Soiled Underwear in Day Care Centers

[melskids]

i thought this post was about cleaning crap out of undies...

degree or not, at one point we all have to do it...

[momofboys]

OK...I DO have a degree, a BA in Community Psychology with an emphasis on children and families and I gotta say that you think WAY, WAY too much of the importance of your degree as it relates to daycare.

I charge what the market in my area will support with the services that I offer. We bring in a Spanish/Music teacher twice per month, ECFE once per month, and Trave-tots twice per month. I also only serve whole foods, nothing processed, organic when possible. People pay for that, not my degree.

LOTS of other providers in my area offer similar ammenities and charge about the same as I do...with or without a degree.

You are sounding as though you think you are a better provider because of your degree. We ALL know that some educated teachers, providers, etc. shouldn't spend 15 minutes with a child much less all day and there are those who didn't even graduate from High School were BORN to do this.

ITA with you Jen! I also have a four year degree but I don't think I provide superior service simply because of my degree. Sure I do lots of extra things for my clients but nothing more than my neighbor is doing who may not be degreed. If I were to try to charge a lot more I would likely lose my clients, degree or not. Simply having a degree is not a valid reason IMO to charge more. In fact I would say I charge closer to the low end in my area (although not the cheapest). I do what I do so I can be home with my youngest & be home when my older boys get home from school.

In reference to the poop, there is NO WAY I would thoroughly clean it! Yuck!

[QualiTcare]

ITA with you Jen! I also have a four year degree but I don't think I provide superior service simply because of my degree. Sure I do lots of extra things for my clients but nothing more than my neighbor is doing who may not be degreed. If I were to try to charge a lot more I would likely lose my clients, degree or not. Simply having a degree is not a valid reason IMO to charge more. In fact I would say I charge closer to the low end in my area (although not the cheapest). I do what I do so I can be home with my youngest & be home when my older boys get home from school.

In reference to the poop, there is NO WAY I would thoroughly clean it! Yuck!

we can all agree to disagree...

but that doesn't change the facts...

parents are willing to pay a licensed teacher more than they will pay someone with a GED. it's much like i'd pay my dentist more than i'd pay some guy with a GED to rip out my tooth.

having "a degree" isn't the point - because having "a degree" and having an "early childhood degree/being a licensed teacher" is different when it comes to caring for/teaching children. i'm sorry, but as a parent, i'd be willing to pay someone an extra 5 bucks who is a LICENSED teacher (not a self proclaimed "teacher") that went to college for four years to learn about young children vs. someone who may be really nice, but couldn't finish high school. MONEY is a factor, not only in childcare, but in every aspect of life - like it or not. i like to say, "you get what you pay for" and the parents i have agree. so, obviously i'm not alone in my thinking, even if i'm the odd man out here.

[momofboys]

we can all agree to disagree...

but that doesn't change the facts...

parents are willing to pay a licensed teacher more than they will pay someone with a GED. it's much like i'd pay my dentist more than i'd pay some guy with a GED to rip out my tooth.

having "a degree" isn't the point - because having "a degree" and having an "early childhood degree/being a licensed teacher" is different when it comes to caring for/teaching children. i'm sorry, but as a parent, i'd be willing to pay someone an extra 5 bucks who is a LICENSED teacher (not a self proclaimed "teacher") that went to college for four years to learn about young children vs. someone who may be really nice, but couldn't finish high school. MONEY is a factor, not only in childcare, but in every aspect of life - like it or not. i like to say, "you get what you pay for" and the parents i have agree. so, obviously i'm not alone in my thinking, even if i'm the odd man out here.

I never said you were the odd man out, I only said I don't feel like I should charge more than the going rate. I only have one family that I care for so I am clearly not in this to make a ton of money. The mom I provide care for told me she picked me because of my degree & because she could tell from the way I talked that I was intelligent (not my words, hers!). Apparently her past provider did not use proper grammar & she was worried about her kids picking up on that. I guess my point is that IMO it is fine for you to charge more, I would never say someone should not charge what someone is willing to pay. But in the real world many parents would take their hard-earned $$$ & go to a cheaper provider whether their previous one provider great care or not. I guess I will what happens see this fall when my parent (she's a teacher) returns & how she reacts to me raising my rates.:

[judytrickett]

you can't expect a child in your care for 8 or 9 hours a day to suddenly go from pull ups to underwear with no accidents! there is an "in between" time there where there WILL be accidents. :::sigh:::: wow - just wow.

Yeah it's called having a policy. And my policy is that you stay dry and clean for two weeks in your pull-up before you move to underwear. It hasn't failed yet in the many years I have been providing care.

ETA: I love how it is often those who are UNregistered and won't give us the courtesy of putting a name to a post who take it upon themselves to insult others by telling them that "GOOD" daycare providers allow NON potty trained kids to wear underwear and soil the providers furniture and offer an unhygienic environment for the other kids.

[sahm2three]

For those who want their child's dirty underwear rinsed out in the sink before putting them in a bag, think of that next time you brush your teeth in that sink or have your kids brush their teeth in that sink. Sorry, don't think so! If it does't come out in the toilet, it goes in the bag!

[Carole's Daycare]

Bare hands! nuts! Nowdays you cant be sure daycare families dont have hepatitis. I actually know a provider at a nearby center that got hepatitis from not wearing gloves when dealing with diapering/potty issues. You can't pay me enough to risk my families health in my home to deal with a kid that makes poopy messes. As for the whole can't potty train without messes in underwear/panties- BULL I have had many, many children, including my own son, that wore pullups- and were potty trained - brought to the potty regularly- then switched to undies after 2 weeks of no pullup accidents at home or daycare. The big kid undie transition was a much lauded graduation to big kid- and if they truly had no uh-oh's in pullups- barring being ill they shouldn't soil underwear either- thats purely behavioral- and not tolerated. If you are too cheap to pay for pullups to protect the health and sanitation of the people who care for your child, as well as the other children in care, you shouldn't have had kids.



I am cracking up at "five bucks a swirl"::

Funny though, when I was young I remember my babysitter doing exactly this. She would change my little brother's DISPOSEABLE diaper and if he pooped she would rinse it out in the toilet bowl with her bare hands, wring it out, then wrap the diaper in itself and throw it away. Since I was 9 at the time, I would sometimes change him while were at her house and just throw the poopy diaper in the bathroom trash. So, she showed me one day how she wanted me to handle the poopy diapers. She said that she did it that to cut down on the smell. I was NOT doing that so from that point forward, I just let her change all the poopy diapers after that LOL. It's WAY more sanitary to just take out the trash daily if you want to cut down on the smell. The crazy thing was that we lived in an apartment building and the trash incinerator was just 4 doors down from her! :confused:[/QUOTE]

[QualiTcare]

Bare hands! nuts! Nowdays you cant be sure daycare families dont have hepatitis. I actually know a provider at a nearby center that got hepatitis from not wearing gloves when dealing with diapering/potty issues. You can't pay me enough to risk my families health in my home to deal with a kid that makes poopy messes. As for the whole can't potty train without messes in underwear/panties- BULL I have had many, many children, including my own son, that wore pullups- and were potty trained - brought to the potty regularly- then switched to undies after 2 weeks of no pullup accidents at home or daycare. The big kid undie transition was a much lauded graduation to big kid- and if they truly had no uh-oh's in pullups- barring being ill they shouldn't soil underwear either- thats purely behavioral- and not tolerated. If you are too cheap to pay for pullups to protect the health and sanitation of the people who care for your child, as well as the other children in care, you shouldn't have had kids.



I am cracking up at "five bucks a swirl"::

Funny though, when I was young I remember my babysitter doing exactly this. She would change my little brother's DISPOSEABLE diaper and if he pooped she would rinse it out in the toilet bowl with her bare hands, wring it out, then wrap the diaper in itself and throw it away. Since I was 9 at the time, I would sometimes change him while were at her house and just throw the poopy diaper in the bathroom trash. So, she showed me one day how she wanted me to handle the poopy diapers. She said that she did it that to cut down on the smell. I was NOT doing that so from that point forward, I just let her change all the poopy diapers after that LOL. It's WAY more sanitary to just take out the trash daily if you want to cut down on the smell. The crazy thing was that we lived in an apartment building and the trash incinerator was just 4 doors down from her! :confused:

[/QUOTE]

i don't know why anyone in their right mind would clean up accidents without wearing gloves.

both of my own kids were potty trained pretty early. i let them wear underwear because they didn't like feeling it when they had an accident. the pull up was too much like wearing a diaper. they could pee in a pull up and never flinch. it was a lot of work/changing and washing clothes. i let them wear underwear to bed too (which meant a LOT of washing sheets) but they would wake up when they peed whereas if they had a pull up on, they'd sleep right through it just like a diaper. it would've been much easier to use pull ups and not have to wash blankets every day, but i guess it depends on the parent and the child. i see 3 year olds wearing pull ups and i think it's ridiculous. some people think it's okay and they'll do it "when they're ready." that's true in a way - everyone does things when they're ready, but throwing a little uncomfortabless in there doesn't hurt to speed up the process.

[HeatherB]

If having daily accidents.. this child would not be wearing big girl/boy underware. No way! If they parents want him/her in them.. they deal with the mess!

[bigdaycare12]

a poop in a nap

i had a preschooler who wasn`t potty trained i told the parents i can throw them away or they go ack in diapers they picked throw them away and in 2 weeks she just kept doing it so we put her in favorvitre cather undies and when she saw those go in the trash she pooped in the potty

[daycare]

wow

how did the old post resurface?
I read most of the post,, some are so gross I almost could not stand to read on but some where so funny I did..

Pull ups...you poopie or peepee your not wearing underwear at my house!!

[Angelwings36]

we'll have to agree to disagree, but in my opinion, you simply supported my point.

the educated providers who don't charge more than $30 a day are supported by state funds and large numbers of children - from what you said.

so, i don't find anything outlandish about an educated person with an "unheard of rate" along with an "unheard of ratio" charging $35 per day.

if it were up to me, considering that the first five years of a child's life are the most important - EVERYONE caring for children from birth - age 5 would have to be educated. afterall, you have to be educated to teach children in kindergarten and beyond (age 5 and UP) so why the standards are so low for the most important part of a child's life makes no sense to me, but that's just MY opinion. if kindergarten or 10th grade teachers simply needed a HS diploma - people would be up in arms, but for childcare, it's different - regardless of the FACTS that the first years of a child's life are the most important.

i think of it this way - i would pay $5 extra (probably a LOT more) for a licensed dentist or doctor who is educated in the field to perform work on me vs. someone who graduated high school, but claims to love dentistry or medicine.

why would it be any different for the person caring for/educating your child? i would pay $5 more for a licensed professional to care for my child vs. a high school graduate who can give me their word, but i guess that's a crazy way of thinking. consider me (and at least four other people in town) officially nuts.

Just curious QualiTcare...do you need an education to be a mother? Lots of mother's raise their own children from new born to 5 years old (the most important times of their lives). What does an education have to do with rearing children? I certainly did not take an education to be a mother or to mother other children and I don't need one. I run a very successful daycare and raise happy, well mannered, intelligent children!

[Angelwings36]

michael,

my point is that education is important in our society - whether it's right or not. do i think i could've been an effective teacher without spending four years in college? of course i do. does my sister who spent most of her life doing drugs think she's a good mother? of course she does.

education is there to weed out the qualified from the not so qualified. are there people who would make good lawyers without going to law school? of course there are. but - what would happen if we let everyone who thought they were good at something start practicing in the field they feel qualified for?

maybe i'm not being clear, because i am definitely not "elite." in fact, i've been a food service worker and a single mother most of my life (including the time i went to college).

i find caring for children to be one of the most important jobs on the planet. so, why are childcare workers paid so little? well, it's because society doesn't value the work they do. why don't they value the work they do? because no education is required to do it. why is no education required to do it when education is required to be a teacher? the list goes on.

child care workers deserve more credit and more pay - however, they won't get it unless we start demanding that the standards be raised. when i was working in a daycare center, i worked alongside 18 year old girls with a GED who had never cared for a child a day in her life. that is equivelant to a fast food worker - and the pay is comparable - that's all i'm saying. i find it absurd that someone who puts fries in a bag has the same training as someone who raises my (our your) children. i think the pay should be higher, but naturally, with higher pay comes higher standards - regardless the field.

I am certaintly not saying any of this to brag but the end I make more running my daycare (with a highschool education) than most people I know in 'professional' feilds that still had student loans to pay off in the end. I do not charge less just because I don't have a degree under my buckle, infact I charge more than 75% of daycares in my areas and have never been turned away because my rates are too high for an 'uneducated' person. I run a excellent program and have people begging me to take their children and I do all of this with just a HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA!

[Candyland]

So parents, what do you think is the right thing for the providers to do in the situation where the childs poops their cloth undies?

As a parent, I don't want my child's poopy undies!!! Ewww...throw them out, before I do.

[QualiTcare]

I am certaintly not saying any of this to brag but the end I make more running my daycare (with a highschool education) than most people I know in 'professional' feilds that still had student loans to pay off in the end. I do not charge less just because I don't have a degree under my buckle, infact I charge more than 75% of daycares in my areas and have never been turned away because my rates are too high for an 'uneducated' person. I run a excellent program and have people begging me to take their children and I do all of this with just a HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA!

i'm assuming you wrote the other post before reading the one you gave this response to bc that pretty much answered the question.

people CAN and DO make good money without an education - no doubt. but GENERALLY speaking - childcare providers are not paid well and not respected by society as "professionals."

daycare OWNERS can make the same money as someone with an education, but daycare WORKERS can't (or if they CAN, they typically don't).

if daycare centers (or even home daycares) required more training/formal education for employees those employees would make more money and be more respected in general.