Linda Edvenson - Des Moines IA Registered Child Development Home B

I do not recommend Linda Edvenson as a full-time or part-time daycare provider or even as an occasional babysitter for children of ANY age, whether babies, toddlers, PRE-K, or K-12 age. She is not trustworthy with children - our child came home with several either unexplained injuries or what she explained to us didn't match w/said injury. Additionally, she is dishonest and lacks integrity - she often openly gossips about other parents as well as other children. Too many times when she was unaware we had arrived, we heard her loudly SNAPPING at children, including ours. When we were required to knock/ring a bell to announce our arrival, there were several occasions where no one answered the door for 10, 15, 20, even 30 minutes once, even though we loudly knocked numerous times as well as rang her doorbell. A couple of times when we came earlier than expected, Linda wasn't home and her husband was watching the children, which is entirely unacceptable! She doesn't provide even a minimally structured environment, has no daily schedule or routine, doesn't offer any type of learning activities or curriculum, and essentially leaves the children to themselves to play and entertain themselves for the vast majority of the day while she supervises, which is ridiculous. While potty training our child, we made it clear when it was time to wear undies full-time, with pull-ups to be used ONLY for accidents/backup. Our child had maybe 1-2 accidents per week when under our care, yet nearly everyday, our child was in a pull-up when we picked her up from Linda's. We knew this had to be sheer laziness on Linda's end because when either of us took vacation weeks off of work, our child never had anymore than the same 1-2 accidents per week while conditioning toilet usage - why? Because we constantly asked if the potty was needed and/or took our child to use the restroom on a regular basis. Apparently Linda was too lazy to do this. And finally, when Linda takes days, a week, or 2 full weeks back to back off of work, meaning we had to use our backup daycare option and pay that facility the same or higher weekly rate we paid Linda, Linda still expected that we pay her!! Ummm... NO. Daycare providers have never, do not now, and never will get paid time off or paid vacations! Parents do NOT pay their daycare provider when she takes ANY time off work, whether scheduled or unscheduled, because parents must pay someone else to care for their child(ren) in the absence of their main provider. NO ONE PAYS DOUBLE FOR DAYCARE! If Linda wants paid vacations, then she needs to work for a company who offers it. She is a self-employed owner of an in-home daycare. No other provider that we know of has ever demanded such an absurd thing. ALL of our family members, friends, colleagues, neighbors, acquaintances, or online connections said they've never once been asked or expected to pay when the daycare provider calls off work for any reason nor have they ever heard until now of a provider demanding this! We have several friends who do in-home daycare and they all confirmed that they've never heard of asking for paid time-off/paid vacations either. If you choose to ignore our warnings, it's at your and your child(ren)'s own risk - and you will pay a price, maybe too high a price! We removed our child from her care and regret that we ever allowed her to care for our precious little one... I mean, who, as a daycare provider, rejects hugs and kisses from the kids they watch or doesn't say "I love you, too" when an innocent child tells them "I love you"??? I'll tell you who -- LINDA EDVENSON, that's who!!!!