Switching Back

[Moppetland]

Hello. First time actually posting for good opinions. But I was a child care provider for 3.5 years and always stayed full. I closed my child care almost a year ago and started substituting as an assistant teacher in a preschool. Now, I regret I closed. There were several reasons I closed. One is because I got bored being at home all day with only children. I missed interacting with adults. Another reason was because I wanted a steady income. Even though I made more money with my home day care, the money was inconsistent in when I get it. I live in IL and they had trouble paying us last year this time. Since 80% of my children were in the CCAP, I suffered. Another reason why was because I needed to close often due to medical appointments I really needed. I tried to take most of these appointments on national holidays I was closed. I felt guilty having to tell parents that I need so many personal days to take care of my health.

Now, I have been working at the preschool for almost 6 months, and I get so tired of the back stabbing, cattiness, and snitching. I just don't feel comfortable there. Also, I have witnessed some things that I know DCFS wouldn't approve of, but I just do what I should do. When I do try to follow DCFS rules, I get looked at as someone who thinks they "know more" or looked down at because I'm "just a substitute". Now I'm ready to get my license back and come back home. I can tell you from my experience that I wasn't missing anything. Now I know there's some very good centers out there. I just happen to have a bad experience in this one.

I just want to know if anyone else had this experience and decided to switch back, either from center back to home or home back to center. Thanks in advance for your opinion.

[Starburst]

One of my ECE teacher's who is also the director of my schools child development program/preschool and she had a home daycare for about 10-15 years when her friends needed someone to watch their kids and she was in school (after being in the military) then closed for a year or two to work for some type of governemt child care funding organization and she hated it so she went back to home daycare for a while. And then around 2001 one of her friends told her about a job as a director at my school and it was already past the deadline but they still excepted the application and she was given the job almost instantly. She said she was sad to close her daycare again but one of her daughters and grandkids were still living with her and everyone was getting tired of all the babygates and daycare requirements ans she wanted to start a new career (she had an AA in child development and an MA in business). She's been there since and she sometimes teaches classes for family child care.

[sahm1225]

Would you have to get re-licensed? Can you find another center?

[Crystal]

I haven't had that experience, but I will say that if you are unhappy, and you TRULY feel that your heart is in family child care then I think you should follow your heart.

I understand the feeling of isolation in FCC, but you can defeat that by geting involved in your R&R, attending workshops, attending conferences and local child care association meetings and events, maybe even taking college courses, etc. This will allow you adult interaction, the opportunity to network AND to build friendships with others who you have something in common with.

Best wishes

[Moppetland]

Would you have to get re-licensed? Can you find another center?

Yes. My DCFS rep made my license inactive but didn't completely close out my file. So, I had to reapply, but don't have to go through the background and orientation. I suppose I can try other centers, but I don't want to hop around from center to center until I find one that I would feel satisfied in. But I don't believe I would. I have a change of heart and want to re-open my home child care.

[Moppetland]

I haven't had that experience, but I will say that if you are unhappy, and you TRULY feel that your heart is in family child care then I think you should follow your heart.

I understand the feeling of isolation in FCC, but you can defeat that by geting involved in your R&R, attending workshops, attending conferences and local child care association meetings and events, maybe even taking college courses, etc. This will allow you adult interaction, the opportunity to network AND to build friendships with others who you have something in common with.

Best wishes

Thank you. Someone else told me the same thing, and I'm even looking into joining an association of home child care providers. I'm learning the business. I now know what I need to do. This is a learning experience. I believe it was meant for me to be a home child care provider.

[blandino]

I would agree. Being active on these forums, plus having a friend from high school who has a home daycare - has helped me tremendously. We call and text each other daily - and she gives me the equivalent of a colleague.

Also, I force myself to have a social life even when I am tired. Sometimes I desperately want to cancel with my friends, but I am always glad once I get there.

[Blackcat31]

Hello. First time actually posting for good opinions. But I was a child care provider for 3.5 years and always stayed full. I closed my child care almost a year ago and started substituting as an assistant teacher in a preschool. Now, I regret I closed. There were several reasons I closed. One is because I got bored being at home all day with only children. I missed interacting with adults. Another reason was because I wanted a steady income. Even though I made more money with my home day care, the money was inconsistent in when I get it. I live in IL and they had trouble paying us last year this time. Since 80% of my children were in the CCAP, I suffered. Another reason why was because I needed to close often due to medical appointments I really needed. I tried to take most of these appointments on national holidays I was closed. I felt guilty having to tell parents that I need so many personal days to take care of my health.

Now, I have been working at the preschool for almost 6 months, and I get so tired of the back stabbing, cattiness, and snitching. I just don't feel comfortable there. Also, I have witnessed some things that I know DCFS wouldn't approve of, but I just do what I should do. When I do try to follow DCFS rules, I get looked at as someone who thinks they "know more" or looked down at because I'm "just a substitute". Now I'm ready to get my license back and come back home. I can tell you from my experience that I wasn't missing anything. Now I know there's some very good centers out there. I just happen to have a bad experience in this one.

I just want to know if anyone else had this experience and decided to switch back, either from center back to home or home back to center. Thanks in advance for your opinion.

Like a previous poster said, if your heart is truly in family child care then you should definitely take a leap of faith and go back to it.

I think that since you have done it before and can clearly identify the issues/troubles you had that made you quit in the first place you have a unique opportunity to "fix" those issues BEFORE you experience them again.

My suggestion would be to write out the things you had the most trouble with and then figure out ways to address or eliminate those issues so that you don't find yourself repeating the same things you did as before.

For example you mentioned families using CCAP as being a troublesome area... I woul figure out which aspects of that situation caused stress or trouble for you and then find alternate ways of handling it so that it is no longer an issue for you.

This forum is great place to start and a wonderful resource for all sorts of child care related issues so you have taken the first steps!

Good luck and stick around...

[Moppetland]

Like a previous poster said, if your heart is truly in family child care then you should definitely take a leap of faith and go back to it.

I think that since you have done it before and can clearly identify the issues/troubles you had that made you quit in the first place you have a unique opportunity to "fix" those issues BEFORE you experience them again.

My suggestion would be to write out the things you had the most trouble with and then figure out ways to address or eliminate those issues so that you don't find yourself repeating the same things you did as before.

For example you mentioned families using CCAP as being a troublesome area... I woul figure out which aspects of that situation caused stress or trouble for you and then find alternate ways of handling it so that it is no longer an issue for you.

This forum is great place to start and a wonderful resource for all sorts of child care related issues so you have taken the first steps!

Good luck and stick around...

Thanks for the advice. My heart is surely in it, and I will start by taking steps that I haven't taken before. I really do appreciate this forum because there is a richness of experience on here. I believe I can do the business a whole lot better this time.

[JLH]

Re:

I had a home daycare open for about 3 years when I found out I was pregnant with twins. I am a whole 5 feet tall so I was put on bedrest almost immediately for problems. I had to close my daycare and I was heartbroken... and BROKE. My husband and I waited for our twins to turn 2 before we took the plunge into re-opening and getting re-licensed. This time I picked a better location and have my hubby with me as my assistant. We've been open for just over 6 months. It's still a rough road re-opening and having to find good families and weed out the bad ones all over again, but definitely worth it. Best of luck to you!