Venting Thread

[Alwaysgreener]

She didn't get the paperwork done in the allowed time.(a week) She changed the number of days she needed 4x.

I told her she didn't have paperwork done on time and the whole week wasn't available anymore.

I was trying to be nice and told her thank you for your interest in my child care.

She wrote back asking for part of the week again.

[sahm1225]

I tested positive for covid last week after a dck tested positive. I posted on our app and sent texts to every family; I asked that they notify me immediately if any symptoms or positive COVID results.
reopened Monday since it was past the 5 days and I could still isolate and wear a mask: 5 kids were scheduled -

dck1 parent texts just so you know little Johnny had a fever all last week and now has a cough. I text back- what did pediatrician say? They text ‘oh does he need to go to doctor?’ Then a passive aggressive text asking if they have to take him in for every single cold.. I replied ‘in this case. He was directly exposed to covid. He needs to get tested and be symptom free

dck 2 - text at 8:10am. Little Suzy had a horrible night coughing and has been miserable coughing and runny nose all week. Letting her sleep in and will drop off at 10am. I Text back - what did the pediatrician say? Parent replies - oh we tested the same day you told us and figured she was fine, be there soon. I texted back - she needs to be cleared by a pediatrician since she’s in school AND daycare and is exposing so many people after a direct covid exposure

dck 3 - shows up and hands me a baby covered in snot and coughing on my face. I said ‘ohhh’ as dcd tries to walk away and I said ‘hold on!’ I asked how long baby has had symptoms and what did pediatrician say? And you guessed it - ohhh do you think she should’ve gone to the doctor?
i handed baby back and said ‘I’m sorry but I asked 5x if anyone had any symptoms and you said no. Now you’re saying she’s had symptoms all week!! She needs to go to the pediatrician!

dck4 - came in happy as can be.. 4 hours later looks a little off and a nice dose and drop with a 101 fever..

i almost started to cry. This is Just ridiculous..: but it seems to be happening a lot. I just got an email from our kids school saying to stop sending sick kids to school . I ended up talking to one of the paraprofessionals and she tells me they had 3 kids in a classroom just laying on the floor because they felt horrible and parents refused to pick up. How the heck do you refuse to pick up your child??

[e.j.]

Hmmm....I wonder why the number of Covid cases are on the rise? Good grief! Can you afford to terminate even just one of them if they continue to disregard your covid/illness policy? Sometimes making an example of one family can get the others to take you more seriously.

In answer to the parent who asked if they have to bring the child to the pediatrician every time they have a cold, I would have replied, "Your child has symptoms that are consistent with Covid. Unless he's tested, I have to assume your child is covid positive so he will have to stay out of daycare for a full 11 days. If he's tested and found to be negative, however, there's a better chance he'll be able to return sooner. Your choice." I don't have a lot of tolerance for passive aggressive bs these days.

[sahm1225]

@e.j- ar the moment I cant afford to term anyone: but I’ve put out the word that I have spots open and usually we’ll get inquiries. I have 2 with a star on the calendar though so once I get a replacement, they’re out.
It’s ridiculous

[Guest]

She didn't get the paperwork done in the allowed time.(a week) She changed the number of days she needed 4x.

I told her she didn't have paperwork done on time and the whole week wasn't available anymore.

I was trying to be nice and told her thank you for your interest in my child care.

She wrote back asking for part of the week again.

Ha, I interviewed a family like this a couple of years ago. I finally put her phone number in my phone as "Just Don't" so that I knew not to bother answering. The sad thing was that her kids were sweethearts.

[Alwaysgreener]

LOL, I had another family that took way too long to complete the paperwork, 3-4 weeks, and the Sunday before they started, she started arguing with me about the contract and what she disagreed with. I told her to find other care and implemented 72 hours to complete forms. I extended this one because she was working things out with her new employee but the amount she kept changing the kids' schedule drove me nuts.

[Guest]

sahm1225 We had an employee test positive and then when they were in quarantine, the owner was working on the schedule for the following week that said employee was supposed to come back and texted to ask if they knew when they would be able to return and they texted back that they had decided to quit!

[sahm1225]

That’s sad! I’m guessing there were a lot of things the employee wasn’t happy about and had time to think about during quarantine

[CeriBear]

I got hit by a 3yo yesterday. When I told him it was time to clean up he said no and decided to throw a huge tantrum and start run around the room. When I took him by the hand to escort him to the calm down corner he punched me pretty hard on the leg. He also pushed kid down on the playground and called another kid stupid. This child won’t sit still for five minutes and throws tantrums at the drop of a hat.

[Alwaysgreener]

Is this new behavior for this child?

[CeriBear]

No, it’s not new. This has been going on for a month. He has days when he does not show aggressive behavior but the not sitting still and not following instruction is daily. I’ve had children like this before and I’ve been able to handle it but I’ve always had an assistant. My assistant quit and since I am in ratio they are still in the process of hiring a new one. I’ve had a phone conference with the parents and they are experiencing some of these behaviors at home. He can be a sweet boy if he chooses to be and he does really well if I can give him some one on one time but I have other kids in my class and without an assistant I have to do everything myself. My class is mostly boys this year and all of them are active and tend to mess with this child because of his emotional reactions ( screaming, crying, going to hide under the table).

[Alwaysgreener]

Have you talked to the center manager?

If j likes one on one time, what about having him shadow you, be your helper for the day. Then the other boys can'tess with him as much.

[CeriBear]

Yes. I have been speaking with the director and the parents. We are working on developing an incentive plan to curb the aggressive behaviors. He had a very good day yesterday with no aggressive outbursts and only one emotional outburst ( and that was when someone knocked over his block tower)

[Alwaysgreener]

DCM text this morning. DCG will be picked up at 345 today.

Me Okay

340, I clean up and get dcg ready to go. We waited by the door and no show. 359 I text is someone on the way to get DCG, She has been ready and waiting since 340.

DCM pulls in at 401. This is not the first time she said one time and came later. I feel like it is her way of making sure I have dcg ready to go.

(Even though she was picking up early, DCG was still the last to leave.)

I know what I have to do. In the future, I need to not reply okay but with a policy reminder that she needs to be on time or late fees will apply.

[Amy71452]

I have an agreed window for some like this, but make it earlier than others leave, so 3-4pm then they've flexibility and late costs become beyond reasonable

[CeriBear]

I hate it when parents do this. I once had a parent tell me she was picking up at 2:00 right in the middle of nap. She told me to have her ready to go so I woke her up and had her potty and let her sit at a table to play quietly. Guess what? Mom didn’t pick up until 2:25. At least she wasn’t a noisy child who woke the other kiddos up.

[CountryRoads]

Dcm is off today, her son had preschool this morning. He missed lunch, so she really just brought him for nap time and a little bit of free play. And I'm sure he'll be the last one picked up

[e.j.]

Maybe she brought him to daycare instead of spending time with him because she had an appointment or was trying to get something important done while he was at school/daycare and it was easier to do it without him there with her? I try not to judge. (Just to clarify....I'm not saying you are judging her.) If that's not the case, though, it seems kind of sad to me. When my kids were young, I remember looking forward to days off from work because it meant I could spend extra time with them. It honestly never even occurred to me to bring my son (my dd never went to dc) to his daycare when I wasn't working.

I do get ticked off when parents pick up late on days when they're not working, though! I hope she surprised you and was on time - or maybe even a little early today! :-)

[CeriBear]

Yesterday a parent told me at drop off that they were going to be picking up at 2:30 and to have the child up and ready to go. So I wake kid up, go potty, and eat snack. Guess what? It’s 3:00 and still no pick up. I’ve spent the past 30 minutes trying to keep child quiet while the rest of the class is napping. This child is not exactly quiet and has to be kept occupied or else he’s all over the room. He won’t play with a quiet toy or look at a book— it’s blocks or pretending to be a T Rex. When naptime is over the child is still here. 4:00 and still no pick up. 4:30 —kids still here. It’s 4:45 when kid finally gets picked up. I can understand maybe 10 minutes late but 2 hours and fifteen minutes? They could have a least messaged me and told me about the change. This is just plain RUDE.

[Alwaysgreener]

I think you work at a center so I'm not sure if you can do this or not. But when my client says she's going to be here at 2:30 to pick up the child. I get the child's stuff ready and then text the parent and say child is ready to go see you at 2:30.

Then if you don't get a response back you could always just put off waking the child. If they're late you do a follow-up texting the child has been waiting for you since 2:30.

Also BC has the parent put the time in writing and signing it and if parent is late they get charged late fees, but you being a center it would be harder for you to charge late fees. However you could take this to the center manager or whatever you call them and discuss the issue. And they can put a policy in place you just don't wake the child until the parent arrives.

[e.j.]

It's so aggravating when that happens! Definitely rude and thoughtless.

[Rockgirl]

When a parent tells me they’ll pick up during nap, I tell them to send me a text when they’re leaving to come here. Then I get the child up and have them ready. Too many times of getting them up and ready for nothing!

[Alwaysgreener]

Ugh, I just lost the 6 month old. DCM just emailed a two-week notice. She said she is having postpartum issues and she is not ready to have dcg enrolled in daycare. I went out and bought bottles to warm her milk and tweaked the schedule to work with the child non mobilablity. They are going to bring her for the 2 weeks.

[girlmomma]

Annalee Alwaysgreener

I am seeing a lot of people complain about the cost of childcare, like you said, they want childcare for five kids for the cost of one.

I am up to $150 a week. My rate is the highest home provider rate around. When I first started three years ago, I was at $125 and $100 for each additional child. I was undercharging and always full. However, I had a high turnover because I had HORRIBLE customers. But like you, I would rather charge more and have decent clients.

[Alwaysgreener]

girlmomma when I opened in 2014 the avg was $28/$140 in my area but there was a lot charging $25/$125. I now charge $40/$200 and my niece told me her day care is $50/$250. I figured since I do mainly part time $40 was a deal especially if you call a daycare center and it's like a hundred for one day and $160 for two. Most home providers don't want part time.

[Annalee]

I used to stay $10 cheaper than centers since I closed more often but NOT anymore....right there with them with pricing....

[CountryRoads]

I sent out a message 8 months ago that daycare would be following the school calendar this year.

I'm closed this Friday since there's no school. It was on last months newsletter and this month's newsletter. It was on the menu for the week. Dcm messaged me last night asking if her child could come on Friday She's even a teacher! This is how I know who reads the messages I send out and who doesn't.

[Annalee]

I closed Oct 11-13 and got kids that didn't show up today cause they think I'm closed all week.....I'm not correcting that....what part of Oct 11-13 do they NOT understand....bahahahahahahah

[Guest]

Annalee enjoy yourself.

[Springvalley]

@annalee: enjoy yourself!

[Springvalley]

Had a 4 year old start last year for the 2021-2022 school year and during the school year they turned 5. Home situation is dad has custody of child however dad lives with his mother which is also this child's grandmother.

The first few days were great followed directions etc however as the school year progressed things went south child refused to listen etc and notes were sent home. School year ended and summer came, summer started out the same as the school year great however as the summer progressed, things got bad. Child got to where they wouldn't listen, hitting other students etc.

One day in particular, the child was so bad the grandmother had to be contacted after we had attempted to contact the dad and the grandmother came and disciplined the child. School started in August for the 2023-2024 school year and it's gone good as far as I can tell however the children were out of school today and are out of school again tomorrow for "fall break" and won't go back until Wednesday (10/11) and today the child refused to listen and I found out today the child has been like this since Friday. Family claims the child acts like this because of trauma and that because this particular child isn't in school because of the system being closed for "fall break" that he's use to having a routine and since his routine got broken per say he's acting out.

[Alwaysgreener]

So I emailed my licensor back to let him know I had corrected the item he had cited me for. I also asked him a follow-up question to something he said in the email. That email went out on the 29. His manager was cc'd in the email from and to him.

Well, I did not hear anything from him or her. So today I emailed asking when should I expect a response to my email. The manager responds that the licensor has been on leave and he will respond to me when he returns.

It was more than 5 days and neither time did I receive an out-of-office auto-response. This is not the first time he has not answered an email.