Mom demands daycare teacher holds her 13-month-old during naptime every day, balks when teacher says that's not possible: 'This was the 7th place she toured and that no daycare around here can provide adequate care for her son'

Author image for Emmy Pratt
Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor
Mar 9, 2025 1:00 PM EDT

When you enroll your children in daycare, there are certain expectations you ought to have. While you can choose a center that has small classroom sizes if you can afford/find it, your child isn't going to get the one-on-one attention that they would get with a babysitter or nanny. Daycares also must adhere to specific safety standards that aren't enforcable within someone's home. For instance, a parent can't demand that their kid's daycare teacher take them outside three times a day for at least 20 minutes, but a parent can certainly require that of a babysitter or a nanny. Daycare centers need to accommodate the needs of all kids, so they can't be bogged down with unnecessary itineraries from parents who want more than what they're paying for. Of course, there are exceptions for unique things kids need, but the mother in this story isn't asking for reasonable accommodations. 

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  • The mom in this story really needs the services of a nanny to accommodate her demands. Instead of that, she's gone to 7 daycare centers and asked them to hold her 13-month-old during every naptime because she only allows contact naps. Other daycare teachers chimed in to share absurd demands parents have made of them. 

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    Cheezburger Image 10477349120
    via Curated Lifestyle (Unsplash+)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    Daycare teachers, what’s the wildest request you’ve gotten from parents?

    Little background I work in infants (6 weeks to 15 months) and yesterday had a tour/meet and great with a potential new student a 13 month old, tours going fine mom is a little cold and stand offish but I try not to let it get me and continue the tour and interacting with her son,
    via u/Any_Egg33
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    I go to show her the food we provide for the students and let her know that I will send her home with a list of every food we provide and she can check off what she's ok with son having "Son will not be eating any of those." No problem lots of
    via u/Any_Egg33
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    parents prefer sending food in with their kids as long as there's no peanuts /tree nuts definitely send him in with food :) "No he does not eat solids yet he's too young. I will be sending him in with 5 8 ounces bottles of breast milk and he is not allowed anything else" Ok weird I'll make
    via u/Any_Egg33
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    via Jaye Haych

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    a mental note to talk to my director about that especially since he will be moving to the toddler room in 2 months and they can not have bottles in there Then I show her our nap set up "Son doesn't sleep in a crib” Ok that's fine we actually move them to a floor mattress once they're one anyway so he won't be in a crib:) "No at home we only
    via u/Any_Egg33
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    Cheezburger Image 10477349632
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    cosleep and contact nap I will be providing his carrier so that you can wear him while he sleeps" Not only can I not do that, state laws. I am not wearing a toddler to sleep when I have 200 other things to do durning nap. She ended the tour telling me that this was the 7th place she toured and that no daycare around here can provide adequate care for her
    via u/Any_Egg33
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    son and that she won't be returning Lady you need a nanny Edit I did tell my director about the no food and suggested she make a call to cps I do not have any contact info for this family besides her and her sons first names my director has everything
    via u/Any_Egg33
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    else I can't call cps and say Jen isn't feeding Tommy solids (fake names obviously) I would have gotten his file with all other info including last name and address after he was enrolled they were just touring which we offer to families before they sign on
    via u/Any_Egg33
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    _BrilliantBirdie_ Some parents have peculiar preferences. I had a mom request that we not change her child's diaper if the microwave in the classroom was running. That was probably the strangest request I ever received from a parent.
    via u/_BrilliantBirdie_
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    sludgestomach As if the diaper would be blocking whatever rays she's concerned about
    via u/sludgestomach
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    auraireneauthor I would have loved to hear the reasoning behind that. That's such an off the wall request
    via u/auraireneauthor
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    shiningonthesea can you imagine the h|| she will put a poor nanny through?
    via u/shiningonthesea
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    Any_Egg33 OP You couldn't pay me enough to nanny for her
    via u/Any_Egg33
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    Tracy_Ann12 I had a parent insist that we put a coat on her child everytime we took her outside. Ma'am, this is July in Florida, we will not be putting a coat on Susie
    via u/Tracy_Ann12
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    Alive-Carrot107 Same. Some of our parents are insistent that they'll get sick if they aren't wearing 3 layers. We live in SUNNY San Diego! The weather hardly drops below 75 by the time we go outside
    via u/Alive-Carrot107
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    adumbswiftie not feeding a 13 month old any food feels neglectful
    via u/adumbswiftie
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    Any_Egg33 OP Right that's why I was gonna bring it up with my director he needs to be eating actual food or at the very least purées by now
    via u/Any_Egg33
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    thecatandrabbitlady She's going to be surprised when he ends up needing feeding therapy because he doesn't have the muscles to eat food!
    via u/thecatandrabbitlady
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    JaHa 183 That's pretty wild, some parents just don't understand how childcare works A centre I worked at had a parent with a 1.5 y.o and 4 y.o. Mom requested that the younger one have no naps at all (we can't deny children a nap, especially that young ethically) lead ECE had to explain to her why we couldn't a couple times
    via u/JaHa183
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    toddlermanager We had an infant (but not teeny tiny) whose parents requested that we never take her outside. Outside time is expected. We cannot keep one teacher inside with one kid.
    via u/toddlermanager
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    ksleeve724 I haven't had anything that crazy yet! But I can't imagine how hungry that poor 13 month old baby must have been not getting solid food yet.
    via u/ksleeve724
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    JCannoy We had an infant room parent ask that we run the vacuum everytime the child napped. Uh no dawg.
    via u/JCannoy
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    Comprehensive Leg 193 One of the office staff had her child in my classroom a few years ago. She asked that I take my lunch break outside on the playground so that her child could play outside during rest time. I let her know she could come get her child during rest time and take her outside herself, but she had work to do and didn't have the time.
    via u/Comprehensive_Leg193
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    Bluegreengrrl90 I had a parent drop off a whole rotisserie chicken for the child and asked me to carve it for them as they did t have time to do it in the morning. I had another parent ask me for an itemized list of everything their child ate for lunch/snack. Ma'am you packed the lunch just see what is left over and go from there.
    via u/Bluegreengrrl90
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    c10dyme A parent once wrote that we needed to heat up the child's waffles to an exact temperature otherwise the child wouldn't eat it. How if we're a toddler class with no heating elements and not allowed to warm food..... To go to the infants room and use the bottle warmer!
    via u/c10dyme
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    SauteShantay Years ago, at my last job, we had a parent tell us to cover the entire playground in mosquito netting so his child could go outside. The parents never let him play outside. He was 2.
    via u/SauteShantay

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