Is my child's daycare safe?? No doors in bathroom?

If you had walked into the toddler room and a child was on the changing table having a diaper changed, would you have been shocked?

Preschoolers are still potty learning and not all of them can be safely left in the bathroom with the door closed. They may need help with personal hygiene or dressing, or they may behave inappropriately, such as climbing on the sink or playing in the toilet. If a child were hurt while alone in the bathroom, the program would be held liable for lack of supervision and could be sued. Thus, it is not uncommon to have preschool bathrooms without doors.

At this age, girls and boys tend not to be self-conscious around one another at all unless adults make it a big deal. They really don't even seem to notice.

It also does not concern me that the teacher allowed the little girl to figure out redressing on her own. Many preschoolers have an independent streak and can learn to do things for themselves with time and patience.

The one thing about your story that DOES bother me is that your husband was directed to take your child's coat into the bathroom. No adult who is not a part of the staff should be around any child (other than their own) in the bathroom. Children's belongings should be stored elsewhere.

The program might also think about using a tension rod to hang a washable shower curtain across the doorway at a height that would allow teachers to easily check on children, while giving children a little more of a sense of privacy and freedom from interruption. At their height, it seems like a door and they can learn not to go in if the curtain is closed, but it doesn't compromise supervision.

How old is she? I worked in daycare for years and for kids in the three and under rooms, we didn't have separate rooms or doors, we just made sure they weren't in there together. It was actually state regulation back then that daycare centers couldn't have doors on rooms for that age, because it would require either an unattended child in the bathroom or unattended children in the room while the teacher was monitoring the bathroom. Or leaving the room out of ratio while one teacher took a child to the enclosed bathroom and left the others. So a teacher would stand at the door and be able to monitor the room and bathroom.

The worker should be monitoring though, and not send a parent in the bathroom when a child is in there. Also, that child shouldn't have been unattended, the worker should've been somewhere she could see both the bathroom and the main room.

My daughter's preschool doesn't have a door on the bathroom either. I'm pretty sure it's so no kids are unattended. There is a 1/2 panel blocking off one toilet, but the room itself is always open.

Just say something like "I was wondering why there aren't doors on the bathrooms here." And let them explain it, most likely it has something to do with a state regulation.

Depending on the state and age there are some state regulations saying that the bathrooms can't have doors. I know in the one I interned at in High school the 3-4 year olds had no door on theirs and shared a bathroom (at different times though) but the older kids had separate bathrooms with doors. Still talk to them and bring up your concerns though.

That's crazy!!! They could at least have separate bathrooms or have a certain to put in front when someone is using it. I would speak to someone about this immediately!!

This would make me upset also. Is this a licensed daycare provider? If so. report them to the authorities. This is not the proper way to teach privacy, etc. I would find another daycare provider. I know that this can be difficult. Doors should be on bathrooms, however, locks on bathroom doors should not be for obvious safety reasons. Good luck. Be glad that you discovered this early. Stay involved and informed, your child depends on you to be his or her best advocate.

My daughter is going to be 2 and im trying to potty train so her daycare said they would help with potty training and the other day i go to pick her up from daycare and she was in the bathroom with the teacher with the door closed and when i asked the other teachers why the door was close when they're potty training they didn't know so my questions is can a teacher and a child be in a bathroom with the door closed cause after seeing that i asked them to not potty train her any more because i didnt like that the door was closed and they told me they can't leave it open my daughter really doesnt talk so its not like she can tell me what is goin on so if you could please let me know if it is legal for a daycare employee to be in the bathroom with the child with the door closed thanks so much.