid back, as my husband and I are working from home. They take off the masks for snack and nap time, but when the kids are playing together they are masked. They have school-only shoes, get temperature checked at arrival, and use lots of handwashing and sanitizer. We sign them in with our own pens, as to not share. We also bring home their bedding every day.
My kid likes his mask and is excited to be back in school. He's learned that we wear masks around everyone who is not our family to keep everyone safe, as we don't know who is sick. For me, non-masked caregivers would be a deal breaker.
Our daycare does not wear masks and I'm OK with it. Like other comments have said it helps for children to see our mouths when speaking. There aren't as many kids at our location (as normally) and the kids spend a lot of time outside, so I feel like they are mitigating as much risk as they possibly can given the circumstances.
All the caregivers at our daycare are wearing masks (kids are not). My son is totally used to seeing adults in masks, so he wasn't scared, and recognized his teacher instantly even with the mask. This does make me feel more comfortable.
At our daycare all caregivers wear masks and so do most of the older kids - but not because the kids are forced to but because they really want to (I think they think these let them look like superheroes or something :)). All younger kids (ours is 1.5y) are not allowed to wear masks due to the suffocation risk. I am a big proponent of masks in general but I also think that all the kids and caregivers of a given daycare will spread their germs among each others anyway with or without mask (although likely faster in the latter case).
In our daycare (tri-valley, Alameda county), all staff, including all teachers, wear face coverings. Parents also wear masks at drop-off/pick-up. Kids seem to be perfectly fine with that.
Wearing masks for staff is the right thing to do -- it's one of our only current tools against controlling COVID-19, and it's also a state requirement. Both my little ones are in daycare/ preschool, and all the staff wear masks. My 20 month old just started daycare a month ago, and I had to hand her off to strangers with masks. She was used to seeing masks and adjusted quickly. Sorry you have to deal with this!
Here's a link to a State of California web, "COVID-19 Infection Prevention in Child Care Programs"
https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/Coronavirus/COVID-19-Infection-Prevention-in-Childcare-Programs-Guidance.pdf
We have a rental property with six women. (One of them works at a day care.) She spent last weekend with her sister who now has COVID symptoms. She doesn't have any symptoms yet, but that can take 2-4 weeks. In the mean time we have to assume all of her roommates have the virus and that it is being spread to the kids and family at the day care where she works. (I don't know if she has or will tell the familes at the day care where she works.)
On the other had not sure if at a daycare environment if we can prevent the spread of COVID. Yet at the same time hospitals in the Bay Area are near capacity due to COVID speading faster than it has in the past.
This virus doesn't care about peer pressure or politics. I would read the latest research on the spread of COVID at day cares. Remember it's not so much your child get the disease. But your child brining it home and infecting your family.
Best of luck with this. In the mean time wear your mask and practice physical distancing.
Masks required for all caregivers at our preschool in El Cerrito/Kensington. They also have a bunch of edited rules including: no parents inside, disinfecting policies and more. That said, they will not freak out when kids get close to one another, and are still encouraging play together outside. Biggest different: all children are in pods and not interacting with one another, and caregivers are limited to ONLY their pod.
I appreciate this grounded and safe approach to pre-school because I firmly believe keeping schools open is necessary. Kids need school. In person school. Not a zoom.