This Ad Made Me Giggle....

[cheerfuldom]

I will never have more than a few children at one time because I believe a low child to caregiver ratio is essential for high quality care. It also allows me to personalize meals, activities, etc. to meet the needs and wants of individual kids and families instead of having a one size fits all approach. I'm happy to cloth diaper, provide detailed daily reports, or wear a baby for many hours in a sling or carrier, for example. Parents should be able to dictate how their children are cared for while they are away, and young children need consistency between home and childcare, so I will fulfill any such request possible. I also provide nutritious meals and snacks using mostly organic and local ingredients. Basically, I provide extremely high quality care and excellent food for little ones, and I do it at a fraction of the price of many local daycare centers. My philosophy is very child-centered, so I'm uncomfortable with practices like cry it out sleep training or harsh punishments as discipline.

So I got nosey and emailed her. She straight out said she had NO experience with home daycare. The ad caught my attention because she was offering what 99% of experienced providers do not offer (for good reason). She also had no set rate, no set hours because she was willing to work with whatever parents want. I really wanted to tell her "please don't do this to yourself" but I didn't. Just got a laugh out of it and hopefully she doesn't kill herself trying to accommodate kids and parents like this.

[KEG123]

I honestly don't see too much wrong with it.

[cheerfuldom]

oh I don't have a problem with it either but to me, offering to carry children all day and not use any CIO while doing a home daycare is 9 times out of 10, a newbie to home daycare. Those options are very difficult to promise to parents when you have a group of young children to care for. She said she had never done home daycare before and did not even have set hours or a set rate and was going to just work with each family individually. Both really great ideals but basically unrealistic in the real world. I can just see her getting taken advantage of and there will be plenty of parents out there that would first off, sniff out that newbie provider and secondly, take advantage of her.

[Meyou]

I feel bad for her 6 months from now when she has a few kids, all on different schedules and she's wearing babies on her front and back. She'll live and learn.

[nannyde]

Did she have children in child care before starting the day care?

[cheerfuldom]

She said she didn't have any children of her own and hasn't done anything outside of babysitting family members on occasion.

[nannyde]

She said she didn't have any children of her own and hasn't done anything outside of babysitting family members on occasion.

Well look at it this way: The parents who hire her and going to love the one to one care for cheap. They are going to love the idea that she will do as she is told (Parents should be able to dictate how their children are cared for while they are away). The babies will love having an adult doing whatever it takes so they don't cry.

Win win for the parents and the baby. It may only last six months or a year but that will be a very very good year for the parents and the baby. When she surrenders then they will look for another newbie who will offer the same. The kid may have a ton of daycare providers between now and school but each one of them will give him a day to day of no cry and happy happy parents.

It'll be a mad rush for whoever gets to her first. They will be able to negotiate really long hours and variable schedules. They won't have late fees. They will come and go as they please and pay only for what they use. She's a newbie attachment parents dream provider sans the experience.

Cheap and do as you are told is much for valuable in this economy and entitled society than experience.

[countrymom]

I see ads like that all the time, I just also want to say "honey, it aint going to work"

[SilverSabre25]

That's what I started out trying to offer. It worked very well...until I realized that I needed more kids. Once I was watching more than 4 kids (my own plus 3 others) I realized that it wasn't going to work the way I had originally planned anymore...and I moved to running the daycare like I do now.

In the lady's defense though, it *is* possible with just a few kids. In fact, I really hope to go back more to that style of care in a few years when I switch to doing infant-only.

[nannyde]

I see ads like that all the time, I just also want to say "honey, it aint going to work"

Depends on what your definition of "going to work" means.

I think she's offering something really valuable even if it is short lived. It's not going to work for her but she is one of thousands of new providers who will enter the business... provide one or two parents with something that is normally very expensive (attachment nanny, do as you are told, no financial obligation to time and time changes) for cheap then burn out or change their service. Even if it only lasts six months before she burns out that's six months where the parents and baby get attachment nanny.

For them that will work. That's a window of opportunity many parents are looking for. She won't have any problem finding customers. I'd venture to say she is way more valuable than I am or anything that I can offer. If we had a hundred parents of newborns looking for care I would think at least 80 would pick her offerings... maybe 19 picking something in between... and MAYBE one would pick me.

Don't underestimate her value in the market. She wisely picked those things to advertise because she KNOWS these core areas (one to one carry, no cry, open hours, do as you are told) is highly valuable to this generation of parents.

[SilverSabre25]

What might make her successful is that she obviously doesn't want more than a couple kids at a time. More than one or two infants in that style of care isn't going to work, but it can work just fine with just a couple at a time.

[cheerfuldom]

I'd venture to say that even with just two kids at a time, there will probably be issues. I am very familiar with AP and it is mainly based on the attachment between ONE caregiver and ONE child. Twins is difficult even and you have to adjust. She said she was taking four. To me, offering to do no CIO and carry baby is basically lying when you are offering that to four families at the same time. At some point, somebody will be upset and somebody will have to put down or have to cry a little. I know a lot of AP moms and not one that is able to carry on this type of situation (especially with someone else's kid) for very long at all. Like nanny said, she will either change her policies pretty quickly or just burn out with the demands of the parents and kids. Are any of you able to offer this type of care on a long term basis for three or more kids?

[SilverSabre25]

I'd venture to say that even with just two kids at a time, there will probably be issues. I am very familiar with AP and it is mainly based on the attachment between ONE caregiver and ONE child. Twins is difficult even and you have to adjust. She said she was taking four. To me, offering to do no CIO and carry baby is basically lying when you are offering that to four families at the same time. At some point, somebody will be upset and somebody will have to put down or have to cry a little. I know a lot of AP moms and not one that is able to carry on this type of situation (especially with someone else's kid) for very long at all. Like nanny said, she will either change her policies pretty quickly or just burn out with the demands of the parents and kids. Are any of you able to offer this type of care on a long term basis for three or more kids?

Oh, I guess I didn't see the part about four of them...yeah, there's no way. When I was doing things that way a year ago, I had a 7 mo, a 1 yo, a 18 mo, and my own 2.5 yo. The spread was enough that it wasn't hard...but any younger/closer, and it wouldn't have worked.

[nannyde]

What might make her successful is that she obviously doesn't want more than a couple kids at a time. More than one or two infants in that style of care isn't going to work, but it can work just fine with just a couple at a time.

Yes and there's a huge market for that CHEAP even if it is short term.

I'm just saying that we should understand the value of this type of provider. There's such a huge pool of workers now that the market can support the ones who come in short term sprinting and then burn out. There will be a hundred people behind her offering the same thing.

No fear of lack of workers. Work HARD... work bad shifts... have NO benefits... accept low pay... just all the burn out aspects of this job... and then be gone and the next one comes along.

[wdmmom]

Sounds to me like a lady that has previous babysitting experience for neighbors and family that got laid off or fired from her full time job looking to make a buck. My guess is she's trying to make some moola til that unemployment check comes in or until she gets a job offer...