AP-style home daycare mamas?

Hi! Thanks for responding.

I do know our regulations, we can have up to 5 kids w/o getting a license. however I would only want 1 or 2.

I am curious about nap times for one thing. I always nurse dd to sleep, which I would still plan to do. But how do you get other people's lo's to sleep? I asked on a mainstream daycare board and the answer was a unanimous "let them cry". Well Obviously that is out but not sure how to promote naps? I mean they need a nap, right?

Do you use strollers at all for outings? Do you wear the other children?

Do you have a daily schedule or routine? Legally we need to have one here. Would you mind sharing if you have one.

Thanks in advance!
Marianne

I work in a preschool center, but in the infant/toddler room. Each teacher is encouraged to bring our own style, so I brought my slings and slung the littlest or held them (one of them couldn't be put down for several months) until they were ready. When we take walks we have to use strollers (2, 4, and 6 seaters) since we have so many children, however I used to sling the youngest when we went out into the yard to play. The mother of the one child who needed me to hold her constantly thanked me for doing it, and for wearing her so much. She really appreciated it, and I can't imagine parents having a problem with you wearing their children in slings. But if you are worried, go ahead and discuss it with them first. Let them know your style.

As for naps, it takes a little bit of time to get to know each child's needs. Some of our children we hold and gently dance/sway to sleep, others drink a bottle while being held, and the older ones just lay on their beds and we lay next to them and either just lay there or gently rub their backs or heads until they fall asleep.

A great tool is doing a home visit to your families. Bring a list of questions you have so that you can get to know the family and child in their home environment. Ask the parents about the feeding, diapering, and sleeping routines. How their children handle transitions, etc. It will go a long way in establishing a good relationship with the families, and the children will feel good knowing that they know you from when you came over to their house.

I hope that helps a bit. I'm happy to answer any other questions too, although my situation is different in that I'm in a center and not a home daycare.

Thanks,

Karen

I did that.
I was aping all 16 of my kids

I have horrible arm and back pain from wearing babes on the front and back at the same time

Child care is parenting- whether the parents want to admit it or not, AND whether it is in a home or center. What I found was that there were a good percentage of moms that I encountered that felt very jealous and uncomfortable with me treating their children so warmly. It got under their skin for some reason. So I learned with whom I could let down those walls with, and with whom (moms) I needed to keep that facade of formality with. Of course all teh children, I loved so freely. I did NOT let the children cry or fuss for attention. If a child needed to be held, they were held by me or my other 2 teachers. we used our instincts and allowed the children to guide us in creating a program.Also we respected theior preferences, 1 boy was glued to my hip and I allowed that. He was closer to me than the other women and I did not try to pass him off on them.
I ran a child guided preschool innovative curriculum. The entire place was child centered. I was structured yet flexible. I was very affectionate and informal with the children. Some kids called me mama- by their own doing. Some moms like that, other I pretended that was not what their 2 year said in their presence. Defintely advertise with your caregiving style, you want to work with parents that have similar philosophy's, trust me

I guess it all depends on what age children you have. I won't ever take more than 2 under 12 mos unless one is really close to 1. Five years ago I had 2 infants that were a week apart in age, and they started with me at 6 and 7 weeks old. I rocked them to sleep and took turns with them in the sling. They usually were hungry or tired at different times so it wasn't too hard, and my DS was 2 then so he wasn't as high needs as the infants. They both had pacifiers and blankies from home which helped. (I'm not anti-pacifier, my thought is that a baby away from Mommy should be allowed whatever comfort he/she needs)

I don't do outings except for neighborhood walks and 5 years ago I didn't do those because it was too hard with the 2 infants and 3 two-year olds I had at the time. I have a fenced in back yard that we played in instead. Since then my enrollment has only been 1 infant at a time so I sling the infant and use the stroller for the toddlers. The other reason I don't do walks is that our regulations require a wagon or stroller seat for every young walker in case they get tired and need to ride. It's just too hard to push a stroller, pull a wagon and keep track of the walkers!

My licensing regulations require that children under 2 are kept on their individual schedule which means they get to eat and sleep whenever they need to but as they get closer to 2 I work to get them used to our schedule. A daily routine isn't hard to set up, it's just a framework for theday so the children know what to expect. Our routine is like this:
- Play (arrival - breakfast)
- Eat (around 9, the children all eat at home before coming)
- Potty
- Clean up
- Play outside or do a planned activity inside (around 10 - 11)
- Come inside or clean up activity
- Play (while I make lunch, around 11)
- Eat (around 12)
- Potty
- Nap (usually 1-3)
- Potty
- Play
- Snack (around 3:30 - 4)
- Clean up
- Outside or play inside
- Go home

The important thing is to do the same things in the same order, nap is always after lunch, snack is always after nap, etc. It's not a big deal if things don't happen at the exact time every day, that's where you can follow the children's lead. If they're really hungry, eat earlier; if they're really into playing outside, come in later; etc.

Thanks soooooo much for your replies everyone
I would be happy to send my little ones to your daycare

I think you are right that I should advertise my "style"
so they wouldn't get any shocks from how I parent/care.

(I have a friend who always says her mother spoils her son by holding him
when she visits... i wouldn't want someone like that I guess!)

amysuen ~ our maternity leave goes to 1 year, so most likely all would be over 1. My dd will be 1, so maybe another 1 yr old and an older toddler. Thanks for posting your routine. It is a good guideline. I think 2 yr olds do like a loose routine, otherwise they are always asking when snack is etc. etc.

elyice ~ so nice to hold and comfort them. I worked in an daycare environment once where we were encouraged to give only minimal comfort when they cried. -- so that they would not become too "dependent" on us

Karen ~ do they usually go to bed at the same time? Is it hard to meet their needs for being comforted to sleep if a bunch are tired at once?

thanks again
Marianne