anyone heard of wee watch? thoughts?
http://www.weewatchlocal.com/weewatch/providers/
Printable View
anyone heard of wee watch? thoughts?
http://www.weewatchlocal.com/weewatch/providers/
I have heard of it. The one thing I had heard is that they have a program they expect you to do with the kids and while that is great if you don't like lesson planning it would annoy others to be told what to do how and when so something to look into. Before signing with any agency find out what their fee to parents is and that may help determine how likely they are to attract parents that are not looking for subsidy since there is not enough subsidy money to go around - hence they wouldn't have very many kids to place in your home.
My family had a horrible experience with our daughter and a wee watch provider. This was 14 years ago now when she went to daycare, but we ended up having our daughter spanked, force fed and made to clean up her own vomit. Ended up in court and a bunch of other crap. I would never recommend sending a child to a wee watch provider and would never in a million years work for them but that's just my personal opinion. I am sure there are some fabulous providers who work for them but I would never chance it again with my own kids.
Yes ~ my advice is to google 'wee watch reviews' and see what comes up ~ I have heard more horror stories both from the parent perspective as well as from providers who had mad the mistake to work for them.
Wee Watch is a privately owned franchise ~ so the rules for everyone, in addition to the 'DNA', include a bunch of other things that have to be 'exactly the same' for every one ... so it is like signing up to have your child in the McDonalds of daycare ... every one is suppose to offer clients the exact same 'menu' so to speak there is no individuality in them. So yes as mentioned they expect you to follow their curriculum to a T from the craft you do to the science experiment and so forth each day .... which is fine if you have no imagination of your own and no personal philosophy for how children learn and develop ... I personally could not follow it is it is VERY DATED and no longer considered best practice in the field to have such rigid 'academic style' approach to the early years as this is not how wee children master becoming life long learners.
In addition ... they adhere to the MINIMUM standards for everything ... I also know this for a fact because when I chose to go with an agency starting out I considered them ~ they were 'fine' with my tiny basement windows that I myself could not fit out of as well as most preschool children today who are round around the middle would not be able to get out of in a fire .... every other agency I talked to would have required me to have larger window installed and actually sent out the fire department to 'follow up' that the space and my evacuation plan was too code which is what is SUPPOSE to happen. I later met a peer who worked for them in an administrative roll and she had a horrible experience and confirmed what I had experienced ~ their employees who 'regulate' the providers are being told not to 'check to closely' for things in inspection she was given exactly 30 minutes at each house she inspected that was NEW so that is an extensive interview that is supposed to occur plus the checking that the house meets DNA requirements and than only 10 minutes for each monthly inspection after ~ so there were homes that were 'contracted' but the provider had the daycare space in the basement with windows that did not open because they were instructed to not 'check' as long as it had windows it did not matter what size or if they even opened ~ which is illegal ~ every space being used for business purposes has to have two viable fire exits from it for both children and adults to escape through ... most adults are not fitting through a little tiny window that most older style basements have!
Also not sure how they compare in other cities but the one in my city charges clients the MOST for the care but pays the providers doing the work the LEAST in order to have profit for franchise share holders who are not working directly in the business because they have to hire RECE to do the work for them, they had little professional development and other resources such as toy lending and equipment and so forth.
Personally I would search to see what other options there are ~ most regions have more than 1 agency model and one should be a 'not for profit' one which might pay their providers better and have better resources and so forth.
Personally wouldn't go with Wee Watch. Heard some horror stories from both providers and parents alike.
I tried to work with Wee Watch but found my local one terribly disorganized. Had to chase them to get calls back and get an interview. Once I had my interview and reviewed their pay and policies, I wasn't interested in working with them. They never called about potential clients anyway - that is until about 2 months later when I had gotten clients on my own already.
Hi there
I have a totally different opinion. I came into this business through Wee Watch and had tons of great experiences with them. Firstly they were always there to answer any questions I had, they were able to get me set up and running a daycare very quickly. they helped me pay for all of the things I needed to set up such as police checks, equipment, CPR etc. As for the comment about a program, they don't expect that we are all doing the same thing or the menu. My experience was that they will aid you in ideas but it's not structured by them. They have 1 monthly "Wee Watch" event that is done once a month and all Wee Watch providers are expected to participate. I am able to come up with my own ideas and use their website to assist me in planning. Also the menu I created by myself, following the Canada's Food Guide.
I am really happy with Wee Watch. All the seminars that are covered and training help the provider with professional development. Because it can be a very isolating job it's nice to feel like you have a monthly sisterhood where you can go to these seminars and meet with the other providers to get tips etc.
I disagree with most of what people put on here. If a parent had a bad situation with a Wee Watch provider that is very unfortunate, but really it could happen to anyone. I have heard people complain about centres and private home daycares also. My home inspections were done to a tee, and I was also approved by the Ministry of Education.
Looking to see who I am check me out on Facebook
www.facebook.com/BurlingtonKidsClub
Kelly
I actually signed up with WEE WATCH, thinking it would be easier to work with agenct. but the hoops I was expected to jump through and the endless sea of paperwork was a huge turn off.
As was they way they expected to me run my day.. Umm what if we do not want do do crafts at 3pm maybe we want to go to the park instead. I know the supervisor who interviewed me was shocked when I said I had NO intention of doing arts and crafts everyday.. I actually hate that part of daycare, and save arts and crafts for the truly crappy weather ( like today).
I sooner have the kids out playing and using their imaginations. Not to mention getting exercise and fresh air.
I also did not like I was expected to attend meetings, training seminars and conferences ALL the time. I had no problem with that but it was relentious, WW also wanted me to arrange playdates with the other two providers in my area.. Sure that works on paper but when neither is with in walking distance it is not exactly convient,considering I do not drive and even if I did I would not drive other peoples children around.
I also did not like the fact that someone from WW would be here almost weekly, while I get the need to closely supervise its hard to care for children when you have someone coming and going and screwing up whatever routine is in place.
What finally made me say no was the ridiculous pay.. For everything they expected, the pay worked out to $22 for a full day after taxes.. Really not worth it. As a provider I did not get the impression it was any easier to find children to care for. I still had to go through all the interview processes with parents and reference checks.
I found my first two kids privately ( craigslist) before ww found me a family to provide care for. I was told by WW that parents prefer a provider with pets.. Personally I think that was a line of BS. I can not have pets as I have severe chronic asthma and pets are my worst trigger.
The one good thing about WW is you can go on to become a supervisor and there is a ton of childcare courses you can take through them at a discounted rate.I think the parents who take the courses are given priority.
Reading this, two things shocked me: first of all, if you are in Ontario, we are not allowed to have playdates with other caregivers unless it is in a public space or there are less then 5 daycare children in total between you. Second, they actually told you that parents prefer caregivers with pets??? This is the opposite of my experience...even those families who have pets at home are often happy that I do not have any...it is one less thing to worry about in terms of safety (they don't want to worry about thier child being bitten or scratched etc). I had pets when my youngest went to daycare and I wanted a pet-free daycare as I couldn't be sure about other people's pets or how careful the provider would be about keeping the pets away from the kids.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DORITOSGIRL
I am in Ontario.. and it could just be the particular office I dealt with. The pet thing might just have been a excuse. Since dealing with them I have heard horror stories, and to be honest I was surprised by everything because I know many people who had kids in wee watch and loved it!.
Much of an experience is about perception and values ... I have worked in centres where 50% of the staff LOVED it there and 50% of the staff HATED it and same with client's experiences with centres or organizations!
Heck I grew up in the same house as my 5 siblings and yet we have totally different 'perceptions' of what our childhood was like .... we filter things through our own bias and beliefs and other experiences ... not to mention that how a business is running depends greatly on who is actually 'running it' and interpreting the rules and so forth.
Oh dear, darasmommy, you were at a horrible 'babysitter' and I and my colleagues on this site are NOT babysitters. We are home daycare providers who are dedicated to our profession and that's why it's important for us to have websites like this where we support and help each other. When a parent such as yourself has a bad experience we are very happy to help and advise too. However, you have attacked and abused us so far, so I hope you will change your tactics and we as nurturers and caregivers will be happy to help you.
When my children were young I had good and bad 'babysitters' but that's why I don't appreciate anybody calling me by that moniker.
Wee watch must be really hard up for providers cause I see their ads on kijiji all the time. I don't need an agency I'm doing fine independently. I have an amazing set up so I'm told by everyone that interviews .... Just wish I could take them all.
Now I see where all the animosity is comming from at least. This is very sad that you had a bad experience with a home daycare and that your daughter was not cared for properly. I feel very sad when I hear stories like this...I really truly do and I hope that you have found something good for your child. But please remember that you cannot paint everyone with the same brush. If you had food poisoning at a restaurant, would you stop eating at ALL restaurants or just that one? We are nto all the same and I know that there are many of us who provide excellent care. This is why I encourage parents to really do their homework before placing their child in care...check references, do a thorough interview, drop in unexpectedly from time to time. I did all of these things when my son was in daycare and I had an excellent experience and he still talks about his daycare (he is now 17 years old).
Quote:
Originally Posted by darasmommy
I don't ever write reviews on businesses, in fact I never have before but I feel parents should be warned about Wee Watch as I wish I had before I trusted my son in their care. Our experience with Wee Watch started out fine, and I will say they have some helpful, great staff. HOwever our son's care was becoming of increasing concern to us- being fed garbage, taken out in freezing conditions, etc... and the final straw was when his wee watch provider prevented me from coming in to see my son or the children's area- physically putting a hand up to me and saying I had to wait outside. The next day I called her and she told me "this is a home not a day care, if you want to see your son take him to a day care" She also had 2 different stories why i was not welcome in the house. Wee Watch demonstratedly did not care at all about my son or how vulnerable I felt as they said I still had to pay for 2 weeks after he left- and now have taken me to collections to financially exploit the situation. The emotional stress they cause is compounded by an extreme financial exploitation. They take advantage of parents who want to protect their children and I strongly recommend parents avoide them when considering child care- there are many more options with professional integrity and compassion- which is important when talking about the care of a child.
The owner and operator of Wee Watch is divorcing his wife because he cheated on her. The wife started the company and there is legal battle now. That being said the husbands sister runs the corporate office which includes North York, Mississauga, Milton and Oakville. I worked for them in the office and I have seen first hand how mean, belittling they are and the operator is a bully. there is such a large turn over of providers and staff because this woman has bullied the last 5 supervisors into quitting in the past 2 years yup 5 supervisors in 2 years.
However as much as i would love to see this business crash and burn there are wonderful providers with great programming, there are also teriible providers which are called the "Subsidy homes" they are basically homes that are open only to place subsidised children and to make more money at the end of the day... I would really really steer clear of this organization.
I have a lot of clients in my daycare whose parents pulled them from wee watch. apparently there is zero communication, they charge too much and pay shit to their employees wages and don't really supply you with what they say they will. the supervision is all crap. parents beware of them, providers should stay the hell away
Thanks for sharing your info, I have never heard about it, but thanks for your opinion and experience
My son was with Wee Watch in Mississauga. He was with them for a year in half. At first everything seemed to be fine but at the end I noticed that his behaviour was different. He seemed upset and withdrawn. Every time we would pull up to the caregivers house he would scream and say "no I don't want to go" he would also say "too much yelling". I also noticed that he knew every character on the Disney Channel and Treehouse (we don't watch t.v. at our house). So obviously he watched a lot of television at the caregivers house. When we told Wee Watch about this all they said was that they would look into it. Well my husband and I decided to take him out of WeeWatch because our son told us that she yells too much! Well WeeWatch still charged us for the 2 weeks that he didn't attend and refused to give our money back. All they care about is money not the well being of our children. The caregiver is still working and has taken on new kids. There is no real training for the caregivers of our children and most of them hardly speak English!!!!! Don't ever put your child there!!! My son now goes to a Montessori School and I have noticed a dramatic change in his behaviour and academics. I feel that the caregiver neglected him and it took away a year and half of learning for my son!!!!!!
My kids went to a Wee Watch home daycare when they were younger, and although we were generally happy with her, I wouldn't operate through them. We got sent monthly "reports" once a month done by the WW inspector, and they were a complete joke. Every month it was exactly the same thing..."Child's name had the opportunity to colour with a black crayon," etc. It told us nothing. My provider told me WW gave her $2.50 per kid per meal, so when we were picking up at 5:30, she fed the kids cold wieners at 5pm and called it "dinner" so that she got an extra $5 for the cost of 2 cold, processed wieners. She would also cheat at lunchtimes, feeding them earlier or later so that the max number of kids were present for lunch and she would get the most money. Now, that was one individual provider, who was in other ways fine, but when I found out about cold wieners for dinner I flipped. After we left and I went on Mat leave, I took my kids over to visit her and the WW inspector was there filling out her monthly reports. She was writing reports about kids that weren't even there that day, just fudging the date and asking the provider what things the child is doing that month so that she wouldn't have to come by another time. It sounded like they cut a lot of corners. I also saw her pay sheets...she was only getting $28 a day for kids over age 2, up to 10 hours a day. The going rate here is between 25-35, but you can be sure that the parents were getting charged more in order to give WW their cut. She had no power to raise or change rates, either.
I wouldn't go with an agency regardless, since I have 3 young kids of my own, so wouldn't make any money. WW in particular though, seems to cut corners and turn a blind eye to things in order to make money.
Wee Watch Mississauga South is the location we used. My husband and I put our one year old son in a Wee Watch providers care. Initially everything seemed to be fine and my son was happy. After about a year I noticed that my son was aggressive and acting differently. At this point my son was able to verbally express himself and he told me that they watched cartoons on the television a lot and that the day home provider always yelled.
In addition every time we pulled up to the day home my son kept on saying that he didn't want to go. I finally decided to take him out of care and told Wee Watch my concerns. Not only did they do nothing about the situation they charged us an extra 2 weeks of care!!!! They kept on saying that it was their policy. I told them I didn't feel that my son was safe there and that it was unfair to charge us an extra 2 weeks of care even though my son didn't go to the day home during the 2 weeks. This goes to prove that they only care about money and not the safety of our children!!!!! I will NEVER use them again and I recommend that no one else does.