I love my son’s day care.
He’s been with them since he was a year old (Thank you paid family leave in Canada). He turned 3 a week ago. He’s met his friends through the institution, he generally like going there, and the staff has been absolutely amazing. They’ve worked through various illnesses, minor behavioural issues, and potty training with all communications open. His affinity for traditionally “girly” things, such as Frozen and Dora the Explorer clothing and shoes, has not caused them to blink an eye; They’ve been fully supportive. They’ve exposed him to things that we haven’t the time or the skills to investigate with him. I’m absolutely happy with them.
Last week I had the opportunity to venture into the “upstairs” section for the first time. Ge had spent the previous day there due to lower attendance. We had to retrieve his “indoor” shoes. Upstairs is mostly school-aged children (ages 4-12) and to my joy they had the walls decked out with Pride materials (It was Pride week in Halifax, so it was apt). I imagine the kids themselves were involved.
Fast forward to this morning. I again have to make the trip upstairs, where some of the pride materials are still up. One small, unremarkable poster just happened to catch my eye.
#AllLivesMatter
What.
This institution has at least one black employee.
This institution services at least one black parent and child.
Even if this wasn’t the case, I’d be horrified.
Now, it’s entirely possible this is one giant misunderstanding. The staff aren’t necessarily the most politically involved people; one of the schoolkids might have run into the hashtag at some point during Pride and misunderstood its purpose, and the staff involved might not have known the implications. I’m still shocked, though.
(As I write this diary, My wife reminded me that, over the weekend, someone reported their Facebook page as fraudulent, and the director had to fax a bunch of proof of identity to Facebook in order to straighten it out. My wife is curious if it was retaliation for this. I doubt it)
My wife has reached out to the staff to see what the story is, probably more aggressively than I would have. I hope it was a misunderstanding, because otherwise I’m not sure how I’ll deal.
