It has been a year (The incident occurred in May 2025, when my daughter was only 16 month old), but I figure I still need to write a review to warn other families. This is what I wrote to my friends to keep a record right after it happened.
"Today is the day we officially cut ties with my daughter's daycare Libao. After I dropped her off, as usual, it was the daycare owner's mother who took her in. Just like before, my daughter immediately started crying when she saw her. She's been at this daycare for six months, and this elderly woman is the only person who makes her cry every single time.
Instinctively, I didn't leave right away. I stayed for a bit to watch. And then I saw something that made me so angry I was shaking for minutes. First, the old woman put my daughter down and shouted at her several times very harshly, "Don't cry!" Then she left through the back door, leaving my daughter alone in a dark room, crying uncontrollably for at least five minutes--I held myself back from intervening because I wanted to see just how cruel this woman could be.
Later, my daughter realized no one was coming to help her. She looked around and spotted me outside the window. Then she started crying and walking toward me. At that moment, another teacher started bringing the other kids in, so I quickly knocked on the door and yelled at the elderly woman:
"You've been in the childcare industry for so many years--how can you yell at a one-year-old like that? And how could you leave her completely unattended in a room for at least five minutes?" She actually lied to my face and said, "I was in the corner the whole time. I didn't leave."
I called over her daughter,
Yukiko, the daycare's legal owner, and I was still speaking very firmly. She tried to calm me down by reminding me how attentive and caring they've been with Yana normally.
I replied bluntly, "Have you heard the cockroach theory? If you see one cockroach, it probably means there are already hundreds hiding. I believe what I happened to witness today is not an isolated incident. I believe this is how she's been treated regularly when I'm not around." I took my daughter home and never would go back.
This occurred a whole year ago, but this morning it still haunts me so much I need to write it down. read more