Wonderful parents!

Im currently very new to the day home world and only have one family at the moment. The dkb has been coming her for almost two months now...not very long. Well i just had surgery and my doorbell rang yesterday afternoon and it was a flower delivery from this family. It was a great and totally unexpected surprise. Hopefully this family sticks around and stays great!

I have two great sets of parents. A full-timer and a part-timer. F/T child has been with me for almost a year, and her parents are great friends of my hubbys, and now of mine. We never signed a contract with them, as they're friends, but they follow the rules of my manual as if they have signed one!

P/T child has been with me since January, and parents have been upfront with me since day one of the interview! He's on a waiting list for the daycare in which his sister is in, although they're reconsidering on sending him there, as they can drop him off on his off days if need be. For example when his grandparents were away, I took him the extra days for that month (great extra income for me), and when his parents had to attend a wake. They would never receive that kind of care in an actual daycare system! As he's a teachers kid, he's off over the summer, and he has a spot reserved for him for September.

Overall, I suppose I'm just lucky. I have had trouble with my dance parents, but I let them go. My 11 other dance parents are just as awesome as my daycare parents!

I have been really lucky. I started in Sept 2010 and initially had a bunch of mediocre families apply for a few months. However 3 great parents all showed up at my daycare within a 2 week period of each other. I think some angel must have sent them. I now have 3 great families and 1 mediocre family for after school only.

The three daycare families are great. Pay on time, don't complain about policies or paying for stats or about anything ever.

All of them thank me almost every day they pick up which is nice.

One of the families brought me a beautiful flower assortment yesterday for Mother's day saying it was from the 'children' I care for. That was unexpected and very kind and they wrote on the card how much they appreciate everything.

Everyone pays on time other than my after school child whose family is very 'fly by the seat of your pants' and has irregular schedules and may be 2-3 weeks late on paying sometimes but since it is a small fee for after school they seem to think it is no big deal (which the $$ isn't but as a sign of respect and courtesy they should pay me weekly). I sound silly to ask them for $10 here and there so i wait for them to pay or if it goes past three weeks I remind them.

But all the parents are friendly and I am almost scared to accept anyone new because there are some very strange parents out there that I have encountered in interviews. :):rolleyes:

Happy Mother's day!!!!!!!!

I was so shocked this evening at pick up time.

I have been helping a really sweet family, they are in transition between their old home daycare and a centre. The center pushed their start date back and so I only started on Monday and they should be with me two months.

Anyway I was so surprised tonight when they came in with a beautiful flower for Mothers day. The card was appreciative of the extras I do, especially the daily blog telling parents what we do every day.

This family will be missed when they leave and they have only been with me 5 days :) There are some wonderful families out there. I am lucky to have 2.

As of right now, I am doing great with the families I have. My full timers (2 siblings) have wonderful parents, even if I don't alway agree with their parenting skills, hahaha. They pay on time, I rarely need to remind them. Only late once since starting in October, and no problems if I need days off, etc. And my 2 part-timers are the same. Sometimes the drop-in parents "forget" to bring me money, but they always have it within 24 hours for me.
I had a couple of kids after school, and it was their parents that there were issues with. One family dropped off early (we had an agreement) and STILL picked their kid up late almost daily. We had to have a discussion about that! They also just didn't really care. This is the same family that didn't tell me the boy had ADHD, and was medicated as such. It didn't matter that he had it, but I was ticked when I found out they hadn't disclosed that. But funnily enough, both of those families ended up not needing my care anymore! I guess it just works out sometimes! Now I have a wonderful group of parents and I am grateful for it.

Oh That is hard lol. I have been very lucky Started out with the most wonderful family. I worked at a group center. When I decided t leave ( I am overwhelmed in such a large setting but love the kids)It was tough because There was a Little boy that I had formed a soul bound with. I worked in school age but he was in infant toddler. I had the opportunity to work with my little freind and it was love at first sight (for both of us it seemed) I couldnt get enough of this little guy and he woould come crashing over to me every time i entered the room and be very upset when I left. He was a darling. Me a young Grandma with my daughters family moving away for work . I was very sad about this my grandson one of the great loves of my life they now live 12 hours away. I formed a relationship with the parents of the boy Great People and even offered to care for him when I was on my own time as he was such a treat.( there family far away too I thought of my daughter not knowing any one to watch my wonderful grandson) Turned out we did this a few times. When I went to leave and go on my own the thought of leaving this little guy broke my heart just like missing my grandson. I told mom I was leaving but to feel free to call for playdates and I had him come when my grandson visited too. Mom ended up asking me details of what I would be doing and then approached me if I would be interested in taking my Dear little friend. Funny thing is she had thought of asking me since they were to in the future have another and were mulling over what would be best for thier young ones a group a nanny etc and My Name came up but they didnt believe it was ethical to ask. I so wanted to ask them if I could take my buddy but didnt think it was ethical LOL. In the end we are together. They are wonderful people that call themselves picky I can them Focused They know what the expect want and need and are so willing to work together its a dream. It turns bad down the road because my little freind since last August is battling Cancer. He doesnt come to daycare anymore but we have playdates when ever we can. So much has happened in almost a yr since he was diagnosed. he has a little sister he has has chemo and surgery and radiation and so much more it breaks my heart. But the family and I are still working together. I dont charge for his visits I just couldnt. But I want a place where he can be normal as much as possible. This is his place he was here first and when the time comes this will be his place again. Right now its a struggle as I dont want to take on too much and a few partime kids whom are also wonderful families. I feel I want nad need to be willing to hold out till he and baby sister (his words) return to me.His folks have treied to bring up money and I just cant neither of them have worked since last august we have done fundraisers and they help but I know its so costly trips to the hospitall all the time and so on. I want my freind to have the benefit of a special toy instead. he has traveled to the states 2 times now for treatment as they couldnt do it here canada. This family has been thru so much and they are ever thanksful and endearing and wonderful. So much more to the story. but the point was this is a terrible siutation and yet I am so blessed having known this family

Thanks for that story. You really are blessed. I hope your friend pulls through. I am crying!

All of my daycare families are pretty good. I wouldn't have accepted them into care or kept them in care if they were not good.

Best families in the interview are those who understand and appreciate the need for a contract. This set out the tone for a respectful relationship.

Best families in day to day daycare are those who say THANK YOU. Yes, a simple thanks goes a long way.

I have three great families, but one is especially great! They frequently thank me for my hard work and let me know how happy and appreciative they are and how happy their child is with me. They always pay on time, provide all the supplies needed, etc. They communicate a lot and appreciate the effort I make to communicate with them. They even have offered to pay me extra for the period of time their child will be potty training as they know it will be more work for me :) I think the best parents are those who truly value the work that we do and understand what a hard, but important job it is.

Thanks I have faith He is an amazing little boy that runs circles around everyone at barely 3. You would never know he is sick he always has something to laugh at and work to do as he would put it.