Just who is picking up my baby at Kiddin Around?

I wanted to share a true tale of what a friend has experienced at Kiddin' Around playcare in Coppell that should make you cautious about where its safe to leave your children.

Kiddin' Around is a place where you can drop your kids off for a couple hours of supervised play. Basically instead of the babysitter coming to you, you go to the babysitter. Its a great concept -- you don't have to plan in advance and there's always room for one more.

However, it is leaving your child in the care of strangers who don't know you or your children. There is supposed to be a very strict policy about showing ID when you pick up your child. This only makes sense in this day & age where sadly children are snatched by strangers or estranged family members.

For the safety of all the children, they must be signed into and out of the facility by a parent or an authorized adult. Authorization forms are available at the time of registration and picture I.D. will be required when picking up your child.

My friend recently took her 20-month old son to Kiddin' Around for the first time. Disturbingly, when she picked him up, no one asked for her ID. It hadn't been checked when she dropped him off either. They just asked for her son's name and went in to find him. The employees at the desk were different from the ones who had been there when she dropped him off so there was no way they could have known her.

She fired off an email to the owner letting her know what had happened in detail.

The owner responded promptly apologizing and promising to bring the issue up at an upcoming staff meeting. She then offered my friend a complimentary pass for another visit.

My friend took her up on the invitation as her son had enjoyed Kiddin Around immensely. Sadly, her second experience was no different. No sign-in procedure. No ID checks. No sign-out procedure. Again, the most basic security guidelines had been ignored.

She's awaiting a response from the owner of Kiddin' Around to her latest email highlighting the lack of adherence.

I haven't taken Peanut to Kiddin' Around and now am even more hesitant about it. Its no minor infraction to overlook the check-in and -out procedures that are the only things ensuring that children are taken away by the rightful person. Kiddin' Around is very popular around here, but I think anyone using it should consider the risky behavior of the staff and how it may endanger their children.