Hi there! I'm Judy and I'm your friendly neighbourhood home daycare provider. Although I abhor the title "babysitter" I use it here because sadly, most of the population sees the people who care for their most precious gifts as mere babysitters. And, as you can already tell I am quite sarcastic and quick to make fun of myself. Therefore I will continue to use that term in the postings contained in this blog.
This blog began as an outlet to vent many of my frustrations. However, after a few posts and some self reflection I realized that perhaps the posts could help parents to understand the true world of daycare. If you are a parent who has a child in daycare you undoubtedly, at first, will be shaking your head in complete disagreement or perhaps naivety. You will tell yourself that YOUR daycare provider would never share my views. I am here to tell you that unless you have the one per cent of daycare providers who are super human, non-biased, non-thinking pushovers then chances are very good that your provider is also reading these posts and shaking her head - up and down - in agreement.
So, welcome to the blog. It is my hope that you are able to read through the sarcasm and in the simple, relaxed language you might find some humour and also gain a better understanding of what it is that your daycare provider manages each and every day. Understanding always leads to a better relationship.
This blog began as an outlet to vent many of my frustrations. However, after a few posts and some self reflection I realized that perhaps the posts could help parents to understand the true world of daycare. If you are a parent who has a child in daycare you undoubtedly, at first, will be shaking your head in complete disagreement or perhaps naivety. You will tell yourself that YOUR daycare provider would never share my views. I am here to tell you that unless you have the one per cent of daycare providers who are super human, non-biased, non-thinking pushovers then chances are very good that your provider is also reading these posts and shaking her head - up and down - in agreement.
So, welcome to the blog. It is my hope that you are able to read through the sarcasm and in the simple, relaxed language you might find some humour and also gain a better understanding of what it is that your daycare provider manages each and every day. Understanding always leads to a better relationship.
I also invite you to visit our forum, the Daycare Provider Connection, to find support, advice and encouragement from other providers.
Happy reading.
Happy reading.
24 comments:
I'm about to read your past posts, can't wait. I'm an ECE as well and look foward to seeong what you came up with.
Judy, Found you first through Google Alerts: keyword Montessori.
I have just started to read your blogs but so far you are sooooooooo Montessori. The main component is "Respect for the Child" and you obviously have that in spades! I look forward to continuing to read the wise words of a wonderful Educator.
I followed the link in your signature over at Absolute Write. Good luck with this blog. I'm the mother of five children and have never used a daycare provider, but I have been a nanny and I know how hard the job can be.
Nice blog. I'm from AW as well... I'm going to read the old posts!
I LOVE your blog. So honest and true. Doing a day home can be very rewarding and have it's perks. However, on the flip side it can be a scene from the movie One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest at times...
I found your blog on AbsouteWrite, and followed the link. I've been on both sides of the daycare equation at one time or another and think my line of thinking follows yours. I was stunned at parent's whose only question to me was, "How much do you charge?" The key to sanity, for me? MARGARITAS AFTER 5!!
Hey Judy, I was trying to reach you by email but it was rejected :(
Is everything ok, I have been checking in for the last 3 days and nothing....no new posts!!! I have gone to the new page but still nothing... I hope all is well?
D
Judy, We miss you! Hope everthing is alright.
Catsdogslizardskids
Love your writing style! (from "stormie" on AW)
Judy, I've been reading through your blog a lot and I'm sooo happy I found someone else that thinks the same way I do! I'm a Nanny, not a home daycare provider but often times I find myself encountering some of the problems you do (the parents issues, the screamers, etc).
It's refreshing to see someone not hide their feelings and openly say something.
Hello, nice blog. I found your blog when another provider gave us the link on a day care forum called Punky's Child Care. If you have a chance please check out Punky's.
I too am a day care provider of more than 20 years. I still love the job, some of the parents not so much...but as you know that is part of the job...Blessings to you Roxie Meiske
How come no more updates?
I finally finished reading all your posts and you are amazing!!
I'm not yet a daycare provider, but my mom is and has been for most of my life. I will become a provider shortly after the birth of my first child (sometime near the end of 2011) as this is something I've always wanted to do!!
I've learned many things from reading your blog that I haven't learned from my mom and I've been encouraging my mom to read your blog, too. I can't wait to put everything I have learned and will learn from the both of you into action.
Thank you for this blog!!
Hi I think It's high time that a mechanism such as your's voice out the true concerns of many baby sitters and child care providers out there. I am thankful that you have posted several blogs about the importance of proper child care and have shared your experience as a caregiver in gaining the best practices and techniques in caring for children.
Did the blog site move? There is nothing posted for October...Is everything alright Judy, I need my fix....
Is there something wrong? I thought I was the only person not getting the feeds but apparently so are some other subscribers. This is one of the most helpful blog sights about the joys and teachings of proper day care provision and I would really like more of it. I look forward to more topics being posted for the month of October.
If you really intended to help parents and daycare providers develop better relationships, I would applaud you. However, the reality seems a far cry from your stated intentions. If you repeatedly dismiss "most" parents as rude and useless, you will never achieve that goal. Your adversarial tone will only serve to alienate good parents. Let's face it, would bad parents even bother to read this and try to learn something? Probably not.
I also applaud the idea of providing a forum for other daycare providers to learn about good business and professionalism. Unfortunately, your idea of professionalism is to encourage providers to view and present themselves as superior to "most" parents, which will do nothing to foster a positive and mutually respectful relationship. I would hope that you would agree that the later would be best for the children in your care and would likely make your job a whole hell of a lot easier. If you show no respect for "most" parents, how can you expect them to respect you and what you do? This very blog is testimony to how angered you are when someone disrespects you and what you do, how angered you are when people generalize negatively and unfairly about providers. But then you turn around and do those very things to parents.
A truly mature and confident person knows their own worth and does not demean others to make themselves feel better. You claim to be confident in yourself, but your writing suggests otherwise. Why not just be honest and stick with your original reason for writing: to vent your frustration. In that light, your tendency to revert to hyperbole would make perfect sense, and parents wouldn't waste time looking for anything useful.
interesting that you choose a picture of a woman smoking.
Very interesting concept of a woman smoking depicting a representation of yourself.
Yes, the smoking woman is interesting. It's the first thing that let me know when I came across the blog that it was going to be funny and probably unfortunately accurate.
Hmmmm, going back to look at it.... Holy cow! It does kind of look like the old lady my parents had myself and my little brother stay with after school when I was a kid. Man I miss those soap operas.
It also fits with the image I had of home providers before I started doing it myself. (maybe I'm not so different than other parents?)
Keep the photo Judy!
Hi.. Love your blog... I registered for the Forum a couple of weeks ago.. but still have'nt been accepted. How long does it take??
Nora,
Shoot off an email to me at judytrickett@yahoo.ca
Your membership probably got tagged as spam.
You will need to include what username you used when you registered.
I Love your blog thank you!
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