What do you share with new care providers?

[~cassie~]

We are looking to put my 2 1/2 yr old into Mom's Day Out for 2 days a week, 5 hrs a day. He has never been in a group setting before, only at home with me and his brothers, or at most with his cousins every now and again.

He is deaf but aided with implants--so I would of course give that information and help them understand how to best communicate with him.

But he also does have a few issues with behavior(what 2 yr old doesn't!) but they do seem to mainly stem from the fact that he is very strong willed. And then he does have a few other issues--slightly low tone, but nothing excessive.

Should I share his weaknesses with them or is it best to let them go in with a clean slate and figure out what works best for him? I'd hate for them to get to know Aidan through what I say versus directly from him, if that makes sense.
Thoughts?

[jennabean]

My son Al has some differences that aren't blatantly obvious and some that are (he'll be 2 in May) and I've struggled with how much to reveal right off the bat to a new babysitter...

What I normally do is mention anything that I'd consider a safety issue or might need some explanation, for example Al isn't walking yet so that might be considered odd to a caregiver so I explain about his corrected clubfeet, etc.

Then as the weeks go by I get a feel for how the sitter is interacting with Al and mention some of the other "diagnosis" we've had for Al. What I've found though is that the sitter has picked up on a few things and my explanations help put some of the puzzle pieces together for them.

We've had 4 or so different caregivers so far, some better then others, but this has worked for me... at first I had to resist the "need" to tell them everything about Al, but I didn't want any imposed limitations put on him... by not telling them every last detail and scaring them to death I've also found that they tend to do things with him that I might otherwise be too cautious to try, like the slide at the playground. I no sooner would have sent my hypotonic kid down a slide, but the sitter did on her little set at her house and now Al's a slide junkie! he can't get enough of them

anyway, just my thoughts/observations ... best of luck to you and yours

[Linda on the move]

What I tell people really depends on the whole sitatuation and what extra help/understanding I expect that my DD will need.

I would rather be the one to start the conversation rather than someone picking up things about my DD and stressing over whether or not to mention it to me. Telling someone you think something is off about their child is a HUGE deal, so I prefer to pave the way should they want to mention something to me later.

However, I don't feel the need to reveal everything about my Dd to everyone.

[SpottedFoxx]

I like to give the provider all the information they need to make the experience a wonderful one for the provider and my son. If that means full disclosure of his conditions, strengths and weaknesses, so be it.

Education is power. Educating your child's providers gives them the power to make your child's experience a wonderful one.