The Paranoid Alcoholic at Daycare

Whew! I had a few emotional hurdles today and I am working on 'starting my day over'. The daycare staff tried to tell me Manther has pink eye and had to go home. This might sound reasonable, except they sent Manther home 3 of the 10 days she attended daycare in December and 2 of the 3 diagnoses were bogus. As a matter of fact, one of these bogus diagnoses was pink eye. The staff member who spotted the alleged pink eye today quickly swept Manther out of the room and took her to the manager to determine if they could kick her out. Initially, I stood in the room stunned at how quickly my daughter had been dragged down the hall and uncertain how to proceed. Then, I realized that I had a right to be part of the conversation and walked down the hall. As I could have guessed, they had decided to send Manther home. I explained that eye boogers are typical symptoms of a cold virus and not pink eye for Manther, however, I had already put the previously prescribed erythromycin goop on her eyes, just in case. They grudgingly agreed to let her stay on the condition that her eyes not make boogers anymore. What the hell ever. I lost composure at this point, but I believe I managed to make my way out the door before this became really obvious.

I did not handle the situation well. The scenario above is very common in group daycare and I have exchanged complaints about this with many daycare parents. I am glad that I advocated for myself and Manther (who felt good and wanted to stay and play), however, I am disappointed in myself because I got really angry and paranoid. Manther's daycare is affiliated with my workplace and I have a 32% scholarship applied to her tuition. I work in an academic setting with doctors and professors and earn a fraction of what they earn, so, daycare helps me out with a scholarship. Rather than be grateful, my crazy alcoholic brain IMMEDIATELY assumes that they are targeting me (and Manther) because we are poorer than the other kids in daycare. I know this is irrational, but I have alcoholic thinking. Frequently, the glasses I view the world with distort things for me and that is where I was this morning. I'm the victim and someone's out to get me and it's all about me.

How did I finally work my way out of this? God helped me. I made a few phone calls and that took the edge off the anger, but I was still a mess. I came into the office and I just happen to be working with a resident right now. He's a doctor and his wife's a doctor and he related a very similar situation he went through with his two year old in daycare. Can you imagine that? Not just one, but TWO doctors who probably weren't junkies in a previous life getting the same treatment I was. That shut me up and brought me back to a more rational line of thinking. I am grateful to my higher power for putting the right person in the right place to save my from my crazy head. Thanks everybody for listening and I am going to get on with my day now.
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