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Found this ad on Kijiji today...(sigh)
Are you looking for childcare cheep?!?!?
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My name is *#%}*. I'm going to be 19 in November and I am looking to make some cash. I have 2 children of my own, I'm a stay at home mom. I have a 15 month old daughter and a 2 month old. I can babysit in my own home and I can watch all ages. Want to know more call me #%##%}. My rate is cheep. :)
I see these in my area all the time!!! 19 and two kids not even sure what to say about that.....I can't say I''d trust er.
"cheep" & "looking to make some cash"....sheesh!
LOL, anyone who would look into that as daycare for their child is not the kind of parent I want in my business. WOW!!!
Cheep is what a bird says. Cheap is inexpensive. Good grief, I won't even comment on the rest because it's just too ludicrous!
chirpp cheap lol
yes I want my daughter to take lessons from "teen mom".....I'm on the younger scale too but not THAT young!
Oh the joys of this business .... the diversity of those offering it!
I empathize with someone that 'green behind the gills' that they do not know how to make their advertizement professional by having someone proof read their spelling and so forth - a testament to how our education system is failing our youth! Plus that she undervalues herself and her service by using words like 'cheep' in the first place :(
That said I have no issue with young moms - I have many friends who rock as parents and providers who were 'teen moms' who rather than wanting to go on the 'system' when they found themselves in the family way and wanted to keep their child chose to take in children so that they could earn a living and support themselves and IMO that is AWESOME ... rather see that than a mom holding a sign on the corner of Timmies asking for change for diapers ;)
Perhaps what we, as seasoned providers, should be doing is rather than making fun of this women is to see her as someone who needs mentoring and send a friendly email response with 'congratulations on your new business endeavor. As a fellow provider thought I might share that you might attract more responses to your ad if you made the following changes - aka instead of cheep which is spelled incorrectly try stating 'affordable for those on a tight budget' as it sounds more professional and well 'cheep' childcare has negative stereotypes and undervalues you as a service provider. Also here are a few links to information I found helpful when I was starting out (and provide some links to CRA and other places to find the rules and resources for providing QUALITY care'
This is something I have done in the past - and usually with positive response although I do admit I have gotten a few 'eff you mind your own business' responses but hey you cannot mentor everyone ;)
Well said Reggio! I did feel bad and actually already did send off an e-mail offering help/advice (without criticizing her ad). Have yet to get any response. I tried:)Quote:
Originally Posted by Inspired by Reggio
Awesome Dream hopefully she is accepting of some constructive criticism coming from a place of wanting to help her thrive ... I wanted to add that I do empathize with the need to vent about seeing ads like these ~ unprofessional ads and pricing affects how we are ALL seen and valued by society and is something that we should be actively working to prevent cause 'venting' is just not enough to elicit change in our profession it has to come with an action plan for change ;)
I also feel strongly that having a place to 'discuss and learn' from things like this can be helpful for all of us when done from a place of support and desire for 'growth' from learning from others mistakes so to speak ... I have done this in professional development workshops myself where I have offered sharing photos of environments and practices in advertizement that are 'pitfalls' for attracting ideal clients ... everything we say, do and share about our business should be done with forethought and intent to send a certain 'message' on our philosophy and program in order to attract the clientele one wants to work with day in and day out .... so sure if your desire is to work for people whose priority in their budget is that they are willing to spend more per hour on a cup of COFFEE each day than they are on CHILDCARE than advertize that you are CHEEP and you will certainly achieve that goal but than you also need to accept that they are going to VALUE their coffee more than they do you or your service ;)
Thank you so much for your response to this and taking the approach of offering to help someone out. Bravo!! For the record, I had just turned 20 when I had my 2nd child and I sure as hell didn't appreciate strangers labelling me but they still did. I'm laughing at them now as I have an 11 yr old and a 9 yr old and am celebrating my 10th wedding anniversairy with their father next week. I commend you for your kindness. If only their were more people like you in my life when I was that age. This girl is lucky to have you offer help, lets hope she is open to accepting it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Inspired by Reggio