Printable View
I would love to hear what you all did before deciding to open your own daycares,what you miss the most (if anything) about your previous employment and what you miss the least.
I used to work in a call center ( very stressful!) So what I don;t miss is having to answer to someone allllllll the time. What I miss the most is getting to dress up. I could live in heels:laugh:
I was the director of a Nursery School/Preschool. When my fist child was born five years ago I left work to stay home. I know live in a different province. I miss the freedom but love being home. :)
Prior to marriage I was going to be a police officer. I passed all the prereq testing and just had the psych exam left (hahaha, maybe it would have ended for me there anyway?!). Then I met DH, whirlwind romance, engagement, marriage and baby immediately.
From there I worked in a call center taking inbound calls (much nicer than outbound sales). After my 2nd child was born I went back to doing what I did through college: bartending and restaurant management.
After my 3rd child was born I did consulting work from home for various insurance companies. It worked OK but didn't allow me the time with the kids that I wanted. The natural next step was home daycare. :)
Hey! I took my ECE, then went on to do my BA while coming home during the summers to work at daycare centers (any age group). After I graduated (tried to get into teachers college 2 yrs in a row then gave up), I became a nanny to 3 school-aged boys for a year. Then decided to go back to school again for Office Administration. I planned a wedding that year and on my Fridays off i was a nanny to a 2 and 4 yr old!
Graduated and couldn't find work close to home, a family friend was in a bind and needed childcare, so once again became a nanny to a 1 yr old girl! Got married, hubby built a playroom/dance space in the basement. And once that was done, I opened my daycare and dance school. I'm loving it so far, and cannot wait to have children of my own.
before getting married I skated professionally around the world..met my husband then we settled down to start a family. After settling down and before baby #2 I managed a retail store.
I miss talking to people and selling. I don't miss the schedule, the commute (even though it wasn't far) and I never experienced, but I know I couldn't have handled getting my kids up at the crack of dawn, taking them to someone else's house to be raised, getting home in time to throw dinner on the table, bathe them and say goodnight before getting up to do it all over again. NEVER could have done it. That's why I'm here. :D
My training is as an elementary teacher and I have taken ECE courses. My hubby is military so we have lived in Nova Scotia, Alberta and several places in Ontario. Cracking the lineup in teaching is very hard when you are basically just passing through. When we moved to Calgary I was almost 8 months pregnant with our second. When she was 4 months old we moved off base cause they took off the rent controls and put in house buying incentives. Shortly after that I started with a neighbour's child after she had a childcare crisis and then is just sort of spread from there. I did join an agency in Alberta in 1987 for the supports while getting started. Tried an agency when we moved to Ontario thinking it would be the same but it was awful so I have been private ever since 1990.
hello all...it's wonderful to see so many people with the same interest here and different backgrounds!!! I myself am from BC and have been in daycare for a whooping 6 months! I've worked in offices my entire adult life and decided to do this after baby #2 and missing out so much on baby #1's life while I was at 'work'!
I love the fact that I get to be home with them, drop my older boy to school and not have to take transit! However it does get a little overwhelming when you haven't had much experience with many tots at the same time or situations that are new...which is why I find this forum to be extremely helpful!
With the aspect of learning outcomes, I'm trying to teach myself what I can teach the little ones and with the amount of information on the internet I don't know where to start! They mostly play, we sing (I do anyway!) and play music and read! Try and color, lasts for a minute or 2 at the most ;) Some days are frustrating for me and some days they're so good! I don't know how you do it with more than 2-3 kids...hats off to you! I'm hoping one day I'll have the patience and courage to take that on :)
it depends on their ages and dynamic. Sometimes I actually find more easier than less, since they entertain eachother!Quote:
Originally Posted by Amateur Owner
gcj - I suppose that would be something to look at...I'm finding it hard to secure older kids as I have young ones (18 months) and the parents want someone their kids age...any advice, anyone?
I can totally relate to the dressing up part - I loved to dress up for work! I find if I slap on some make-up in the morning I feel better about myself somehow! But always feel the parents must be wondering if I'm crazy :P
We're not crazy???? Oh, ok then. So playing in the snow, playing with infant/toddler/preschooler toys doesn't make us a crazy person!?! lol We take care of many kids for no money at all - we are all crazy!!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Amateur Owner
I worked as a dispatcher for a tranport company (too much stress) for 7 years. Before that I was a nanny for a few families. I went back to work after mat leave and within 8 months I had enough of stress and missing my baby. I started planning my daycare 3 months before leaving my job and quit having only one child signed up. Now I have 4 kids and my son. Loving being home but do miss talking to adults somedays.
Me, I guess I have always been in childcare :) I graduated high school at 16 and was a live out Nanny for a year to 3 boys. I graduated college at 19 from Correctional Worker, being a 'short' female at 19 I wasn't ready to work in a correctional facility so decided to work with children instead. I initially set out to work with CAS or a youth home, but Hubby being military was posted to Petawawa and well, the natural solution was to start my own family and do home daycare. I did home daycare for almost 10 years then took some time off to take my ECE. After graduating from ECE I worked in a centre for a year and well, enjoyed being home too much and have been doing home daycare for almost 4 years.
The only part about working in a centre I miss is the socialization of having coworkers! Home daycare can be so isolating especially during the long winter months.
I had my own daycare 20 years then my husband had an accident and became quadriplegic so I quit and became a full time mom to 3 children and my husbands full time caregiver. My children are now all grown up and I was at loose ends so I decided to open up a daycare again and I and my husband are totally loving it and the children learn about disabilities and are so caring.
bluesgirl17 thats a lovely story. It must be really challenging at times but it's great that your DCKs are so accepting and caring. You are teaching them a wonderful life lesson.
Thx Lisa its been quite a ride. I told my dcparents up front my hubby would be home during day. A few didnt like it at all, 1 even wanted him to get a police check done not me or my 2 grown boys who live here. GO figure! The parents i do have didn't have a problem at all with it and the kids are always wanting to show him their crafts and the 3 1/2 yr old actually gets mad at me lol if I don't let her give him his jug of water hehehe.
I guess you will find that the parents who have a problem with the situation are not the sorts of parents you want anyway!
So Nicole where did you do ECE and how long did it take you? I want to take it, however I'm afraid I'm going to fall alseep in class! I'm exhausted by 5:00. Thanks
Interesting to see what everyone did before they got into the wild world of daycare! I got my BA in Environmental Studies and then went back to school for Teachers College in Ottawa in 2000 concentrating on the primary/junior division. I taught at a small private school for two years (grade 4/5 split) and it eventually went bankrupt (don't ask!!!) and then I moved to New Jersey with hubby from 2003 until we returned in winter of 2005 (he was in the high tech industry and there were no jobs in IT in Ottawa at the time). Once I returned to Ottawa, I got a job as an admin assistant at an intellectual property law firm (which was pretty cool) and then I had my first baby. While I was off on mat leave with DD I got pregnant with baby #2 (oopps! it happened a little sooner than we had planned). Went back for 4 months had DS and never wanted to go back. While I was home on mat leave with DD my mom was diagnosed with galbladder cancer. She fought a very courageous battle but ended up passing away in June of 2009. After this tragedy happened I really felt an enormous desire to be at home with my children so I decided that I would open my own home daycare. I am a relative newbie in the daycare world. I opened my doors in January of 2010. I have always loved children and being around them so it has been a pretty good fit for me. Some days are better than others but every job is like that from time to time ;) I look forward to getting some great tips and ideas from all you ladies that have been in the biz for many years. Kuddos to you all!!!
I have always wanted to be a teacher and a Mommy but never pictured how I would do both at the same time. I NEVER pictured my children as "latch key kids" but it has happened from time to time over my 15 years of being a Mom. I started working in a daycare center when I was 18 years old and LOVED it!!! So when I graduated from high school I knew I wanted to get my E.C.E. diploma I was older (another story for another topic. LOL) so that summer was crazy busy. I graduated high school in June, got married in July and started college in Aug. good thing I was young I am getting tried just typing it. LOL! We were married for 4 years when it happened.....we became parents to a beautiful, healthy baby girl. So the short version of my story is I started a home daycare and then we bought our first home still while I was doing home daycare when a job opportunity came up in a daycare center so I took it to help us more financially (so I thought) then back to home daycare for a while had our second child another beautiful, healthy baby girl then surprise a healthy, bouncy baby boy arrived so happy doing my home daycare when another great job opportunity came and I thought it would be great...nope went back to home daycare and then again another job offer now my children are older in school all day so why not take it. I was there for a year and a half when again I just felt I need to be home for my children no matter how old they get I LOVE being here for them before and after school, school holidays and if they are home sick so I quit my really good pay for daycare with benefits in a GREAT company and have started my home daycare again. I currently have one little guy who only comes 3 days a week and all my other inquiries are for Sept. 2011 start so I will probably be full in Sept. BUT it is paying the bills between now and Sept. We just missed our April 1 morgage payment so I went on the supply teacher list for the 2 days that my daycare guy is not here with the GREAT company I just left the end of Nov. So now I don't know what to do because I am really struggling with deciding to suck it up and go back with this GREAT company OR stay home and struggle until my home daycare picks up because that is where my heart is.....at home with my family!
Okay so I guess after that very long post (sorry :( ) my answer to the question is I have always been in daycare in one form or another. LOL!