Terming an Entire Childcare

[Country Kids]

Has anyone ever done this? I"m very close and its nothing, nothing to do with the parents at all. I have an awesome group of them but its all the children and their behavior. This group has been with me 3 years and the behaviors are just getting worse not better. It's not one child in particular but 5-6 of them. I guess it wouldn't be an entire chilcare as all my SA are wonderful and I love having them here!

A few though of the little ones have sibling here (older) and I would lose them so in the end it would be about 8 children so that would leave me with three. No calls for months not even through CCR&R and even they don't get tons of call for chilcare searches.

I had company last week and they were appalled at the behavior these kids. They couldn't believe they way they were acting and asked what measures we could do for conssquenses (very old school so spanking was on their mind) but I said only time outs. The funny thing is I have talked to different people and its amazing how many can't believe the way preschoolers act these days and nothing it being done about it.

All my parents know I don't put up with anything from the kids and all back me up if there are problems. Its almost like I feel I'm getting to old for this and the nonsense that seems to go along with it now but can't afford to leave the career yet. I run a tight ship, always willing to try something new but its getting to the point its exhausting. A few other providers have said the same thing and they are all longtime providers.

The parents all seem to be having issues at home also and seem to be at a loss of what to do, so that helps me some days to know its not just me. 3 of them have said older siblings had behavior issues when younger but not to this extreme! Some of them have even noticed it at a younger age also and that its lasting longer.

We are doing wonderful with the outside time but now we have moved back to not eating. It seems like I get one thing fixed and then another issues comes up or we go back to an issue I already fixed and they were doing good at and now its a no go.

Thanks for letting me get this off the chest. I'm now off to comb the 5 hairs I have left!

[NeedaVaca]

Oh my! What are your ages? I remember another post of yours saying you finally got nap time working for these kids, it sounds like outside time is good. You serve meals/snacks,if they don't eat it I would not worry about it! What does the rest of your day look like?

I keep things as structured as possible, lots of stations, art time etc, If my kids keep moving they do pretty well, if I have a child acting up they miss the activity and I rarely see the same thing happen again...

[Heidi]

Country-how many kids do you have at a time? By yourself?

If you have 9 or 10 kids by yourself, then the group is just too big, IMO. That alone would cause utter chaos. 11 hours a day, no breaks, no other teachers....no way! :hug:

[KnoxMom]

Country-how many kids do you have at a time? By yourself?

If you have 9 or 10 kids by yourself, then the group is just too big, IMO. That alone would cause utter chaos. 11 hours a day, no breaks, no other teachers....no way! :hug:

I agree that it appears the ratios are WAY off! Please tell me you have an assistant?? :confused:

[Country Kids]

Country-how many kids do you have at a time? By yourself?

If you have 9 or 10 kids by yourself, then the group is just too big, IMO. That alone would cause utter chaos. 11 hours a day, no breaks, no other teachers....no way! :hug:

The majority of my day 7 hours is just with the preschooler 5-6 of them. If its not one thing with one, its another with another one. I have 4 before and after SA that are just dreams and give me no trouble what so ever. I'm open 11 hours and have the preschoolers for 7 of them where its just them.

My own family comments on the behaviors and either hate coming home or have to hole up in their rooms (which they hate doing) till everyone leaves (2-3 hours).

[Country Kids]

I agree that it appears the ratios are WAY off! Please tell me you have an assistant?? :confused:

Actually I can have 10 without an assistant but it can only be 2 infants (2 and under) or 6 preschoolers mixed with 4 SA or all SA.

[wahmof3]

I was just thinking about this during nap time today

My reasons include the parents too.

I am having some of the same issues especially this week and was trying to write it off as the full moon

Today I had:

1 dck tell me "I don't care" when I asked him to stop stomping his feet bc my dh is sleeping

1 dck repeatedly sticking out his tongue and when I told him to stop he looked right at me and stuck out his tongue

Jumping on my furniture....., running wild in my house...., kicking my dog....

I feel so out of control

There are many other issues and the parents enable the behavior :confused:

So, yes, I thought of what I call operation cleaning house and replacing all of my families BUT I just know that a new set of kids would probably come with the same issues

Good luck! Chin up!

[Country Kids]

I was just thinking about this during nap time today

My reasons include the parents too.

I am having some of the same issues especially this week and was trying to write it off as the full moon

Today I had:

1 dck tell me "I don't care" when I asked him to stop stomping his feet bc my dh is sleeping

1 dck repeatedly sticking out his tongue and when I told him to stop he looked right at me and stuck out his tongue

Jumping on my furniture....., running wild in my house...., kicking my dog....

I feel so out of control

There are many other issues and the parents enable the behavior :confused:

So, yes, I thought of what I call operation cleaning house and replacing all of my families BUT I just know that a new set of kids would probably come with the same issues

Good luck! Chin up!

I love my parents and that is one reason I keep at this. I'm so afraid of terming and then ending up with really bad parents. At least with this group they are so willing to work with me and be on my side.

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

I have PRETTY MUCH done that with my entire daycare. ::

2 in December.
1 in January.
3 in February.

I have 7 left (5 full timers, 2 part timers). All is well, except for one set of parents. I never knew how much stress one family could cause you. Having them term themselves or me helping that along has helped tremendously. If you have done everything that you could possibly do, then I would slowly start terming them one at a time (most problematic first). You may find out that you don't have to term everyone.

Be careful, though. Start documenting everything ASAP if you haven't already done so. I just got blamed by the parent's of a child who assaults other children on a near daily basis for his behavior after suspending them terminating him. Shocking, I know, but it isn't unusual. Almost no parent these days wants to accept responsibility for their child's bad behavior.

[SquirrellyMama]

I know you said it isn't just one child but do you think there might be one that the others are feeding off of? A ringleader of sorts? Are there ever days when one of them is out? Does the dynamic change at all when one is missing from care?

Do you think getting a whole new crew will solve the problem?

K

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

Actually I can have 10 without an assistant but it can only be 2 infants (2 and under) or 6 preschoolers mixed with 4 SA or all SA.

Yes, it depends on your state. I am in the south and can have 12 children by myself without an assistant (same number with an assistant as well, just the structuring with the ages is slightly different). 8 can be under the age of four and the remaining 4 have to be over the age of four.

[MarinaVanessa]

Woah .

I suppose if you are already full and you can afford to do it you can let one child go (one that doesn't have a sibling in your group) and then just advertise for the one spot etc. I know you said that there is not one child in particular that is worse but which one of the children has behaviors that you dislike the most etc and then choose that one child to terminate.

I would sit out and observe every day at different times of the day for at least 20-30 minutes to see what exactly is happening and who starts it. Take notes while you do it and be as detailed as possible. You'd be surprised sometimes to find out that you might have thought one child was the instigator only to realize that it was a completely different child altogether that starts issues. You might think now that it's all of the younger kids and then come to find that it's one or two of them that encourages and fires up the rest of the group.

For now I think that this is the prefect time to sit everyone down and discuss house rules. Post these rules at eye level and make sure to add pictures so that the non-readers can see, understand and be reminded of the rules also. Discuss the consequences of breaking these rules and start a "3 strikes your out" rule for really bad or consistent behavior. Start jotting down each infraction by child and discuss these infractions with the DCPs. Explain to the DCPs that you now have a 3 strikes your out policy and that if their child gets 3 strikes in a day that they will be getting a phone call and have the child picked up.

It's time to take control back of your DC .

[Country Kids]

I have PRETTY MUCH done that with my entire daycare. ::

2 in December.
1 in January.
3 in February.

I have 7 left (5 full timers, 2 part timers). All is well, except for one set of parents. I never knew how much stress one family could cause you. Having them term themselves or me helping that along has helped tremendously. If you have done everything that you could possibly do, then I would slowly start terming them one at a time (most problematic first). You may find out that you don't have to term everyone.

Be careful, though. Start documenting everything ASAP if you haven't already done so. I just got blamed by the parent's of a child who assaults other children on a near daily basis for his behavior after suspending them terminating him. Shocking, I know, but it isn't unusual. Almost no parent these days wants to accept responsibility for their child's bad behavior.

Last week I had kids out and back due to sickness. It didn't matter the group (it almost worked out to a different mixed up group everyday) the behavior was still horrible. It didn't matter who was gone, everyone still had issues.

I even had parents tell me behavior was bad even at home and they told the kids they were coming back to childcare and not staying home (vacation time).

[wahmof3]

I totally understand!!!

I love all of my families too, but sometimes I feel that they are fueling the fire.

I wish they would get on board with me and (for example) tell their kids no when they are jumping on my furniture.

A lot of the issues are my fault bc I am afraid to speak up and just "deal" with it. In my defense if my own children were acting that way at my child care providers home I would be telling them to knock it off.

[Heidi]

I know you've been doing this a long time, so please don't take this as criticism..

It just seems like it's always something, and I know YOU know that. That's exactly what you've expressed frustration about...

I just have a hard time understanding that all these children are rotten. So, terming them all and starting all new ones is not going to solve the problem, IMO. I am not saying it's all you, but there have to be some strategies you might have missed. Changing your layout, getting some new training on dealing with specific behaviors, modifying your expectations or your reactions, honestly, I don't know what to tell you at this point.

I do think that some part of you resents having to do childcare. You've said so yourself over and over. Do you think that could play a role in the dynamics here? You've lost your passion for the job? Maybe the kids sense this? Do you ever have "fun" doing this job anymore?

Again, I am not trying to hurt your feelings. I'm trying to help you figure out what the answer is....