Yey! The Day is Over!

[Cadillac]

I try to have the house cleaned too. As soon as all the kids are gone I turn the T.V on for my little one so I can zone out while I make dinner. Hubby comes home and talks my ear off during dinner. Then it's play, bath, and bed for the little one before I fall onto the couch and watch some T.V. myself. . . .
Wow . . . . my life is simple LOL

[michellesmunchkins]

I used to wait until the last one was gone before doing any cleaning/tidying up etc...but my hours are 6-6 and then to spend another hour cleaning before even getting to our dinner and nightime activities were just too much. So now...at 5:00 I usually only have 1-2 left and that's when the TV goes on in the playroom. While they watch a little treehouse, I vacuum up the playroom, mop the floors, wipe down the toys and tidy up the kitchen and start getting our dinner ready. This way, we eat at 6 when the last one leaves and then have the rest of the evening. This will change once soccer/baseball season starts though as we will have to eat and be ready to walk out the door at 6:01 to make it to their games on time....I think I need to change my hours to end a little earlier...last year was stressful!

[mom-in-alberta]

We are quite often heading out the door to the kiddos' sports or dance. So normally I am throwing everyone into the van as the last kids are leaving. If not, then we are usually eating dinner right away.

[Momof4]

Oh I forgot to admit my guilty little secret: The Y & R at 4:30. That's what I'm watching every day while I eat my supper and I come on this site to catch up after I have put on my jammies.

[dodge__driver11]

I love that show!!! @ mom of 4 totally off topic, but do you don't you think Victor is such a meddler?? GAH..... he lets me release all my angry energy if I am having a bad day.

[Inspired by Reggio]

I love that show!!! @ mom of 4 totally off topic, but do you don't you think Vicor is such a meddler?? GAH..... he lets me release all my angry energy if I am having a bad day.

Yes ... many adjectives that describe that ASSHAT include hypocrite ... the villain you love to hate!

[dodge__driver11]

haahahaahahahaha Teee hee asshat!!! Another guilty pleasure--the sims, yep I know I have crossed over the border to lamesville

[Momof4]

I love that show!!! @ mom of 4 totally off topic, but do you don't you think Vicor is such a meddler?? GAH..... he lets me release all my angry energy if I am having a bad day.

I think yelling at the people on the tv is cathartic and a good way to get your frustrations out, haha. But it's also good if nobody else is around to see you do it. Hey, men yell at the sports, so why can't I yell at the soap opera, right?

[lunademiel]

Reggio how do you keep an electronic version? Is it just a word doc? I'm starting to think I would like to have a copy of the daily journal that I write to parents everyday. I was thinking of just typing it out on the computer so I have my own copy. I was thinking it might be more time consuming to type it all out and attach it to an email. I don't want to print because printer ink is just so darn expensive! Or does anyone know if you can get carbon copy notebooks?

Yup ... I do not do 'what I did today sheets' for clients like some do but I do I keep an electronic log on the computer (allows me to do it in a small font and store on a 'disc' for tax reasons that takes up minimal space for those seven years we have to keep business crap) this is a 'habit' from working in centre care - a daily log is mandatory in the Day Nursery Act.

I track for my own personal reflection - this is never 'shown' to clients:

Attendance (who was here and drop off and pick up times so that these match my 'contracts' in an audit as well as my income claimed in regards to days open verses closed in a year for shared space and so forth)

Program tidbits (if we went on a field trip - where for tracking KM use of vehicle or any cost associated with it that I have a receipt for, if we did something 'consumable' that there is a receipt somewhere for aka creative art, science, baking, sensory as that extra proof or balance and check so to speak)

Meals and Snacks served (again to match 'receipts' on file in an audit but also to be able to use as reflection if a child has 'behaviour changes' or 'allergic reaction' to look back at what was served also 'note' if a child refused something on any given day or ate an 'abnormal' amount - no note means that everyone ate normally for them)

Rest / quiet time of children (this is should a change occur with a child rest patterns and parent want to know if they are sleeping enough or if they are sleeping more is it because they are 'coming down' with something as a pattern of behaviour)

Washroom notes (again for tracking 'changes' in children's BM habits or potty training success / failures cause an increase in accidents of a potty trained child could mean 'urinary' track infection or what not or constipation could also be in relation to FOOD ALLERGY and so forth )

Accidents / Incidents in program (again this is both for reflection as well as in a child is having serious 'accident prone' is it due to balance issues or if 'behaviour' incidents become consistent or a pattern develops can use my log to reflect what did they 'eat' that day, how did they sleep and so forth to get a 'better picture')

Medications - what child, what given, how much, comments ... this is also great for reflection if needed if you notice a child has chronic ear infections is there a pattern to what was eaten before hand or sleep patterns change before hand and so forth.

Messages from parents or other noteworthy things (this is where I would record if a child had an been to the Dr, if a child disclosed something that 'happened' at home I might want to remember later or monitor if a pattern emerged, any 'conversations' with parents I might want to remember later about having discussed behaviour of their child or whatever.

[Inspired by Reggio]

Yes - I keep my log in a Word Document ... I stopped doing 'what I did today sheets' to parents because I felt it was not a valuable use of my time - unlike in centre care I open and close my program and am the only one caring for them so I see them TWICE a day and know exactly how their day went and can just verbally tell them how they ate, slept. pooped if that is a priority of information for them .... parents do not ever 'see' my log because it contains other clients personal information as well.

For parents and children I choose to do authentic photo documentation on my members only section of my website ... because as a 'written record' I think it is more valuable to see how the children spend their day 'engaged' verses mundane things of eat / sleep / poop which unless there is an 'issue' we should assume they are doing.

So I do photos with a blurb about what was going on at the time, reflections on what might be being mastered so for example 'Little Johnny has been fascinated with the blocks lately - this week he mastered a steadier hand as well as spatial awareness to keep the blocks centered and as a result created a tower more than 18 blocks high before it toppled over on him'....these are memories that I think both the child and parent will find more valuable 1, 5, 10 years from now reflecting back on childhood verses a sheet with 'Johnny ate X for lunch, pooped twice, slept 1-3 and colored at the table' ... and to be honest I can do up a photo documentation on the day in the same time it would take me to write 5 'what I did today sheet's' and either email them or put them in a cubby!

Here is a sample of one documenting progression in creative expression...at one point I did both the electronic upload to the website for parents to read at home or work on their own time AND I printed out copies for the children in a portfolio book for them to reflect on in the playroom - however it got expensive so now I just do the electronic version and give them a 'flash drive' disc upon graduation with all the documentation on it ... if parents want a hard copy they can print it off the website as they go or at the end when they get the disc!



sorry keep trying to shrink the image but it is still big!