What Does Your Day-Care Operator Do In Her Spare Time?
Laura Palos-Martinez, an Oceanside, California day-care operator, is being investigated by Child Protection Services after she posted on her MySpace page, “I own my children’s day care. At night my job changes. I am a sex consultant . . . I sell adult toys.”
Police acknowledge that selling sex toys isn’t against the law, but claim that CPS was involved because “it may be a moral issue.”
Although I admit my first thought upon hearing about this story was, “WHY would someone who owns a day care be stupid enough to brag about selling sex toys on MySpace?”, my second – and, in my opinion, more interesting – thought was, “Do the parents of the kids in the day care have a right to know?”
My third thought was, “I’m not sure.”
There are compelling arguments on both sides. I would imagine I’d have trouble finding any parents who had no interest in the character of their childcare providers, and I would also imagine that many parents would consider active involvement in the sex industry a character flaw of sorts. And maybe they’re right, that such a person would be more likely to take naked pictures of their kids than, say, someone who spent her evenings arranging her stamp collection. But I also think that what people do in their free time is their own business, as long as it’s not illegal, and that what’s really important in choosing a day-care center is whether it’s clean, and safe, and whether the children are well-cared for.
Which, in this case, they’re not. On Tuesday, Palos-Martinez was arrested after a three-year-old in her care wandered off and was found hours later more than two miles away.
Coincidence? Who knows? It would probably be irresponsible, from a scientific point of view, to conclude from one data point that sex-toy purveyors make bad babysitters.
I’d like to know how that 3-year-old traveled a distance of 2 miles in mere hours.
It used to take my kids hours just to go around the block when they were 3.
Forget about the sex toys. The real focus of this story should be the up-and-coming Ben Johnson they’ve just discovered.
Hey, a kid walked away from her school the other day and no one noticed until a kindly passer by brought her back.
No, no point other than “Why the F*&% can’t people keep track of the kids they are supposed to be watching?
AND, you don’t pass on morals by “just being with” a kid. You teach morals. It’s active.
Right on Mike – Say “Hey to Doodaddy, next time you see him.
-B
Thank God the child was okay.
I think this also brings up the issue of how little we pay those people who do take care of our kids. Certainly many need an extra income coming from various sources just to make ends-meet.
Selling sex toys is a legitimate and legal way of making a living.
Daycare/preschool teachers are some of the lowest paid workers the U.S.
THAT’s what we should be outraged about.
Probably not that common to have kids wandering off two miles, and yes, absolutely scary – but it isn’t surprising. Day care providers/Preschool teachers are paid the same amout as that kid working at your local Burger King.
my two-cents
Yeah… using or selling sex toys on one’s own time TOTALLY makes her a bad person and unfit to look after kids. That was sarcasm… If it’s on her own time, I wouldn’t care, as long as she’s taking good care of the kids (which apparently she isn’t- this would be a problem)when they’re in her home. I’d question her judgement in posting this information on her MySpace page, but I don’t see what it has to do with the kids.
Could care less if my childcare person owns/sells vibrators as long as I see no evidence of that when I’m dropping my kid off for daycare. Much more worried about the child wandering off thing.
I have to say that I care primarily about how a childcare worker interacts with my child. I really think what she does at night, off-duty and on her own time is really her business, and in this case, literally! As the article points out, it IS legal, and I don’t think the selling or use of sex toys has anything to do with morality. Now, as to letting some kid wander away…well, that’s another story altogether.
I own sex toys. Implying that I’m therefore more likely to take naked pictures of kids strikes me as somewhere beneath butt plugs on the ladder of moral behavior.
what is the citation on this?
I’m only left wondering why I can’t write this cleverly about things. I read it and nod, agreeing with all points. Yet, I shall go to my grave attempting to so accurately convey and portray….stuff.
Autumn – what morals? The morals that involve having a healthy, imaginative sex life? The use or sale of sex toys doesn’t automatically mean that someone is a sexual deviant.
Yes.
I would never let anyone that stupid care for my children. The people who care for your kids pass their morals on to them just by being with them. Is it okay to have those sort of morals passed on to YOUR kids?
She’s not a good babysitter if kids wonder off unnoticed. Is it okay that she sells sex toys? That’s one I’ll have to think about. The issue at hand, however is that she should at least be watching that kids don’t escape her care.