Caring for family members children

[Inspired by Reggio]

I agree - it will depend on your relationship and the personality of those involved ... works awesome for some and not so awesome for others!

I made the mistake of doing it for 'free' to help my brother and SIL out when he was looking for work cause my nephew was due to start JK but they could not find anyone willing to do the wonky schedule and the few they did it was going to cost them more for the alternating space plus before and after school care transport ... so I offered to home school him for kindergarten and it went BAD because they had plead 'cannot afford childcare' as my brother was not working which is why I offered to do it for FREE until he found a job but that they had to send my nephew cause I could not 'home school' him if he was not attending daily .... well nine months he was here for FREE cause my brother claimed not to be able to find work and than I found out they had turned around and renovated their kitchen with the money they 'saved' not paying for childcare for the year .... which of course pissed me off because I felt used and under valued for my service and well it went bad from there because she got laid off too so niether of them were working I told them I could no longer do it for 'free' cause they could swap off each other looking for work and so they pulled my nephew so I filled his spot and than she called back 6 weeks later wanting a 'paid spot' cause my brother was working and she had some union training to go to and I was full and my SIL got all pissy cause either she could not do her training or my brother would have to take time off work - and well they opted to have my brother take the time off and he got fired which was apparently MY FAULT and well long story short we no longer speak ... so in hindsight I ended up getting screwed out of over $ 5800 in fees and now do not get to see my nephew at all - all because I wanted to 'help'

So yes lesson learned - business is BUSINESS so regardless of whom is doing it you should treat it like any other client ... if you choose to do it they sign a contract and pay for their space like anyone else and they follow the rules and have same consequences if they do not and you let them know that starting out!

Good luck in your choice!

[Dreamalittledream]

I should also add that I am her only source of Childcare in the area...so, on the evenings that she absolutely needs someone it can be a really long day with her brood of 3 boys added to the mix (especially since I've had one of them all day).