You Had WHAT For Lunch Today?

When Lovely Wife and I first started dating, her mother owned and ran a daycare center. It was called Pitter Pat Daycare. (My Mother In Law's name is Pat, and also the pitter pat of little feet.)

Believe me when I tell you that there isn't a more thankless job in the world than owning or working in a daycare.

Even if your eyes never, ever, ever leave the kids, you still can't magically be across the room to stop a bite or a punch thrown by angry toddlers.

Every kid's parents think their kid was justified in whatever they do. "She NEVER bites unless she's provoked!" the parents will say.

The workers are NEVER right. The kids are always angels and all problems are the result of lax workers.

My future Mother In Law took great pains to literally cook a hot meal, each and every day for lunch. I saw this many times. It's just the way she is.
But invariably, the parent, six hours after lunch when they pick their kid up would have a conversation something like this:

"Little Billy, what did you do today?"
"Nothing."
"Little Billy, what did you have to eat today?"
Little Billy shrugs shoulders. Heck, the kid can't remember.
"Did you have a, a, bologna sandwich?"
Little Billy nods, affirmative, "Uh-huh."
So the next morning Mother comes wound up tighter than a two dollar watch. "You said you feed these kids a hot lunch but Little Billy says that you fed them a bologna sandwich yesterday!"

Mother In Law has to try to explain to the DingBat Mother that Little Billy can't remember what happened an hour ago, much less what he had for lunch (she does this nicely).

But this just fires up DingBat Mother even more! HER child is a genius! If HER child told her he had a bologna sandwich, then by golly, that's what he was fed!

So Big Sis, who was taking her oldest son to this daycare at this time, heard the parental grumblings and decided to test the memory skills of her Number One Son.

Big Sis comes back to Mother In Law one day to report her findings.

"I asked Number One Son what they had for lunch, after I picked him up yesterday."
"What did he say he had?"
"Alligators and popcorn!"
"What!"
"He said that what they had for lunch at daycare yesterday was alligators and popcorn."

I've laughed about that for years and years now.

Only in Louisiana (or maybe Florida) would a toddler claim to have had alligators and popcorn for lunch.

Moral of the Story? Parents, give your daycare workers the benefit of the doubt. Don't trust a two year old for accuracy of memory, ok?