18 Month Old.....MOM calls EVERY DAY!

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

I guess, as always, I am the odd one out. I have three moms who text daily (How's Sally?) and I don't mind a bit. They miss their little ones and are wondering all day what they are up to. I just send a little blip about how they are & what activity they enjoyed. Somedays I send a pic. I get to the texts when I can (sometimes hours later) and spend about a minute on each so I don't really find it a bother. Daily phone calls however, would be difficult because we work alone. I'd ask mom to text instead.

If I did that for all 9 children it would either consume a portion of my actual break during naptime or would take my attention away from the children. Neither of those options work for me.

I WILL contact a parent via e-mail if I observe unusual behaviors. For instance, I had a child recently that was using the restroom at least every hour so I e-mailed Mom during their naptime to give her a "heads up" so she could monitor it at home as well. I was worried about a possible infection.
I DO send home a daily report via e-mail as well. I will note other things there (special reminders, little notes, etc.) in addition to how much they ate, drank, slept, and what their mood was.

[Sugar Magnolia]

"please don't call. It's very disruptive. If he is NOT doing ok, I will call you."
Boom. Done.

[preschoolteacher]

This is a tough one, because I am certain that if I had my son in daycare, I would be "that mom." Honestly, even when Grandma babysits I like to receive a couple texts about how he's doing even if it's just for a few hours. It is so hard to let go. First baby. Although now that he's getting older, I find myself getting more comfortable leaving him with others.

This is one major reason why I am opening my own daycare.

I don't think I would mind texts, but I see how phone calls can be really disruptive. I imagine myself being able to answer the occasional text message during nap time. Who knows how it will go in reality, though...

[LaLa1923]

My contract states no calls, texts, or emails during nap. I need to unplug..

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

This is a tough one, because I am certain that if I had my son in daycare, I would be "that mom." Honestly, even when Grandma babysits I like to receive a couple texts about how he's doing even if it's just for a few hours. It is so hard to let go. First baby. Although now that he's getting older, I find myself getting more comfortable leaving him with others.

This is one major reason why I am opening my own daycare.

I don't think I would mind texts, but I see how phone calls can be really disruptive. I imagine myself being able to answer the occasional text message during nap time. Who knows how it will go in reality, though...

I'm insane and irritating to myself when it comes to my own children and for very good reason. One child was severely abused growing up and this baby in my womb has miraculously survived into the 3rd trimester. With that being said, I KNOW I am cray cray about my kids so I am super picky about who my current son (and future baby) go with. I actually only let my teenager go spend the night with ONE friend, and I know the family very well, or ONE of his Aunts (he has 21 aunts and uncles). If I enrolled the baby in a daycare, I would work to establish a strong, trusting relationship with that provider from the getgo so I would not be harrassing them with texts and calls. :: I would even let them know that I want to feel like I know them well so I won't bug them.
If I missed them, I'd look at a picture and look forward to our time together when I was done with work. I just don't think it's acceptable to be calling all.the.time.

[AmyKidsCo]

And yes, calls and texts/ememails daily or more are really to help the parent feel better. Usually they miss their little ones and its not always a distrust in their child care provider at all. They are just feeling guilty or something so they call to make themselves feel better. Doesn't make it right but that's when you either step in and directly tell the parent why she can't call everyday or you can passively aggressively deter the daily calls .

Yes, this.

I discourage phone calls and ask parents to email me instead. I tell them that I can't always get to the phone but I do check email several times a day and if I have to walk away from an email and finish it later I won't leave them hanging like I would if I had to interrupt a phone conversation. So far they've all been fine with that.

[Cradle2crayons]

Why are they required to text?

Because I live 300 yards from the road and the driveway can only accommodate ONE car at a time. Also, to be sure my small dogs aren't outside pottying when they drive up.

Occasionally it happens I have to do a mini direct traffic on my very long very narrow dangerous driveway .