Mikki’s Adventure Club

My children and I started with Mikki about 5 or 6 months ago, and we all thought it was the best day care we had ever had. Mikki was a «mom away from mom», if that’s possible. She took the kids on great outings and did fun activities with them, and she quickly became like family. My kids loved her. She had strong bonds with both of them.
A few days ago, my son came down with a stomach flu. I took him to work with me for a couple days. On the third day he seemed better, Mikki agreed with me, and he went back to daycare. It was a day off at school, so she would have him for the whole day. My son took a long nap, and when he woke up he had a big accident on Mikki’s TV room floor (of the number two variety). Mikki was furious, but I didn’t realize how upset she really was. I offered to pay for the cleaning and even to pay for a new carpet. She said «I run a daycare» and that’s what happens. This happened on a Friday. On monday morning my son told me he was scared to go to daycare. I told him it would be fine, and he needed to just face it. Mikki’s demeanor was different that morning, she seemed cold. But she accepted the money I gave her to pay for the damage without letting on what she was planning. Later that evening however, she called me to say she was letting me go. I was shocked. Not only did my children love her but she had come to be my friend also. We had spent a lot of time together. She refused to even say goodbye to the children, or to talk to them about it, and said I would have to make plans for the next day. They were both heartbroken. It was only a couple days before my daughter’s birthday. Her only reason for this was that she said she couldn’t trust my son anymore. Luckily I have family in the area that helped me with the kids, or I would have been out of a job. I didn’t really care about that, but the looks on my children’s faces when I told them will always haunt me. I begged her to take them one more day, to just say goodbye to them and explain to them what was happening, she refused.
To be honest, there were signs of her coldness from the very beginning. And huge red flags of other issues. In order to make room for my two kids when we first started, Mikki kicked another little boy out, saying that he was a problem child. It was just wierd that she only kicked him out when she needed room for my kids. I also heard her talk to the kids a couple times in a way that made me uncomfortable, but I told myself it wasn’t a big deal. She gossiped to me about other parents business, including children who had physical and mental issues who went to the daycare. She told me how she thought one woman was in the mafia, one of the kids was in child protective services, stuff I really didnt need to know, and didnt want to know.. She took money from my brother in law who needed daycare, pretending that she had spaces for his kids, only to tell him that she didnt, after she got the money. And when I went to pick up my kids every day after school, they were always starving. Why I didnt bother to take action when I noticed any of these red flags is a downfall on my part.
Unfortunately I had to use this experience as a life lesson for my children. There are cruel, heartless people in the world. And they are sometimes hard to spot. But it’s a blessing in disguise, because at least the children are no longer under the care of a woman who could be so cold to them. It give me chills to know that she is running a daycare. It makes me wonder what else she hid from me.
I would only recommend Mikki’s adventure club if you and your children have very thick skin. And never get sick.