Looking for mothers and fathers who are concerned about a home daycare provider....

[Inspired by Reggio]

First off, Tanya is not visiting this site again - that's for sure. Secondly, why didn't anyone report her post to have it removed? I just did - right up there with "best thing I ever did" category...

Why would we report her ~ she was not doing anything 'wrong' as this is a public forum her request was not spam or hate speech or any other 'category' for reporting?

BTW she has come back several times since posting her initial question to provide follow up as well as to discuss things with some members via email around the challenges of 'licensing / regulation' and what those 'against' regulation would want to see changed in order to be more inclined to BE regulated so that there are more options and choice for parents who need childcare?

Yes ~ the CBC desire to do a piece on Modernizing Childcare In Ontario and across Canada is politically driven for sure and there are definitely many different beliefs on what that should look like and what is BEST for children and families ... however if WE, either as society at large, as parents or as individual providers, do not stand up and voice our opinions about what WE think is best for childcare industry from the view of the front line than we are going to end up having to live with the decisions of big business and politicians who often have NO CLUE what it is like on the front line acting trying to 'follow' the regulations and how often the 'regulations' rather than encouraging quality childcare often impede them or contradict 'quality' and they will continue to make decisions based on 'economics' and 'getting re-elected' .... change is coming whether we like it or not and if we do not speak up and give feedback on how WE want that change to look when change arrives and it is not what we would have 'wanted' well we got no one to blame cause they cannot 'read your minds' so to speak

An example of when 'regulation' goes wrong ~ when I chose to do home childcare I started out with a licensed childcare agency not because I needed the support they offered but because I wanted to be able to offer clients who needed it the option of 'subsidy' even though it would mean a slight 'decrease' in pay for me to do so ~ an act of 'altruism' because I believe children deserve a high quality program regardless of their parents ability to pay full market fees for said program.

However after two years I ended up never having any clients referred through the agency because of the long waiting list of subsidy and my ability to find clients privately ~ but that entire time I was full with private clients I still followed all the rules and the agency still came out and 'inspected' me monthly and so forth in case a space opened and they had a referral for me. Than going into my 3rd year of business I had a child graduate into 'big school' and was looking to fill a space with a 'over 3' child because I was still at my max of 3 under 3 years of age ... I found a perfect match for hours of care, philosophy, little girl was a perfect addition to the program personality and learning style wise and it was a client who needed care to start ASAP because mom had gotten offered a job she could not turn down and mom wanted the little girl to have some time in a program to prepare for school the next year .... down fall being that the child did not turn three for another 21 days ~ a whopping 15 days of 'childcare attendance' where she would technically be 'under 3' and put me over my restriction of no more than 3 under 3 .... so I called the agency for advice and with the regulations rules I would have to either delay the start date of the client forcing the family to find 'back up care for 3 weeks and have the child go through TWO transitions while mom return to work OR I would have to pass up the client entirely if they could not do that in order to maintain my 'contract' with the agency OR I would have to give up my contract with them I I chose to go with enrolling her at the early start date cause it would be in contradiction of 'regulation' and they could not have a provider who is not in compliance .... seriously how much 'easier' is that child going to be able to care for in 15 days that the other children in my program were at 'risk' if I chose to take her on? But is is STUPID like this that impede providers desires to be 'regulated' and limit the availability of subsidized spots for parents who need access to it ~ cause for the sake of 15 days they lost an amazing and talented provider because for ME turning away a perfectly awesome client over 15 days was just well stupid specially since being 'regulated' did nothing to benefit ME as a business owner and was something I did purely to help CLIENTS and in this case it was not helping them but rather impeding their ability to procure a quality childcare choice for their child