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I saw the other post and it reminded me of something that happened today with me. The mom that Ive previously brought up that isnt going to like it when I tell her that Im taking in one more child, well, she came and picked up her son today. I told her that I took the kids to the library today. I had my oldest son with me, he is 14, and so it was much easier pulling my choo choo wagon thing down the road and across the street. She proceeded to tell me that the next time I do something random and not expected to just give her a quick text so she knows because those are the times when you dont say something that something usually happens.....WHAT??!! I reminded her that I have been doing this business for 12 years. And she needs to trust me more. I did NOT agree to text her. Would you do this for a parent? I just think thats a little much. If she wants someone she can keep track of like that, she needs to hire a nanny. This is my business. She signed a form saying I had her permission to take her child out on small field trips. This was one of them. Im not texting her everytime I decide to walk the kids to the library....Sheesh.
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Oh Greenshadow..I agree with you but I understand where she is coming from. No you shouldn't have to run things past her esp. if you have already had her sign the form giving permission.
On the other hand: if I were a parent I would like to know when/if my child was leaving the home/center to go on field trip. Not being nosy. Not a matter of trust. Just a matter of knowing what my child is doing or has done.
Oh and before other posters say..oh at pick up you can know. No, I would be the type of parent that is VERY involved and just would like to know. Even if it was in the morning..hey we might go to the library..that would be good enough for me
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I see no problem with texting a parent with just an "fyi- we're heading to the library"
My personal policy is that parents receive written notice of any trips off of my property that we take in the van. I do have in my policy that with "walking" trips, the parents receive verbal notification at morning drop-off.
I totally understand a parent wanting to know that their child is leaving my property on a field trip - I don't think it's a matter of **trust**, just as a parent, I'd want to know where my child is! And if she's happy with a text saying, "FYI we're going to the library" which would take less than 60 seconds to type and send....I think that's reasonable.
Just my opinion.
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I just think its crazy. I dont care if I am the only one that thinks that either. I would not worry if my daycare provider walked across the street to the library. I trust my child with her for so many hours a day. I wouldnt need to know when to start worrying because they just walked out into the public with my child. Its not like I loaded them into the van and headed off to the zoo. It was a wagon trip across the street. I dont know. Seems anal to me. I have five kids in my care. A simple text times five? I guess from now on I can just tell them everyday that we might leave the house! That way Im covered. I take the kids to the park down the street daily. Ive never had to text her or call her.Comment
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Our state requires that we have a signed permission slitp for every outing so if you were here you would have had to have her sign a form for today. The form is required to contain the date, the time you are leaving, time you come back, where you are going and what adults will be with them. We can't have them do a blanket permission slip.
And yes my parents would flip if I did something like you did today. I only have permission to take them for neighborhood walks and over to the park nearby. Anything else would require getting permission from everyone every time.
I carry a cell phone and am within a block of my house at all times. They know where we are and when we go out.
Every state is different tho. If you aren't required to do specific forms for each time out then she needs to know you want flexibility. It's not trust as much as it is them knowing where their kid is at all times.
I have a neighbor who has done care for years. She does car trips EVERY day with the kids. She takes them shopping, on errands, to run her kids places, to the Dr's office, Dentist office etc. She has had a lot of problems with unhappy clients because of the numerous times the kids are in the car instead of playing at home. She just boots the families if they protest. It's her business and she gets to decide what clients she keeps. She only keeps ones who will allow her to get things done.
I ran into her at my Doc once when I was on vacation. She had six kids in tow. She told me she had a sore throat and had to get it checked before she went camping that weekend. Our doctors are open in the evenings and weekends. She was willing to take these well children to a doctor office so she could get a visit in before she went camping. As a parent, that would upset me.
Not that you would do that but I do understand parents wanting to manage any off site visits.
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I go both ways on this one. I have my parents sign a blanket permission slip for walking field trips. Yesterday I only had 4 kids (all 3 and up) and I decided to take them on a walking trip to the gas station around the corner to pick out a treat. I really debated on whether or not to text/send email to the parents telling them where we were going. As a parent, I think I would want to know if my child was going somewhere out of the ordinary (which the gas station isnt somewhere we go often.) I actually decided not to email the parents about it. I dont really know why. I guess because I have the permission slip so I just went ahead and went. It was fine and none of the parents seemed to think twice about it (even my picky one).
If the library is somewhere you go to often, I would tell the parent that you go fairly frequently and she can just expect that it is a possiblilty...just like taking a walk around the block and you cant take the time to text all the parents everytime you go out. etc...
OR you could just tell her "Sure, I understand." Then just type a quick text as you head out the door saying "We're headed to the library", and not worry about her reasons why she NEEDS to know.
You just have to determine how you want to handle it (or how much you want to keep her as a client). If she was a good client I would probably agree to it. I have come to realize that a lot of the issues that annoy me about parents have less to do with me and more to do with THEM. People have quirks, fears, prior experiences that shape who they are and what they get "weird" about.Comment
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If you are able to take her child to the park everyday with notifying her...then I agree that it is weird. You already leave your property on a regular basis and so I dont see why the Library across the street would be any different than the park down the street. They are both walking trips in the neighborhood.Comment
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people never think the things they do are a big deal until something unexpected/bad happens. if you had a stroke or got hit by a bus - how would anyone know where their kid was? what if a parent picks up early?
it's not unreasonable at all - and i don't care who thinks it IS - to want to know where your child is at ALL times.Comment
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Anal yes. And the very reason I do none of it. Do not transport children in my vehicle. Do not go to the park or for walks. I have a nice backyard with a mini playground. That is what you get when you come to my house.
I will say, in the past 11 years on the occassional very very rare day I only had 3 children, I have made 2 trips to McDonalds for lunch, walking, it is a 15 minute walk, and maybe 3 trips to the park, another 10 minute walk if that. The times I did it, I put a note on my front door explaining where we were. Parents were fine with it. But overall, we are stuck here all day everyday. I can't imagine trying to walk a small group of children daily or loading a group up in my vehicle. I just won't do it. Nor do I want to deal with parents.
When my own kids were in a daycare home, I hated it that she took them in a vehicle. This is probably one of the most asked questions I get at interviews is....do you transport. NOPE, not even on foot.
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i have some parents who dont care if we go anywhere without telling them and some who do. i always make sure to tell my parents ahead of time. i also leave notes on the door as to where we are, and i always tell my FIL, who lives next door, where we are going to be. like others have said, god forbid something happens, somebody somewhere will know where i am, or where i'm supposed to be. i even have one parent who will take the day off to chaperone her own kids on our trips, and thats fine with me.
now as a parent, i am not the type to micro manage or helicopter parent my kids at all, but this is the one time i HAVE to know whats going on with them. i wont even let other moms drive my kids to birthday parties or playdates. i have lost many friends and school mates to accidents, in cars (3 people), a 4- wheeler, and a drowning in the ocean, (all when i was in school) and like someone else said, everyone has quirks and reasons, and i guess this one is mine. i know you can never know when something like that could happen, but i'd rather it be on my hands then someones else's. JMOComment
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You know, I'm in agreement with Greenshadow here. If the parent gave permission for walking field trips, she gave permission for this field trip and didn't need to be notified. It wasn't like you tried to hide anything from her!
We go places several times a week (just yesterday I only had two kids, plus my own four, and we went to an indoor playground for the morning). I do have a schedule for the week posted in the entryway so parents should be aware of our activities - but half the time they don't even look at it and then act surprised when I tell them what we did that day.
We regularly go to storytime at the library, open playtime at a local preschool, the nature center, lots of parks (some walking, some driving), McDonald's playplace (rare - I don't do fast food) and two different indoor playgrounds. Today we're walking to the park for a picnic lunch and time to play on the playground. I think it's fun to go places and it's good and healthy for kids to have a variety of experiences! JMO! Oh, but I try to never run personal errands with dck's - way too much work!
I'm not the slightest bit nervous about transporting kids. I'm a CPST (Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician), I personally own 14 carseats and I can safely transport up to 7 children in my vehicle. Plus, during the school year I had to drop off/pick up my older kids from school every day (which parents are told during the interview). Not comfortable with your kids going places with me? Find another provider. We're a busy bunch!
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I take the kids already to the library on Thursdays for Storytime so she already knows that we take the walk weekly. It was surely not a secret either. I told her that we went and thought she'd be happy to know we got out of the house and got to play and stuff. She was happy but then slapped me with that she wanted me to text her from now on. Its not like we went somewhere foreign. We go to the park and the library all the time. Ugh. I wouldnt have cared if my provider took my child without telling me to the library. Its not like they went to the bail bondsman. If I pay my care giver for childcare and she is making decisions and judgement calls on his behalf then I would be fine with them going to safe places without my knowledge from time to time. Guess thats just me.You know, I'm in agreement with Greenshadow here. If the parent gave permission for walking field trips, she gave permission for this field trip and didn't need to be notified. It wasn't like you tried to hide anything from her!
We go places several times a week (just yesterday I only had two kids, plus my own four, and we went to an indoor playground for the morning). I do have a schedule for the week posted in the entryway so parents should be aware of our activities - but half the time they don't even look at it and then act surprised when I tell them what we did that day. We regularly go to storytime at the library, open playtime at a local preschool, the nature center, lots of parks (some walking, some driving), McDonald's playplace (rare - I don't do fast food) and two different indoor playgrounds. Today we're walking to the park for a picnic lunch and time to play on the playground. I think it's fun to go places and it's good and healthy for kids to have a variety of experiences! JMO! Oh, but I try to never run personal errands with dck's - way too much work!
I'm not the slightest bit nervous about transporting kids. I'm a CPST (Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician), I personally own 14 carseats and I can safely transport up to 7 children in my vehicle. Plus, during the school year I had to drop off/pick up my older kids from school every day (which parents are told during the interview). Not comfortable with your kids going places with me? Find another provider. We're a busy bunch!Comment
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I agree with MAC. This past school year I did walk all the kids to my daughter's preschool, but that was like a block away and only 3 days a week. Before that, I did not take them anywhere. This year, I will have to walk my daughter to the bus stop, but again, that shouldn't be more than a block away. I do not want the responsiblity of taking the kids for everyday walks. I have a nice sized yard with plenty of things to do, plus a 3 car garage where they can ride bikes, and when it rains we play in the basement playroom. The basement is only for bad weather days, where there is different toys to play with then what is in the upstairs playroom.
As a parent, I would not want my children being taken to all kinds of places
I don't see anything wrong with either texting her or at least at drop-off mention about going library, park or whatever. What if an emergency happens and she needs to get her child and you are not there? I don't think it's a matter of trust. I think it's just courtsey to tell her if you are going to be leaving the house.Comment
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