Doing Time: What it really means to grow up in daycare

by May Saubier

Millions of American children spend much of their childhood in daycare. May Saubier, dismisses the daycare debate and instead illustrates how the very foundation of daycare is flawed. For the first time, parents step into the lives of their children as she reveals a typical daycare existence. Each chapter documents what Saubier, an experienced educator and daycare provider, has witnessed and the impact felt by the children who “do time” there each week.

While the negative aspects of daycare are uncovered in each chapter, Saubier does not expose readers to abuse or neglect as defined by the courts. Rather, her readers gain entry into reputable facilities nestled in affluent, suburban settings. These establishments adhere to the state licensing laws and reside in states with the best child-to-staff ratios in the country. In fact, each one touts lengthy waiting lists. Saubier, therefore, has experienced daycare at its best. Despite this, she continues to mourn for the infants, toddlers and preschoolers who “do time” five days a week.
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"Current societal norms have made the discussion of daycare completely taboo and that's too bad. Saubier writes not to pass judgment on women's childcare choices, but to provide the service of a behind-the-scenes view of daycare. Information is power and Doing Time empowers moms and dads to make informed decisions for their kids. Far from stoking the "Mommy Wars", Saubier ought to be lauded as a courageous and compassionate whistleblower. There should be no place for political correctness when it comes to deciding what's best for our children. Doing Time was eye-opening and powerful. I could not put it down."
Rachel Campos Duffy (Television personality, pundit and author of Stay Home, Stay Happy)

"Thankfully, some authors write for the right reasons -- May Saubier is one of them. Lord, I love a courageous writer."
Suzanne Venker (National Review Online Contributor, co-author of The Flipside of Feminism)

"The question of whether daycare is good or bad for children hasn't been settled, it's simply ignored. With her book, Doing Time: What It Really Means to Grow Up in Daycare, author May Saubier is focusing much-needed attention on an issue the media long ago decided to disregard. Her up close and personal account of working in "high quality" daycare centers paints a disturbing picture. It should be required reading for any parents considering daycare for their children."
Marcia Segelstein (Senior Editor, SALVO magazine; former producer, CBS News)

100 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very eye opening. Never wanting to put my kids in daycare but ultimately having to do so, this book really hits home. I have always been very careful about how many hours my kids are at daycare, but ultimately after reading this book I have a new understanding of what it's like for the babies and toddlers to be in daycare and any amount of hours seem to be too much. The author mainly describes the infants/toddler rooms because that is what she worked in. She also did not get into in home daycares, but stresses that they are ultimately not any better.
Its a quick read and I would recommend it.

[Tirzah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not a parent. I am a childcare teacher to twelve babies and some forty odd children. I have worked at two different daycares for a total of about 6 years. It was never my dream job to work in a daycare. I studied Elementary Education in college and similar to the author, I started working at a daycare to expand my education experience. After graduating, I worked for one year as a teacher’s aide at a school, despised the politics and low morale, and got another daycare job. I considered the job temporary as I continued searching for elementary teaching jobs. Well, none cropped up and over the years, my interest in education and children decreased. Why? Well, that is another lengthy discussion but I will say that working in daycare was one of the many factors that influenced my decision.

So there is my daycare history. If you did not already skip that paragraph, then let’s get to my personal review of Doing Time. I picked this book up, because lately I have been questioning the purpose of my job and how so many aspects of it make me think negative thoughts. My attitude towards daycare dynamics bothered me and had me wondering…am I the only one who think the state’s regulations are ridiculous? So ridiculous that excellent employees no matter how hard they try fail to offer a caring, clean, and healthy environment for the children? Am I the only one who has a hard time wondering why parents with the option of either staying at home or picking up their child early decides to leave their child (healthy or unhealthy) at daycare for 10 hrs. per day/50 hrs. per week? I had to know if I was being too judgmental or off the wall, so I Googled books about daycare. And I stumbled upon this particular one.

It is no wonder this book is not as popular as it should be; it is probably too black and white for some people to handle. With each chapter, author May Saubier takes a common issue seen in many daycares and explains how the issues can be damaging to a child’s physical and emotional development. She does this through her own experiences and statistics from sources she cites at the end of the book. If one has never worked in a daycare or been raised in one, then they have no clue of how flawed the daycare system really is. As Saubier mentioned countless times, there are good people who work at daycares and really care for the children. The way daycare is set up and regulated makes it impossible for us to care for each child in the loving manner he or she deserves. I found myself nodding at many of her experiences, especially since I also work with infants. At times, I had to stop reading because the words would be too close to home that I would become upset (the teacher-student ratio info was very eye-opening and tragic). There were some things that I have personally never experienced during my daycare years, but I do think Saubier mentions some valid points-enough valid points to recommend Doing Time to parents who are considering the possibility of emitting their child in daycare and individuals who are considering entering the childcare profession. I would even recommend it to those in high power who come up with some of these outlandish state regulations…they maybe will see how most (if not all) of their regulations are next to impossible to comply.

One more thing...I was not sure if Saubier was going to offer an alternative to parents, but she does at the end of the book. She addresses how she understands some parents are in a financial bind and may not have another choice than both parents working, but she does give her personal advice on ways for working parents to avoid daycare altogether.

I would be interested to see what other fellow childcare workers think about this book. I would even be curious to see what people who were raised in daycare would say. Please comment or message me if anyone would like to discuss. :)

[Stefania · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was written in the tone of a friend who is telling the truth about the lives of children in daycare. The author is someone who obviously took her job as a child care worker seriously, and had a thorough understanding of its limitations. Saubier looks at the situation with a compassionate eye to everyone involved: mostly, the children themselves, but she also talks about the dilemmas of the workers and the parents involved. The book pulls lightly from statistics but is mostly about her experiences.

Reading about the experiences of babies getting "assembly-line fed" and the prevalence of biting and other sad incidences in daycare, make me sure that I would never want to send my toddler son to one of these centers. She portrays the workers as trying their best, but it is just too difficult to manage so many babies with so few staff.

I wish that as a society we could speak and debate more openly about daycare, but unfortunately, we can't since it is such a sensitive topic. It is frightening that we can trending towards such a different experience for our children from our own, and not even talk about it. That is why this book is brave.

One thing that was especially wonderful about this book was that it was not political. I am a left-wing (left-wing in Canada, so far, far left to Americans) feminist, and I did not see a political undertone (even though I first heard about it on a far-right blog). The point of it seemed to be one woman's desire to share her experiences with others. I am really happy we live in a world where authors like Saubier can self-publish her first-hand experience, and share her message to the world. It is a message well worth reading.