Child Care Provider Pet Peeves - Page 5

[Aubergine68]

Originally Posted by ToastyToes

I am equally confused. If the daycare workers, quite reasonably it seems to me, need a few minutes to button things up, shouldn't then "pick-up time" and "employees are walking out the door time" be two very separate, explicitly stated things? If I were given 6pm as the end time (calling it whatever - closing time, pickup time, etc.), I would think that I should pick up my kid by 6, not by 5:45 or 5:30. I'm confused by the semantics here, and think many parents may understand something different from what the providers intend.

I think that this "end time" issue is usually defined for every situation at the time of contract signing, though it may differ from place to place?

I was very clear from the start, for example, that if my child and I were not out the door of the centre by 6:30 pm, I'd be charged a late fee starting at 6:31.

[Aubergine68]

Originally Posted by katheek77

I do think I'd go insane in a day care center, though, just from the lack of autonomy.

I have the same feeling, which is why running a small home daycare is perfect for me.

Nice to hear a detailed description of a parent -provider relationship that is really working well! Thanks for writing it.

That hum of good communication and feeling that one is truly working in partnership with the parent(s) for the benefit of the children makes me feel that there is nothing else in the world I'd rather be doing.

[wildmonkeys]

Sending sick kids....

Okay so I have been reading this super interesting thread We are in the process of setting-up some new arrangements so this is very helpful!

I did have to add something to the sending sick kids issue. It can sometimes be really difficult to tell in the morning if a child is actually sick. I have basically been at home for several years and have sent my kids to school sick a couple of times because I didn't think they were that sick....I have also kept them at home healthy based on how they seem in the morning....

The VP at our public elementary school basically told me the same story about making the wrong call and sending his dd to school sick recently sooo...every so often it is just a mistake.

[StephandOwen]

Originally Posted by lolar2

So is it a general daycare culture thing that the real "closing time" is actually earlier than the stated closing time? A couple of times I've rushed in the door at 5:55, apologetically, and the teacher told me, "Oh don't worry, we don't close until 6. You're fine." But that is unusual? I'm just trying to wrap my head around the idea that picking a child up at or just before closing time, is actually considered late by a number of you. I don't get why the center allows it if it isn't really acceptable. Or is it a disagreement between the employees and the directors?

I can only speak for me and the daycare I work at (of which I am one of the closers every single day). I don't really care if you pick up your child at 4:00, 5:30 or 5:59. It doesn't really matter to me. But KNOW that around 5:45 I'm going to start really cleaning things up and getting all set up for tomorrow. Your child will not be getting 100% of my attention (obviously I'm not neglecting any kids either ). I will not get playdough or paint out for a kid to play with at 5:45. We may read. We may play with simple puzzles, dolls, cars, etc. We may just sit around and talk about how their day was or what they have planned for the weekend.

But at 6:01 you are late, and your kid is likely going to be sitting either in the classroom with his coat in his hand or he will be standing in the hallway with all the teachers right by the door- coat on and ready to go- depending on how late you are. I'm not a b*tch about it and, more often than not, I don't charge you a late fee if you're 1-3 minutes late. Stuff happens. I know. But just know that oftentimes I do have things planned for when I get out of work (at 6:00) and if you are late it causes me to be late.

Originally Posted by wildmonkeys

I did have to add something to the sending sick kids issue. It can sometimes be really difficult to tell in the morning if a child is actually sick. I have basically been at home for several years and have sent my kids to school sick a couple of times because I didn't think they were that sick....I have also kept them at home healthy based on how they seem in the morning....

Being a mom myself I understand this point too. I've done it myself. But if you pick your kid up on Monday afternoon/evening and I tell you that he's been a little cranky and "off", but isn't running a fever however did have one really loose diaper. Then Tuesday morning you bring him back to me and say "it was just teething"..... with vomit covering his shirt and poop running down his legs and 4 hours after you leave a fever miraculously emerges and OOPS! When I go to put empty bottles in the diaper bag there's a bottle of tylenol too.... you KNOW he's ill. Or the ones who bring the kid to daycare in the morning and say "she's been up all night coughing but I'm sure she's fine. Then, on the way out the door, you glance over your shoulder and say "by the way- I'll be picking her up early at 3:00 for a dr appointment to check on the cough...". You know she's ill. If she's ill enough for a dr appointment, she shouldn't be at daycare.

And I will add that the MAJORITY of the parents do NOT do what I describe. There are very few who send in really sick kids and KNOW that they are ill. Most of the times the parent doesn't know how bad the kid is or the kid really does get worse when they're at daycare.

[cak1207]

I also want to say I didn't mean to offend anyone. When I saw the title I thought oh yay someone who has similar stress issues we can vent to each other. I didn't know it was a thread about parents coming to defend themselves against CCP. Otherwise I would of not of posted. Everyone has peeves against their job. This doesn't mean I don't love what I do. I never complain about any of the things I listed to my employer. I always make sure there is no childs laundry or dirty dishes or toys everyday so they can spend more time with their child and less time cleaning up. I always say yes when they want to go get a massage or shopping while I'm on duty. I have no problems with that. You're paying for that. Yeah I hate Monday mornings when I have to get him down for a nap but I don't yell at you or tell you "why didn't you put him down". Of course not. Yeah I also get a little irritated when I tell him he can't have a snack that his parents give him but I don't say anything. But I certainly felt like this was a thread that I could can vent to others in my profession. I bet all of us has vented our feelings out to someone before. Do we do it to our bosses? No. Maybe there should have been two different threads one for CCP and one for parents.

[Justmee]

Originally Posted by wildmonkeys

Sending sick kids....

Okay so I have been reading this super interesting thread We are in the process of setting-up some new arrangements so this is very helpful!

I did have to add something to the sending sick kids issue. It can sometimes be really difficult to tell in the morning if a child is actually sick. I have basically been at home for several years and have sent my kids to school sick a couple of times because I didn't think they were that sick....I have also kept them at home healthy based on how they seem in the morning....

The VP at our public elementary school basically told me the same story about making the wrong call and sending his dd to school sick recently sooo...every so often it is just a mistake.

There is a big difference between accidentally sending a child who was sick because you didn't realize, and delibratly giving a child tylonol to hide a fever when the child was sick / throwing up all night long.

[Aubergine68]

Originally Posted by RachelEve14

There is a big difference between accidentally sending a child who was sick because you didn't realize, and delibratly giving a child tylonol to hide a fever when the child was sick / throwing up all night long.

Or telling your preschooler to hide from your provider the fact that he vomited over breakfast (this is also ineffective, as preschoolers don't lie well.)

[lucky_mia]

I used to be an assistance director at a childcare center and I think part of the issue pick up/closing time is money/salaries. I know by boss was always trying to keep costs down so the center closed at 6:00 and the closer was scheduled to 6:00. It would make more sense to have the closer actually working until 6:30 so that person could have time to do the close up duties after the kides were gone but the management wasn't willing to pay the teacher for an extra half hour.

[GuildJenn]

Originally Posted by lucky_mia

I used to be an assistance director at a childcare center and I think part of the issue pick up/closing time is money/salaries. I know by boss was always trying to keep costs down so the center closed at 6:00 and the closer was scheduled to 6:00. It would make more sense to have the closer actually working until 6:30 so that person could have time to do the close up duties after the kides were gone but the management wasn't willing to pay the teacher for an extra half hour.

I'm in Toronto too and this is what our centre does - pickup is 6, last staff member is paid until and leaves at 6:30, or whenever the last things are done. However, they also have the kids who are there 'til the end up with the cleanup (not the chemical parts obviously) and quite often the staff member can leave.

I totally get that 5:59 is pushing it because it takes about ten minutes to get out the door. But I don't think 5:50 is pushing it if the agreed time is 6.

Also, most parents I know rush their day to get there as early as they can. But I know that I chose a school that goes until 6 to give myself that margin as my commute can be quite long (I leave at 4 and usually am there well before 5:30, because otherwise our evening is shot, but I wouldn't have chosen a school with a 5:30 close time just in case).

This whole "we close at 6 but it's not really actually 6 that we mean" thing is quite new to me.

I wish daycares would be a bit more professional in that; when school ends at 3:30, it ends at 3:30, not 3:10. I can see this might be a regional thing but I'm surprised to read earlier in the thread that Toronto daycares might not adhere to what I consider the cultural norm here which is if a store's hours are posted to 9, they are still open aat 8:45 for my business. When I worked retail I was paid for the extra half hour to close up; same in food service.

[kblackstone444]

Originally Posted by shayinme

This is interesting for me to read because when my 17 yo is home on vacation I do send my 3.5 yo to daycare, as you can imagine having kids who are almost 14 years apart does not make it easy to have many shared activities. For me since the younger one gets the bulk of my time, I look forward to vacation days when I can hang with my eldest.


My youngest knows that I hang out with her brother but I do explain that just as she & I have special times, its a special time for me to hang out with her brother. I would hate to think that my DCP thought ill of me for making time for my child .

I know personally it is hard to juggle kids who are at vastly differeny ages and have them both feel they are getting quality time with me.

Shay

There's a big difference between a 3 year old and a 17 year old set of siblings, as opposed to a 6 year old and a 3 year old pair of siblings. Quick example- last year there was a 3 1/2 year old boy in my class. He had a 6 1/2 year old sister and an 8 year old sister. During every single school vacation, he was there bright and early, from 7:30-8 am until almost 6. His Father worked, but his Mother would take the school vacations off and spend all day every day with the two older sisters. Not just one or two days, but for the whole week and a half during Christmas vacation, every single day, all day. The younger one knew that Mom was taking the girls to shopping, movies, etc all week and he had a horrible time at school knowing this. It it had been for a couple days, or only send him for half the day, and then kept him home for family time the rest of the time, I'd be more understanding, but the send one child to daycare for 10+ every single day, knowing that he knew you were home with his big sisters and knowing you were "out on the town" with his big sisters, I, as the teacher, got to see the fallout. I felt so bad for him. (I've seen many similar situations and have a couple in my class this year. It's not uncommon at all, even with "younger" older siblings.)

I hope you don't see this as a teacher thinking bad of a parent. It's more of a teacher feeling bad for a child who's consistantly left out of family time.

Originally Posted by ToastyToes

I am equally confused. If the daycare workers, quite reasonably it seems to me, need a few minutes to button things up, shouldn't then "pick-up time" and "employees are walking out the door time" be two very separate, explicitly stated things? If I were given 6pm as the end time (calling it whatever - closing time, pickup time, etc.), I would think that I should pick up my kid by 6, not by 5:45 or 5:30. I'm confused by the semantics here, and think many parents may understand something different from what the providers intend.

You're absolutely right about "pick-up time" and "employees are walking out the door time" should be two very separate, explicitly stated things, but unfortunately, that'soften not how it workes. Maybe there's something regional in to it (I've worked in four daycares in NY and MA in the last 16 years), but in my experience, it's the director (or whoever's in charge of the daycare chain) that wants the daycare open as long as possible, but without having to pay the teachers a minute more than they have to, and that means children are there until literally time to walk out and lock the doors for the night. The teachers aren't always happy about this (DON'T read this as "I don't enjoy taking care of your child", please read this as, "I have a family, too, and I'd like to get home to them when work is over, just like I would be able to if I worked as a waitress or a cashier, etc.") and many parents do complain because their child is sitting (reading a book, doing a puzzle) at 5:58 with their coats on and their bag ready next to them.

[ihugtrees]

Originally Posted by AsYouWish

Have you ever spent a weekend with small children before? A weekend that includes making the drive to Grandma's house, spending time hanging out with aunts and uncles and cousins, and maybe sending Junior off on a special trip to the park or the zoo for some one-on-one time with Grandpa? Do you realize that no matter how many slings or pack n plays you cart along and no matter how hard you try to get your child to sleep and recharge like normal, that it may never happen? That your child may be too excited by all of the goings-on taking place over the course of two days that he just might not sleep as well? And are you seriously contending that when the week starts over again on Monday, and Nanny is left with an overtired and cranky little boy, that it all boils down to those selfish parents who didn't make the appropriate sacrifices to give their child the sleep and routine that he needs? What is your expectation, for the family to wall themselves off from their loved ones for the first three years of Junior's life so that he will never, ever be tired on Monday morning? That the parents shouldn't be fostering the development of loving, attached relationships between their child and his grandparents because doing so might disrupt his routine a little bit? Really? And you expect us to believe that it's about the child's needs and not your own convenience?

Here's a slice of real life: I have 12 nieces and nephews; my four older sisters each have three children. When the family gets together (which requires at least a couple hours of driving for most of us) a lot of talking and visiting gets packed into two days. And it is very exciting for the kids! And a lot of the time, no matter how hard we would try to arrange it, the little ones just wouldn't nap as well as usual. And that's just how it goes. For my sisters and brothers-in-law (as I would think is true of most caring, devoted parents), making sure their kids experienced a happy family life that might include some fatigue was more important than being so absolute about sleep routines that it might prevent their kids from spending that time with family. And I'm sure they are so glad now that they took this approach. Our mom died in December after a long illness. All the kids -- all 12 of them -- have nothing but warm, wonderful memories of their Grandma and of all the happy, exciting, loving visits to Grandma & Grandpa's house spent with aunts and cousins. None of the kids has mentioned how bitter they are that sometimes they got a little tired and cranky after all of those busy weekends with the family.

I am so glad that my sisters and brothers-in-law, once back at home after those wonderful weekends, never had to deal with the Monday morning criticism and resentment of a DCP or nanny who was convinced that my nieces and nephews were purposefully sleep-deprived over the weekend in order to meet their parents' own selfish agenda.

:

Honestly, it's not a big deal if it's not every single weekend. But I have had MULTIPLE families who would spend every single weekend out with their friends, socializing the entire weekend. One woman in particular, a single mom, would bring her 13 month old child from house to house all weekend, drinking with all of her other single friends...who, by the way, every time they were together (I witnessed this) would rant about how awful every man in the world was and how much their lives sucked. Not the most positive environment for a child. Grown, 'mature' career women in their late 30's, early 40's--not 21 year olds here. She never, ever, not ONCE while I was working for her, took her daughter to the zoo or the park or the library. I would ask what they did that weekend and she would tell me honestly that they spent the weekend with this friend or that friend. There would be empty bottles of wine and beer on the counter, wine and shot glasses in the dishwasher. She always wanted me to feed her child dinner before she got there so that she could bathe her and put her in bed at 6:30 (she got home at 5 or 5:30.) Maybe it's just me, but if I never saw my child during the week, I would most definitely be spending as much time with her on the weekends as I could! If a child is missing a nap because of a trip to the beach or some quality time with family, that is an ENTIRELY different scenario. When I wrote that post, I was thinking more of the parents who can't let their previous life go at all, so they spend every single weekend painting the town with a baby in tow.

I'm sorry if I offended anyone. I think that if someone started a similar thread titled, "Biggest pet peeves about your job" that EVERYONE would love to vent about what their boss did or some stupid rule they have at work. If your boss came on and read that, I'm sure they'd be offended too. But just remember that if we really hated the job, we'd quit! For the most part, I have understood WHY my parents did things the way they did, even if I didn't 'approve' and LOVED their children (even if I didn't always love the parents)--that's what is important right?

[annettemarie]

Originally Posted by Aubergine68

Or telling your preschooler to hide from your provider the fact that he vomited over breakfast (this is also ineffective, as preschoolers don't lie well.)

This brings back memories. Substitute "lice" for "vomit".

[Aubergine68]

Originally Posted by annettemarie

This brings back memories. Substitute "lice" for "vomit".

Oh. My. Gosh. You're serious?

I've had two head lice "experiences" since I began the dayhome. Thanks to good communication with parents, no one but the originally infected child got it.

Ok, my head is itching now because someone said the word "lice", and I have to get off MDC because my dcc are about to arrive...

[annettemarie]

I'm deadly serious. 10 years later, I remember it well. Sitting around the little low circle table, serving out breakfast, beautiful little five year old with thick, long, blonde hair saying "Mrs. F.,Daddy spent all weekend picking bug eggs out of my hair but it's a secret."

[nextcommercial]

Oh. I have a new one!

If you are going to take the day off to go to the FBR Open... TAKE YOUR FREAKING CELL PHONE!

I REALLLLLY need to reach a parent, and they are together at the golf tournament, and NEITHER parent has their phone on. I's 8:00 a.m for Pete's sake!

I'm going to have such a tantrum if they don't check their phones soon. The littlest one is having an ashthma attack, and I don't have her breathing machine here.

[a-sorta-fairytale]

This is so hard. I really wish there were more quality care options here in the U.S.

I worked for a center that is a nation chain. It was awful. We had the usual parents who left their infants as long as possible. One 6 week old was left from 6am-6pm her mom worked from 8-12 and her dad worked from 7-4. They would change her into pajamas at the center so she could fall asleep on the way home. She would be in those jammies and that diaper in the morning at drop off. If she woke up they would feed her a bottle in her crib and then leave her.

Also, the boy who at 3 had a whole host of behavioral issues which were surprisingly worsened by mom coming early EVERY day to pick up the 5 y/o and leaving the 3 y/o there. She had to pass the 3 y/os class to get the older one so he saw it everyday. She said he was too hard to deal with so she made her dh pick him up. So he was there from 6am-6pm while his older brother was there from 6am-3pm.

It was so sad to me

Most the parents just had to work and hated leaving their kids and that was really sucky too.

The ratios were high and at state max. So infants were 6/1, 2's 10/1, 3's 12/1.

This center also was skimpy with food providing only what the minimum serving allowed was of the cheapest food possible. Lots of saltine crackers, white rice, tater tot casserole, hot dogs, mac and cheese etc. If we wanted the kids to have more then we had to bring it in ourselves.

same with supplies - we had like 3 colors of paint and some paper - if we wanted anything cool to use in our class we had to buy it ourselves on our minimum wage.

It was about money The parents paid about $3/hour for the kids. Care workers made 5-8/hour.

we had those sheets to fill out too. We were to "be nice" (ie LIE) on the sheets. So we HAD to put 3 nice things and not mention if they had cried all day or asked for mom constantly. These also had to be filled out during nap time when we were also required to mop the floors, clean up from lunch, set up snack, write lesson plans, etc. There was NO paid time without the kids to do these things.

I would keep a little notebook of things i wanted to share with parents. Even though it was frowned upon to spend more then 1 minute with a parent at pickup i would tell them cute things their kids did/said etc. I figured if i were away from my baby all day i would want to know something.

Sadly, this is 90% of the centers where i live.

******************************************

There are a few good ones here though. The one that dd goes to pre-k is on the university campus. I worked there for a bit before ds was born. It is such a great center people get on the list before they are pg. It is NAECY accredited. They serve very healthy meals, are very "ap", have small ratios (dds class is all 4-5 y/o's and there are 20 kids with a teacher, assistant, part time assistant, and student workers) There is never more then 10/1 and that is during lunch breaks. They talk to me and work with me on any concerns i have. They have at least 2 or 3 stories for me everyday about what dd did, what the class did, how she liked lunch, what she thought of the activities etc.

they get paid between 8-15/hour.

each classroom has its own playground. there is also a big courtyard where they can ride bikes, scooters etc. They have goats, chickens and rabbits that the classes take turns caring for.

I really wish we could have more centers like this.

***********************************************

When i was a nanny my pet peeve was the family who expected me to drop everything and stay late with a 20 minute notice. I finally started keeping a log and when she realized she owed me 2 weeks of paid vacation due to overage she FINALLY started getting home on time. She got off work at 3 and was supposed to be home at 5. I did the weekly grocery shopping, i cooked breakfast/lunch and dinner 3x/week (they did takeout the other nights) for the WHOLE family. I picked up the dry cleaning. So between 3-5 was her free time.
She really didnt want kids but had them because "that is what you do" Between paying me and a maid she made like $100/month as a principle at a private school. I also had to really set boundaries like that i would not be washing her and her dhs laundry and if she wanted me to wash the kids clothes she needed to sort it as i was NOT digging through her and dhs undies to get to the kids clothes.

***************************************

at the centers my issues were mostly with the system itself. Most parents cared only a handful were bad and it was mostly avoiding their kids

gosh, my post is long and rambly - hope it makes sense. I just feel like most of the time it isnt bad parents or bad care providers but instead a very broken system. If we valued children then SAH would be an option for more people and for those who didnt want to SAH they would have better options like dds pre-k.

[dawningmama]

Originally Posted by a-sorta-fairytale

gosh, my post is long and rambly - hope it makes sense. I just feel like most of the time it isnt bad parents or bad care providers but instead a very broken system. If we valued children then SAH would be an option for more people and for those who didnt want to SAH they would have better options like dds pre-k.

Very valid point.

Many of the grievances being aired here do sound like they could be addressed with better communication and written expectations. I have used both in-home day care and chain centers and I found really clear expectations and contracts negate/prevent/lessen a lot of these issues. I have also been an in-home provider and found my most difficult but important part of the job was cultivating a relationship of openness and teamwork with the parents.

Mod hat: Please do remember that this space is about supporting parents who work and attend school. It is a sad fact of life that there are people out there who parent less perfectly than we do (said tongue in cheek) and I completely hear the value of venting about one's work environment. On the other hand, it can be difficult to hear implied vilification of the choices working mothers make. Please tread gently. We mamas and child care providers are all, ultimately, on the same side.

[rivkah]

I feel like I need to explain my annoyance with this thread, because I just can't seem to stop reading it, which I guess is my fault.

I want to qualify this point by saying that I do not think all of the responses were inappropriate. OP asked for pet peeves, and many posters posted pet peeves. No big deal. However, some of the things that have been said are just ugly.

First of all, this is a forum for working parents, i.e. parents many, if not the majority of, whom utilize child-care providers, either day cares, nannies, or in-home day cares.

The original poster was a mother who uses child care, and asked, with the best of intentions, "pet peeves" of DCP's. It seems like she wanted concrete examples of ways in which she could make her DCP's jobs easier and create a better relationship for her LO's and her DCP's.

I think that many comments, such as "parents who forget to bring diapers or a clean set of clothes," or "parents who show up late in the morning without calling," or "arriving late frequently to pick up your child." These things are helpful for parents. Sometimes, parents who use child care may be unaware of how little details can really affect the working life of DCP's.

However, many comments have devolved into what come off as laundry list criticisms of people's parenting practices. I have a major problem with this for the following reasons:

(1) This is a forum for people who tend to practice breastfeeding, co-sleeping, and other "attachment parenting" practices. How many parents on MDC are really the parents who have their kids in day care 11 hours per day all year long, and send their kids to day care with poopy diapers?

(2) Detailed criticisms of parenting undermines everyone's desire to have a cooperative relationship between DCPs and parents. Even those of us who are courteous and respectful of childcare providers feel like we are being scrutinized and judged.

(3) This sort of criticism is just not positive for anyone involved. I quick survey of this board will reveal that we all struggle with leaving our children and working. Some of the threads are heart-breaking--women with no paid maternity leave who have to return to work with newborns, women who cry every day on the way to work b/c they miss their LO's. How do you think this kind of judgment makes us feel?

(4) People are making very harsh judgments about parents based on incomplete information. I make all sorts of family and lifestyle decisions that I feel are backed by moral/ethical reasoning. However, not everybody lives up to my standards. I do not think it is my place to judge other people except in extreme cases of abuse. To take it out of the parenting context, I believe in buying only locally-raised meat and poultry. I have very serious ecological, ethical, economic, and health reasons for only buying locally-raised meat. Anyone on this board buy their beef from Sam's Club? I bet so. I would not make the same choice, but I am not in another person's position, geographically or economically. I would never assume that a person who buys meet from Sam's Club (sorry to pick on Sam's) doesn't care about the environment or the treatment of animals.

Similarly, to use an example of a common criticism, a parent who leaves their child in day care on day's off or if they don't have a job may seem like parent whose children are not their first priority. But we have NO IDEA! I knew a STAHM who suffered from severe depression. She ended up putting her children in full-time daycare, because she needed intensive therapy, and really could not be an effective parent. Perhaps a person who chooses to spend the day alone with another child never had the opportunity to do so when that child was younger, because at that time, the parent had to work two jobs to pay the rent.

I want to go on the record saying that I was a 2-year old preschool teacher for a year, I worked at an day care for a year in college, and I have provided in-home day care to children during two summers. I am not ignorant about how "it is" for childcare providers.

There are lots of sad families in the world, and it really doesn't make the world a better place when we all judge them.

[Two Spunky Monkeys]

We're working moms too!

I do agree that a few posts may have been a little judgmental. But for the most part, I saw this post as a little gripe session for childcare providers - which is what the OP asked for.

I agree that most moms here are likely not the moms (or dads) who are guilty of leaving a child in a poopy diaper for 14 hours or hiding the fact that their child had vomited earlier that morning.

At the same time, I know that the few gripes I posted were general comments. They aren't things I deal with day to day - and the most frustrating things that have happened to me as a childcare provider usually happened with families that didn't work out one way or another. Everyday, things usually go pretty smoothly.

One big thing to remember is that most of us on this board who are childcare providers are ALSO WORKING MOMS. I care for children in my home - in addition to having my own 3 children there. I can't make it to school functions and I have to worry about when my own kids are "too sick" to be with the other kids and figure out what I need to do about it (that's a really tough situation for those of us who do childcare - where do WE put our sick kid? I usually have to call my families and let them decide if they want to attend - most do, because they know it's likely their own child will get it and they'll have to take off for that). But we have every frustration that other working moms do - the balance of work and family. I guess we don't have to worry about the commute- but most everything else is the same. And please please please don't say "But you get to stay home with your kids, so it's different." It's not. If anything, it can make things a lot more complicated. i have a huge amount of guilt over the fact that my children spend their entire day sharing me with another group of kids. They share me and their home and their toys. They live with a completely seperate list of rules for daytime and nighttime (testimony to how well kids can adapt!). I spend lots of time once the kids are all gone cleaning my home from the days events and my kids get very little time with JUST me.

I get paid about $2.50/hr for the kids I watch - yes, I get to stay home with my kids and not have to pay for childcare for them. But in the past 2 years, my house has been trashed (just think about what all that extra traffic does to carpets, bathrooms, etc) and I make less than minimum wage.

It's a tough job - that really is a job. Try to keep that in mind too please.

[oceanwinds]

Originally Posted by Two Spunky Monkeys

I do agree that a few posts may have been a little judgmental. But for the most part, I saw this post as a little gripe session for childcare providers - which is what the OP asked for.

One big thing to remember is that most of us on this board who are childcare providers are ALSO WORKING MOMS.

It's a tough job - that really is a job. Try to keep that in mind too please.

I agree with pretty much everything Two Spunky Monkeys posted.

No, these things don't happen on a day-to-day basis. If they did, they wouldn't be pet peeves...they would be the reason we quit!