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So I had an interview with a family last night and I am not sure if I should proceed further. I felt I seen many red flags in the interview and I’m leaning towards telling dcm that I will not be able to accept her children into care but I would like other inputs on the red flags before I make a final decision. The space would be for a 12 month old boy full time and a 5 year old Kindergarten girl every second day.
1. The interview started out with dcm telling me that she has been with their current provider for the past 4 years and their reason for wanting to switch is so that she could get her daughter into the busing zone for the school she is enrolled in. However, dcm started the interview by telling me a pile of things that she didn’t like about her previous provider of 4 years. At one point she had mentioned that one of the things that she strongly disliked is that the provider made all the children in her care have a nap/rest period and the children who were in quiet time were not permitted to do activities but that cartoons were put on for them if they didn’t fall asleep. I stopped dcm in her tracks here as I also do the same. I have it in my contract that all children in childcare must have a rest period. If a child is no longer napping and they will not follow my quiet time rules on a regular basis then the child has grown out of my program and it is time to seek care within another childcare home. I do not provide activities for the children over quiet time and I do have the cartoons on for the children who do not fall asleep. This is my time to get my stuff done during the day and my only break and I am not willing to give that up. There was a period of silence after I made this clear and then dcm continues to say that she doesn’t want her children having a nap or quiet time after the age of 3 as they should be up and about and doing activities through out the whole day. I honestly was ready to end the interview at this point.
2. Dcm asks me about my illness policy. I told her that I will accept children with a minor cold but anything above that the children would be excluded. Dcm then asks me if her child had a fever would I try to give the child tylenol to see if the fever came down before I called her. My mouth almost dropped!! I explained to dcm that I would not give the children tylenol to see if a fever came down as tylenol doesn’t cure a fever it masks a fever and that children must be 24 hours unmedicated fever free before returning to care.
3. Dcm then asks me if I sanitize the toys that the children play with on a regular basis, I responded with yes I do. Then dcm continues to tell me that whenever she went to visit her previous provider her 12 month old son (likely younger during some of the visits) would end up with a cold following the visit and she believes this is because the previous provider didn’t sanitize the toys.
4. Over the course of our visit dcm talked frequently about visiting her previous provider and I do not allow parent visits.
5. Towards the end of our interview my alarm went off signaling that my 30 minutes that I dedicate to each individual interview was up so I told dcm that we would have to wrap things up as I had another interview coming this evening and that she could go home and read through the booklet that I provided her with and I would touch base with her this week. Dcm then says, “Oh! We are in competition with other families for this space?” Well DUH I thought! So I said yes I do interview several families for the same space so I can find a family that best suits my program. Dcm then informs me that she will get ahold of me right away the next morning (this morning) as I was their only interview and they can not find anyone else in the busing zone to take their children.
What would you do in this situation? Would you tell dcm when she emails that you do not feel that your program is the best fit for her family? Would you tell her why (or part of why you feel this way)? Would you tell dcm you already accepted another family? Would you try to take the family on and see how it goes?
Input appreciated...
Thanks.
1. The interview started out with dcm telling me that she has been with their current provider for the past 4 years and their reason for wanting to switch is so that she could get her daughter into the busing zone for the school she is enrolled in. However, dcm started the interview by telling me a pile of things that she didn’t like about her previous provider of 4 years. At one point she had mentioned that one of the things that she strongly disliked is that the provider made all the children in her care have a nap/rest period and the children who were in quiet time were not permitted to do activities but that cartoons were put on for them if they didn’t fall asleep. I stopped dcm in her tracks here as I also do the same. I have it in my contract that all children in childcare must have a rest period. If a child is no longer napping and they will not follow my quiet time rules on a regular basis then the child has grown out of my program and it is time to seek care within another childcare home. I do not provide activities for the children over quiet time and I do have the cartoons on for the children who do not fall asleep. This is my time to get my stuff done during the day and my only break and I am not willing to give that up. There was a period of silence after I made this clear and then dcm continues to say that she doesn’t want her children having a nap or quiet time after the age of 3 as they should be up and about and doing activities through out the whole day. I honestly was ready to end the interview at this point.
2. Dcm asks me about my illness policy. I told her that I will accept children with a minor cold but anything above that the children would be excluded. Dcm then asks me if her child had a fever would I try to give the child tylenol to see if the fever came down before I called her. My mouth almost dropped!! I explained to dcm that I would not give the children tylenol to see if a fever came down as tylenol doesn’t cure a fever it masks a fever and that children must be 24 hours unmedicated fever free before returning to care.
3. Dcm then asks me if I sanitize the toys that the children play with on a regular basis, I responded with yes I do. Then dcm continues to tell me that whenever she went to visit her previous provider her 12 month old son (likely younger during some of the visits) would end up with a cold following the visit and she believes this is because the previous provider didn’t sanitize the toys.
4. Over the course of our visit dcm talked frequently about visiting her previous provider and I do not allow parent visits.
5. Towards the end of our interview my alarm went off signaling that my 30 minutes that I dedicate to each individual interview was up so I told dcm that we would have to wrap things up as I had another interview coming this evening and that she could go home and read through the booklet that I provided her with and I would touch base with her this week. Dcm then says, “Oh! We are in competition with other families for this space?” Well DUH I thought! So I said yes I do interview several families for the same space so I can find a family that best suits my program. Dcm then informs me that she will get ahold of me right away the next morning (this morning) as I was their only interview and they can not find anyone else in the busing zone to take their children.
What would you do in this situation? Would you tell dcm when she emails that you do not feel that your program is the best fit for her family? Would you tell her why (or part of why you feel this way)? Would you tell dcm you already accepted another family? Would you try to take the family on and see how it goes?
Input appreciated...
Thanks.
)
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