Parents Really Don't Understand

There is just so much to write on this subject but I will try my best to get the jist of it in as briefly as possible. Now trying to figure out where to begin. I guess I will start with the first converstation I had this morning with one of my parents. The issue: Dates I Am Closed. First of all, I close on all national holidays and I have a few other days for time to spend with my children. Parents are required to pay even when I am closed. The fees they pay me holds their child's place for when they do not attend and other items/time spent preparing and purchasing items needed to properly care for and teach the children so that they can grow/learn at their fullest potential for entering school. I give them a head start. If you total all the days that I close you will find that I have about 20 days for the whole year. I have a friend that has decided that she will be a back up for me when I close for those parents who need the care. I did not discuss with her about what she would charge because I feel that is up to her and the parents who may call on her. I also give the parents between a two week or more ahead of time notice of the days that I will be closed. One thing that I have recently started doing was giving them a calendar like the school does so that they will know well ahead of time when I will close. One of the days that I will close this October is Friday the 16th. This is fall break for my kids and they will also be out on the following Monday. I told this parent that I was closing this particular day because I wanted to spend special time with my own children. Should be understandable right? This is what she said back to me, "You have the weekend." I could not believe my ears! This is a parent that I have known a long time. In fact, her first child was my first student in my family home child care when I opened! I don't know about you but the weekend is never long enough for me or for them. One day they are going to be grown up and I won't have these younger years (which are the most important by the way) to spend with them. I was in shock at her saying that. I wanted to ask her if the weekend is enough for her. Next, I have a parent who doesn't believe or at the least have her kids on a schedule. I don't understand parents who don't want to use a schedule. You wouldn't believe how much easier it makes the day go by using a schedule. The children are happiest when they know what to expect. There are some days though that you can vear from the schedule and it can become somewhat chaotic if events may not be planned but I believe children learn best when on a schedule. Okay so the issue at hand: Schedule Or No Schedule. The children in question arrived this morning at 7:24 a.m. I open at 7:30 a.m. Maybe you're thinking what's six minutes? My children were just getting on the bus. Six minutes could actually give me enough time to pray/meditate and prepare myself for the rest of the day. Okay so this wasn't that big of an issue. One of the children will be two in October and the other one is seven months old. She started fussing a little (by the way...she is the best baby, very easy going, hardly ever cries) so I figured she must be hungry. I sent her mother a text message to find out what time she had a bottle. She text back 6:00 a.m. So I opened a jar of baby food and was feeding that to her. She also saw her sister eating breakfast so I know that was what made her think about eating too. Her mother texts me and says they eat when they get hungry. There's no certain time that they do this. I text her and told her that I was feeding her a jar of baby food. She text back that they do not have a schedule that they just eat when they are hungry. I wished that parents could realize what that does to a child to go from one environment that is completely unstructured to an environment that IS structured. Like I said, schedules are good because they help the child to know what to expect. It also lessons bad behavior and gives them a sense of independence. I don't think parents realize the work, stress, and rewards included that go into running a child care business. My clock hours are from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. but it doesn't just stop there. There are errands to run and plans to make. I can not even begin to tell you how much time this could take. Providing care for the children of other families can be extremely exhausting and parents just seem to expect that you can keep going like the energizer bunny with no breaks and that because they pay you, that you shouldn't have any time off to recooperate from taking care of their kids! I have a family of my own to take care of. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my work and feel that I go the extra mile even when I don't get recognition for it but I do it because I love the children. It's all about the children! Does anyone else have a comment to make about family child care, my close dates, or schedules? Let me know what you think.

It's the finger again!

It's been a little while since I have posted but I thought I would take time to tell you about this one. Right before school started, my son, Garron had an infection in one of his fingers. He took the antiobiotics and the infection went away. This same finger that was infected has now created another problem. His fingernail had started lifting away from the nail bed. I knew that it was getting ready to fall off but it was still hanging on there and Garron will not let anyone touch it. Yesterday at school on the playground, he came down what he calls "the green pole" and it was ripped off of his finger even more. The nurse calls me to go get him and she placed a bandaid on his finger because it was bleeding so bad. I took Garron to Urgent Care in Dublin to see about his nail. The doctor suggested that we just keep a bandaid on it to protect it and let it come off naturally. He also prescribed some more antiobiotics just in case it set up infection again. You know that nagging feeling you have as a mother that was trying to listen to what the doctor said while your heart is telling you not to listen to him and do what you know is best? Well, gave him the benefit of the doubt and we left with just a bandaid on his finger. After we get home and studied for some tests, Garron was ready to take his bath. He asked if he could take the bandaid off so that it wouldn't get wet and I told him he could. It wasn't long I heard screaming and ran to see what was wrong. Garron couldn't get the bandaid off and it lifted the nail again!!! I felt so bad for him. I couldn't even remove the bandaid. The nurse had put the sticky part down on his nail. I tried to cut part of the bandaid off but Garron was screaming and crying that I couldn't do it for fear that I would actually rip the rest of his nail off. I have called Urgent Care to see if someone would remove the nail. They can but still recommended to leave it on and it will be $200 out of pocket because insurance won't cover it now because of the way the doctor documented it last night that it was still attached. The nurse told me to just soak his finger and the bandaid in warm water and the bandaid will come off. She said that it would tramatize him even more to numb his finger and remove the nail then for it to just come off naturally. Needless to say I am slightly irate about this whole situation!