Wonderful parents!

Hello everybody!

Can you describe the best parents you ever had to deal with? Why were they so special? Were you able to tell right away they would be a great fit the first time you met them?


;)

I have a family in care right now who I would call "Golden" Mom pays on time (up front even), always comes prepared, thinks of my family as well. Just an all around great family! Kids are so cute too!

I knew from the moment we interviewed that she would be a great fit for my daycare. We hit it off right away and the interview lasted almost 2 hours. She signed on the spot!

She's a keeper!

that's great Jerseygirl ! Parents like that make allllll the difference.
I have had many wonderful parents in the past . One mom always brought my garbage cans back from the side of the road on garbage day lol. I begged her to stop but she didn't lol.
This week my whole family got the flu and all the parents were very understanding when I told them I would be closed for 2 days. (2nd time I have had to this in 2 years )

Yes! It's great when you have fantastic parents! It sure does make our job a lot easier. That's funny about your dcm always bringing your garbage cans back from the road. LOL

I have a wonderful parent right now. She genuinely cares not only for her family but cares for mine as well. I have to pack up my entire group of kids to take some to pre k. Once in a while, when my parent is home, she will come and pick up my son and take him for me. So I dont have to pack up all my kids. She also is one of those parents who always pays on time and is happy to communicate anything that is happening at home. So i have some insight as to behaviour at daycare. She also works for a wholesale company. So she gets to purchase stuff at cost. She provides me with some groceries while i provide her with child care on the dates of the sale. She is a real gem. I hope I have her for a long time.

I have a great parents of 2 of my daycare kids! I knew right away they would be great, they always pay me on time, more often in advance. She will meet me up at the school if its a super cold day out so that I dont have to walk everyone in the cold. And quite often (I love this) if shes out and about early, she'll get me a Tims on her way to my house in the morning.... I mean really, whats not to love about that!! LOL! Her kids are great and if she or her husband are home early, they come get their kids. She insists on paying me even for days where I have told her she doesnt have to (ie if I need a day to do something with my own kids for school). Really, they are great!

At this moment I have a really good group of parents. All pay on time. They communicate. A lot of them bring treats on special occasions to help out, They are friendly and are just a very nice group of people. They are proactive when it comes to discussions about their children, they follow-up and deal with any problems that may arise.

Out of my 3 sets of parents i have 2 great sets and 1 mediocre set lol. My #1 perfect set is my youngest 1.Mom drops him off says what has been going on with him at home ( he comes 3 days a week ) dad picks him up and asks what kind of day he had.They kept me posted in the transition from formula to milk and baby food to table food and we worked together at it.:D When they pick up and drop off they always say hi to the other children and never rush .If he has not been feeling well or been feeling off cause of teething they will call through the day to see how he is.

My second set i like you can tell they care about their kids.With then i have a 1 year old and a after school boy. Recently the boy has been having issues in school and we are working together to try and help him after school .They are also my next door neighbours so i see the kids all the time even when not caring for them :) The best thing they do is deposit my pay directly into my account.Their hours very so the pay very a bit they always ask what do we owe you and never complain .

My mediocre parents are ok just a bit of the cheap type always looking for something a bit extra for nothing like a extra 10 min that turns into a half hour then a hour.When I started billing them the extra $5 they promptly returned to their agreed on pick up time :rolleyes::laugh:

I had two daycare parents who would bring me groceries and presents for my children for christmas and birthdays. Both families are now good friends of mine and our family.

This will be funny, but I have to say that my best family was / is right now my nightmare family that caused the snowball effect that I posted the other day.

My best family in care, they parents were sweeties, kind, caring, and compassionate, and rapport was good. When my husband was on a 4 month course away from home, every other day she send in enough food to cover afternoon snack for at least 2 days. Before and after that she was always sending in baked goods for special occassions or just because. Her presents were aways thoughtful and she seemed to know what was needed. Business wise, they have always paid on time, never a problem with policies, etc. They were the type of family that when they had their second one their first was with me, I never charged them, and they were thoughtful enough to send me flowers as a thank you. Little things that just added up over time that really made me think so highly of them.

Of course, they didn't stay like that for their second one. They went from a great family to being close to the worst family, if not the worst family I have ever had in care.

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.

with all the issues of problem families I just want to thank my lucky stars to have great families.
I think families who adhere to the rules and respect them are worth their price in gold. I am so glad to have the families I have.

They never go beyond my open time, they call me a day in advance or the morning of if they will be late or early for whatever reason and really seem to respect the relationship and have courtesy.

They send in treat bags for Halloween, christmas and Valentines etc for all the kids (including my own) without anyone ever suggesting they do or them agreeing to do it. They just all spontaneously do it and genuinely seem to have interest in the other kids and feel like a close knit group.

If you have great families then life is good :)