Have You Ever Done a Drive By....

[daycare]

No, I haven't and wouldn't BUT I will say this, I would love to see what their houses look like on the inside I clean like crazy and want my house to look nice for all my families, I wonder how messy their houses get or look in the pantry to see what kind of junk they feed the kids

hahahh oh if only we could be a fly on the wall for a day.

I had a dcm bring me a paperbag with her kids back up clothes in it. this mom talks non-stop about how healthy they eat. well in the bag was a receipt from her most recent grocery shopping and the truth was let out of the bag.

the receipt was all PURE JUNK

[tehck_1013]

Nannyde, It's called google street view Stalk from the pleasure of your own home haha. I always do facebook and anything else they post online, other social media and anything like that. If I'm worried about their history I will have no problem paying a dollar to get the scoop online. With the internet at my fingertips, I wouldn't waste a physical trip doing drive-bys...

[tehck_1013]

No, I haven't and wouldn't BUT I will say this, I would love to see what their houses look like on the inside I clean like crazy and want my house to look nice for all my families, I wonder how messy their houses get or look in the pantry to see what kind of junk they feed the kids

hahahh oh if only we could be a fly on the wall for a day.

I had a dcm bring me a paperbag with her kids back up clothes in it. this mom talks non-stop about how healthy they eat. well in the bag was a receipt from her most recent grocery shopping and the truth was let out of the bag.

the receipt was all PURE JUNK

That's funny because DCM brought dcb4 in this morning with a "play" i-phone (non-working) so he can play apps and take pics or whatever. I'm not a snooper... ok ok I really try not to be! but I just COULDN'T help noticing the 400 pictures on it and scanned through to see the kids constantly in their underwear, or pull-ups, in a messy house, and lots of them eating garbage! :: But what they eat is no secret to me because they come in with baggies of half eaten poptarts, fruit loops, or marshmellow mateys and chocolate milk in their sippy cups... At least my dcm doesn't try to hide it with lies It makes me feel better about all the trouble I do to keep the place nice and feed them good food

[daycare]

That's funny because DCM brought dcb4 in this morning with a "play" i-phone (non-working) so he can play apps and take pics or whatever. I'm not a snooper... ok ok I really try not to be! but I just COULDN'T help noticing the 400 pictures on it and scanned through to see the kids constantly in their underwear, or pull-ups, in a messy house, and lots of them eating garbage! :: But what they eat is no secret to me because they come in with baggies of half eaten poptarts, fruit loops, or marshmellow mateys and chocolate milk in their sippy cups... At least my dcm doesn't try to hide it with lies It makes me feel better about all the trouble I do to keep the place nice and feed them good food

so does the kid take pics of you guys? that would creep me out and bother me...

[tehck_1013]

Nah he just brought it to play on his game. He wasn't taking pics of us. But from what I could tell, he knows how to - you can tell which pics are taken by a 4 yr old and which ones were not . Usually blurry and weird, half cut off faces kind of stuff. Kids like to take pics of everything so you could see they aren't merry maids over there

[SignMeUp]

I haven't ever driven by or walked by a prospective family's home.
I'm not sure what you'd see that would tell you much, unless their yard was full of rusty nails or there were untended naked toddlers in the yard

[midaycare]

I FB stalk if their page isn't private. It saved me from a woman who seemed nice but every other post was about how she was going to kick someone's a$$. And not just a particular person. Lots of them.

[mountainside13]

I check potential families on FB and Iowa courts (free background check). I want to make sure of a few things. 1) it's a real person with children 2) I want to make sure that the person (people) I let into my house are not dangerous. Especially if my husband won't be present for the interview.

I have on one occasion driven by someone's house before the interview. It was Jan 2013, mom emailed me about my opening. After talking a little while I gave her my address. She replied back that she lived on the street behind me and gave the address. A few days later we went out shopping and out of curiosity we drove by. It wasn't a great interview but I accepted. Long story short, they are still here. The child leaves for school in August. I have mixed feelings about them leaving.

[daycare]

I check potential families on FB and Iowa courts (free background check). I want to make sure of a few things. 1) it's a real person with children 2) I want to make sure that the person (people) I let into my house are not dangerous. Especially if my husband won't be present for the interview.

I have on one occasion driven by someone's house before the interview. It was Jan 2013, mom emailed me about my opening. After talking a little while I gave her my address. She replied back that she lived on the street behind me and gave the address. A few days later we went out shopping and out of curiosity we drove by. It wasn't a great interview but I accepted. Long story short, they are still here. The child leaves for school in August. I have mixed feelings about them leaving.

does their house reflect on how they parent or the parents behave in your care

[EchoMom]

Not on potential familIes. That would be a waste because too many interviews are just flakes and don't end up signing on or I don't want.

But I absolutely cyber stalk every single potential family. I want to know as much as I can.

And I do drive by EVERY family's house that DOES sign up with me. Not to judge or anything but just out of total curiosity. Curious to know how far they drive to my house, what kind of house, condo, apartment, or land they have. Just totally curious and I find it interesting. Totally wish I could see the inside!

[AmyKidsCo]

I don't, because I wouldn't want to be judged by the outside of my home. :: We do the best we can with the time and money we have, but there's always something that needs to be fixed, painted, picked up, etc.

[mountainside13]

does their house reflect on how they parent or the parents behave in your care

I want to say a few things before I respond to your question. I don't believe that the appearance of your house (outside) to how you parent your child relate in any way. A low income family could have a very cheap ugly house but be the best parents! Or a high income family could have an amazing house but be the worst at parenting.

In this case, the house and parenting do go hand in hand.

[KidGrind]

Yay.....I get it.
If someone is taking pride and care of their home, it reflects their character and what they value, and can also express their interest in their children and where they raise them.
I mean....that may not apply to everybody, but for the most part, I bet it does.
The problem, It'd be just at the moment of my driving by to take a peek that they'd come out of their house and find me spying.
So drive by incognito! .....::.......

I have to respectfully disagree. A beautiful home and yard has zero to do with the type of parent a person is or will be.

I don’t do drive-bys. What someone’s home and yard looks like has zero to do with the type of daycare parent they’ll be.

[coolconfidentme]

Wow, I got tons of interesting & funny responses! I always cyber stalk potential peeps. I haven't done the actual drive by, but I like the Google Earth idea!

[KiddieCahoots]

I have to respectfully disagree. A beautiful home and yard has zero to do with the type of parent a person is or will be.

I don’t do drive-bys. What someone’s home and yard looks like has zero to do with the type of daycare parent they’ll be.

I'm not saying that a beautiful yard means beautiful parents. Like the saying goes....beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
I was primarily referring to myself in the sentence...If someone is taking pride and care of their home, it reflects their character and what they value......yadda, yadda, cause this is what I know of myself.
So when I said that may not apply to everybody, but for the most part, I bet it does, I'm referring to people putting their own character into their property, which a lot of people like to do, that's why we have The Home Depot and Lowes.
If I drove by a yard that had heaps of trash, un-kept, falling down structures, just a mess, I would honestly wonder if there could possibly be issues, and along with other family/provider compatibility would have to take this into consideration for a perspective family as clients.