Published February 2011: eHow Family & Relationships Child Care When You Can't Be There What Parents Need to Know When Selecting a Daycare Article Excerpt: Julie Wells, a St. Louis mother of two, removed her son from a day care when staff members fed him snacks made from peanut products despite his peanut allergy. "They knew about his allergy, and I even packed his own snacks," Wells said. "But they were too lazy to get them out." Unfortunately, Wells' story isn't unique. Day care disasters can haunt even the most careful parents. Something to which Brandy Hamann can attest. Hamann, director of Lilypad Learning Center in Collinsville, Ill., and mother of three, decided to open her own center after hearing numerous such horror stories. One mother told her that a center wasn't feeding her child adequate portions. Still another complained of irregular diaper changes, Hamann recalled. "One 18-month-old child was kicked out of a day care because he was biting," she said. "While we don't want children biting, as day care providers we have to realize that this is natural and normal -- you have to find a way to help the child find another way to express himself. But child care outside of the home is often an unavoidable option when work and financial responsibilities loom. While worst-case, or even simply bad-case, scenarios abound, plenty safe options do exist. To find suitable options for their child, it would behoove parents to dig deeper into the practices of local day cares, take safety precautions, ask friends for suggestions and trust their intuition. Read the full story here. - Shannon Philpott
Tag: collinsville IL
Collinsville’s ‘Worker Bee’ Recognized
Lois Metzger was a Collinsville High School Kahok cheerleader in 1955. Since then, she has been cheering for her hometown as an avid volunteer, booster and supporter. Metzger, 73, was recently recognized by the Collinsville Junior Service Club for 50 years of active membership in the organization. "It's a way to give back and make people aware that Collinsville is a good place to live," Metzger said.
From Blue Collar Life to Police Brass
Tom Coppotelli describes his childhood in Washington Park as something straight out of "Leave it to Beaver," complete with days playing ball on dusty baseball diamonds, roaming the streets with friends and hurrying home for dinner with his dad who worked on the railroad. Back then, it seemed he was destined to follow in his father's footsteps into a blue collar life. Read the rest at http://www.shannonphilpott.com
City manager cooks up plans and food
After a long day managing city departments, implementing a strategic plan and fussing with budgets, it only takes a little food to relax Collinsville City Manager Robert Knabel. Knabel, 58, is amateur gourmet chef, a hobby few who interact with him at City Hall know about. "I've always been interested in cooking. It's therapeutic for me," Knabel said recently. "It allows me to focus on something different." Read the rest at http://www.shannonphilpott.com
Collinsville teacher charts growth in new learners
Published in the Suburban Journals/Collinsville Herald: 8/18/09 Decorated with bright yellow borders and character cut-outs, Doris McFall's classroom at Jefferson Elementary School in Collinsville has all the essentials of a typical kindergarten space, complete with crayons, markers and fairy tale books. But it's also filled with something more difficult to pin down, McFall said. "I tell my kids I love them and I mean it," McFall said as she prepared her room for her new batch of 24 students before the start of school last week. "No matter how old they are, you treat the kids the way you want to be treated." Read the rest at http://www.shannonphilpott.com
Shannon Philpott-Sanders 