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I've heard of some of you having trouble with dcf that are your neighbors. I have an interview tomorrow to fill a much needed to be filled spot. They family is relatives of my neighbor. The neighbor is great. I wouldn't want any tension if it didn't work out though. Should I do it?
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In my opinion and experience, RUN! I no longer will watch a neighbor's kid. The kid (plus me) knows exactly when mom or dad get home. -
This isn't the actual neighbor though, it's her family so I'm debatingComment
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If they don't acually live next door, then it can't hurt to interview and see if it could work.
I agree with others about keeping neighbors, dcp's home while you have the kiddos is hard on provider and child.Comment
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Depends on how YOU feel about enforcing your policies or allowing "special" due to the family being related to the neighbors...kwim?
Personally I have zero issues enforcing my rules to anyone so I don't mind related families, neighbors or friends as clients.
I remind clients often that ANY relationship we have between us comes AFTER the provider-client relationship.
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I've watched the kids of FOUR neighbors over my 20 years. Two worked out perfectly. Not a problem whatsoever. The other two... not so much.
One was a little girl who lived across the street. I had her from about 16 months to a little over 2 yrs old. They were hourly. We didn't have a set pick-up time because both parents had the type of job where they got off at random times that could not be planned ahead. I would see Dad come home on the early side sometimes, and he'd go inside without picking the girl up. He'd take a shower, take a nap, etc. Even though I was making more money if she stayed, it did tick me off that he'd be so bold as to KNOW that I saw him, and yet not pick her up!! Well, one time Mom said something to the girl like "oh, Daddy must have just gotten home, let's go see him!" and I snitched on him and said, "Oh, he's been there for 2 1/2 hours" or whatever it was. She wasn't happy with him!!! Oops!!
The other one was the grandson of my neighbor next door. It turned bad because SHE (Grandma) kept meddling in everything! The boy's parents were very young and flaky, but I could've handled things. Grandma kept doing stuff like picking him up early, wanting to take him to the park or McDonald's on her lunch hour, paying me because "the kids are struggling, so just tell them that this week is covered!"... things like that. Ugh.
I should have never put up with ANY of these things from EITHER of them, but it was early on, and I pretty much went with the flow and resented it later.
Another neighbor inquired about me watching their kids about 5 years ago, and I lied and said I was full. No thanks. Not again.Comment
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