Discovery Center in Binghamton, NY

Received Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Today (7/10) I was at the Discovery Center in Binghampton, NY from 10:00 am-12:30 pm. I’m not sure if anyone else from Binghampton looks at Isawyournanny, but I figure it’s worth a try to post what I saw. Immediately, I noticed a girl being really mean to the other group of children she was with. I looked around trying to find an adult that was responsible for her, but found no one. After about 10 minutes of watching her boss and push around two boys, another girl appeared holding a baby. I thought for sure an adult was right behind her, but I waited around and no one came. After another couple of minutes she left that exhibit with the baby and I followed her to another exhibit where she sat the baby down on the floor and started dressing him up in the play clothes. She was actually very good with him, but at 7 or 8 years old, she needed some adult supervision. I would have liked to follow them around the museum to keep an eye on the baby, but with my own three toddler charges it was impossible. Throughout the next hour, I saw the children from this group wandering around with no adult in sight. The two oldest girls seemed to be taking turns pushing the baby around in his stroller or carrying him. Finally about an hour and a half after first seeing these children, I saw their apparent sitter, Miss Kathy, leading two of them out of the museum area. A few minutes later when I saw the group of children and Miss Kathy enter the cafeteria, I ran to the art area to grab a crayon to write down their descriptions, and I took my own kids into the cafeteria for lunch.
The first child was a baby boy with a full head of blond hair. He was around 1 year old, and I assume he is not yet walking. He was wearing a white romper with light blue trim and a green lion on the front. He had on brown sandals. He was in a light blue umbrella stroller with an animal print.
The oldest girl was 9 at the most and had long light brown hair pulled back in a messy low pony tail. She was tall and thin and had on a green tank top possibly layered over a white tank top and green shorts. She was wearing navy blue crocs, and small gold hoop earrings.
The next to oldest girl was maybe 7 or 8, also tall and thin and had long light brown hair pulled back in a low pony tail. She was wearing a white tank top with sequins around the neck, pink sporty capri pants and light pink sandals.
The next girl was maybe 6 or 7 and had light brown hair pulled up in a high pony tail. She was wearing a light blue tank top with thick criss crossed straps in the back and jean shorts. She was rolling around on her Heelies sneakers even though there is a big sign posted on the door that says “No Heelies Sneakers”. These three girls looked very much alike. I’m almost certain they were sisters. They had very pretty faces and looked like they could be Italian.
The first boy had shaggy short brown hair. He was wearing a yellow shirt with a soccer ball on the front, and blue athletic shorts with white stripes down the sides and yellow trim around the leg openings. He also had on dark sneakers.
The next boy had blond hair. He was wearing a white shirt with blue trim and blue and black striped shorts.
The last boy had short dark brown hair, a white tank top and brown sandals. The boys all appeared to be somewhere around 4 or 5.
There was a toddler girl who was between 2 and 3, had blond hair and was wearing a pink shirt. I had not seen her in the museum area.
Their babysitter, who one of the girls called Miss Kathy was a larger woman and had very short curly blond hair. She was wearing a pinkish/orangish sporty top with a hood and brown athletic pants. She had on white sneakers, glasses and multiple earrings in each ear. She also had a large tattoo on her lower right arm.
The other adult who may or may not have been responsible for the children was sitting with Miss Kathy. She had short brown, styled hair, khaki pants, a tan shirt, and a silver watch. She was not thin, but not at all overweight.
They had a white cooler with a pink lid and an orange tote bag with white and yellow flowers on it. Miss Kathy and the other adult sat at one table with the toddler girl and baby boy. They were facing away from the older children who were sitting at their own table. Neither of the adults spoke one nice word to the children and Miss Kathy had a permanent scowl on her face. She would throw food on the baby’s tray, but never spoke a word to him. She did ask the older children if they wanted peas, but I’m pretty sure that’s all she said to them. The other lady talked on her cell phone for the majority of the 30 minutes they were there, and I heard her say they were on the way to the Binghampton Tennis Center.
That poor baby was left under the supervision of two children for almost two hours, and then sat with two grumpy adults for lunch. I would have loved to say something to Miss Kathy, but didn't feel safe starting anything while I had my own charges to keep safe. Miss Kathy was looked very tough.
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