apples and bananas, I was very nervous with the first two no-shows. Actually.....1 of them did call to cancel the night before. It was kind of good that she did as I did not get a good vibe from her at all. She had a very authoritative tone that made me feel like her inferior. The 2nd lady caught me off guard when she called. She was the 2nd person I've ever spoken to over the phone. She was looking for care to start immediately, even though I told her several times that I did not have an opening until July. We decided on an interview anyway. I gave her my address and we set a time and day. When she didn't show up, I was extremely upset so I did not call her. Our meeting was supposed to be on a Saturday at 4pm. I wasted my whole day making sure everything was perfect when I could have been out with my children enjoying my weekend. I never bothered to call her, and she never called me. For the last person that was a no-show.... We had a very good phone interview. She seemed down to earth and really liked a lot of the things I said. The only time that she was able to come for the interview was on a Thursday at 6:30pm. My son's soccer game was at 6pm. I had to miss the soccer game to wait around for this woman. She didn't show up. I called her around 7pm and left a message with her husband. I gave him my full name and telephone number with the reason for my call. She never called me back. She obviously would not have been a good fit either!
So I guess the no-shows and last minute cancelations worked out in my favour anyway....sort of.

I didn't expect to fill my daycare spots but I did think I would have at least 3 full-time children to start. As it stands now, I have 1 full-time child. He is my bread and butter. One part-time child comes for full days 2-3 times per week. The other two are siblings and come 2-3 times per week for 2-3hrs. One of them is going to school in the fall. They seriously are not even worth my while but the extra little bit I get at the end of the week is helping me for now.... I am just getting by! I can still feed everyone, but I stress about the money big time. We used to be able to set aside money for savings. Now we can't... ugh. I hope more children come along soon. I have a lot of competition right now.

I think my best bet is to eliminate my phone number from my ads. They can contact me by e-mail instead. This way, I reply when I have the time and not in the middle of the day when I am trying to get lunch ready or get the children down for a nap.....or worse....answer the phone confused and groggy at 8:30am on a day off. lol. I won't even speak of an interview until I know for sure that they are a match for my daycare. I did have way more replies when I first started advertising but I was strictly looking for full-time children...and they were all families seeking part-time care.