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Thread: Wee watch

  1. #1
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    Wee watch

    anyone heard of wee watch? thoughts?
    http://www.weewatchlocal.com/weewatch/providers/

  2. #2
    Euphoric !
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    I have heard of it. The one thing I had heard is that they have a program they expect you to do with the kids and while that is great if you don't like lesson planning it would annoy others to be told what to do how and when so something to look into. Before signing with any agency find out what their fee to parents is and that may help determine how likely they are to attract parents that are not looking for subsidy since there is not enough subsidy money to go around - hence they wouldn't have very many kids to place in your home.

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    My family had a horrible experience with our daughter and a wee watch provider. This was 14 years ago now when she went to daycare, but we ended up having our daughter spanked, force fed and made to clean up her own vomit. Ended up in court and a bunch of other crap. I would never recommend sending a child to a wee watch provider and would never in a million years work for them but that's just my personal opinion. I am sure there are some fabulous providers who work for them but I would never chance it again with my own kids.

  4. #4
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    Yes ~ my advice is to google 'wee watch reviews' and see what comes up ~ I have heard more horror stories both from the parent perspective as well as from providers who had mad the mistake to work for them.

    Wee Watch is a privately owned franchise ~ so the rules for everyone, in addition to the 'DNA', include a bunch of other things that have to be 'exactly the same' for every one ... so it is like signing up to have your child in the McDonalds of daycare ... every one is suppose to offer clients the exact same 'menu' so to speak there is no individuality in them. So yes as mentioned they expect you to follow their curriculum to a T from the craft you do to the science experiment and so forth each day .... which is fine if you have no imagination of your own and no personal philosophy for how children learn and develop ... I personally could not follow it is it is VERY DATED and no longer considered best practice in the field to have such rigid 'academic style' approach to the early years as this is not how wee children master becoming life long learners.

    In addition ... they adhere to the MINIMUM standards for everything ... I also know this for a fact because when I chose to go with an agency starting out I considered them ~ they were 'fine' with my tiny basement windows that I myself could not fit out of as well as most preschool children today who are round around the middle would not be able to get out of in a fire .... every other agency I talked to would have required me to have larger window installed and actually sent out the fire department to 'follow up' that the space and my evacuation plan was too code which is what is SUPPOSE to happen. I later met a peer who worked for them in an administrative roll and she had a horrible experience and confirmed what I had experienced ~ their employees who 'regulate' the providers are being told not to 'check to closely' for things in inspection she was given exactly 30 minutes at each house she inspected that was NEW so that is an extensive interview that is supposed to occur plus the checking that the house meets DNA requirements and than only 10 minutes for each monthly inspection after ~ so there were homes that were 'contracted' but the provider had the daycare space in the basement with windows that did not open because they were instructed to not 'check' as long as it had windows it did not matter what size or if they even opened ~ which is illegal ~ every space being used for business purposes has to have two viable fire exits from it for both children and adults to escape through ... most adults are not fitting through a little tiny window that most older style basements have!

    Also not sure how they compare in other cities but the one in my city charges clients the MOST for the care but pays the providers doing the work the LEAST in order to have profit for franchise share holders who are not working directly in the business because they have to hire RECE to do the work for them, they had little professional development and other resources such as toy lending and equipment and so forth.

    Personally I would search to see what other options there are ~ most regions have more than 1 agency model and one should be a 'not for profit' one which might pay their providers better and have better resources and so forth.
    Children construct their own intelligence. The adult must provide activities and context, but most of all must be able to listen. Children need proof that adults believe in them. Their three great desires are to be listened to, to understand, and to demonstrate that they are exactly what we expect."
    Loris Malaguzzi

  5. #5
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    Personally wouldn't go with Wee Watch. Heard some horror stories from both providers and parents alike.

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  7. #6
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    I tried to work with Wee Watch but found my local one terribly disorganized. Had to chase them to get calls back and get an interview. Once I had my interview and reviewed their pay and policies, I wasn't interested in working with them. They never called about potential clients anyway - that is until about 2 months later when I had gotten clients on my own already.

  8. #7

    love wee watch

    Hi there

    I have a totally different opinion. I came into this business through Wee Watch and had tons of great experiences with them. Firstly they were always there to answer any questions I had, they were able to get me set up and running a daycare very quickly. they helped me pay for all of the things I needed to set up such as police checks, equipment, CPR etc. As for the comment about a program, they don't expect that we are all doing the same thing or the menu. My experience was that they will aid you in ideas but it's not structured by them. They have 1 monthly "Wee Watch" event that is done once a month and all Wee Watch providers are expected to participate. I am able to come up with my own ideas and use their website to assist me in planning. Also the menu I created by myself, following the Canada's Food Guide.

    I am really happy with Wee Watch. All the seminars that are covered and training help the provider with professional development. Because it can be a very isolating job it's nice to feel like you have a monthly sisterhood where you can go to these seminars and meet with the other providers to get tips etc.

    I disagree with most of what people put on here. If a parent had a bad situation with a Wee Watch provider that is very unfortunate, but really it could happen to anyone. I have heard people complain about centres and private home daycares also. My home inspections were done to a tee, and I was also approved by the Ministry of Education.

    Looking to see who I am check me out on Facebook

    www.facebook.com/BurlingtonKidsClub

    Kelly

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    I actually signed up with WEE WATCH, thinking it would be easier to work with agenct. but the hoops I was expected to jump through and the endless sea of paperwork was a huge turn off.
    As was they way they expected to me run my day.. Umm what if we do not want do do crafts at 3pm maybe we want to go to the park instead. I know the supervisor who interviewed me was shocked when I said I had NO intention of doing arts and crafts everyday.. I actually hate that part of daycare, and save arts and crafts for the truly crappy weather ( like today).

    I sooner have the kids out playing and using their imaginations. Not to mention getting exercise and fresh air.

    I also did not like I was expected to attend meetings, training seminars and conferences ALL the time. I had no problem with that but it was relentious, WW also wanted me to arrange playdates with the other two providers in my area.. Sure that works on paper but when neither is with in walking distance it is not exactly convient,considering I do not drive and even if I did I would not drive other peoples children around.

    I also did not like the fact that someone from WW would be here almost weekly, while I get the need to closely supervise its hard to care for children when you have someone coming and going and screwing up whatever routine is in place.

    What finally made me say no was the ridiculous pay.. For everything they expected, the pay worked out to $22 for a full day after taxes.. Really not worth it. As a provider I did not get the impression it was any easier to find children to care for. I still had to go through all the interview processes with parents and reference checks.

    I found my first two kids privately ( craigslist) before ww found me a family to provide care for. I was told by WW that parents prefer a provider with pets.. Personally I think that was a line of BS. I can not have pets as I have severe chronic asthma and pets are my worst trigger.

    The one good thing about WW is you can go on to become a supervisor and there is a ton of childcare courses you can take through them at a discounted rate.I think the parents who take the courses are given priority.

  10. #9
    Euphoric !
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    Reading this, two things shocked me: first of all, if you are in Ontario, we are not allowed to have playdates with other caregivers unless it is in a public space or there are less then 5 daycare children in total between you. Second, they actually told you that parents prefer caregivers with pets??? This is the opposite of my experience...even those families who have pets at home are often happy that I do not have any...it is one less thing to worry about in terms of safety (they don't want to worry about thier child being bitten or scratched etc). I had pets when my youngest went to daycare and I wanted a pet-free daycare as I couldn't be sure about other people's pets or how careful the provider would be about keeping the pets away from the kids.


    Quote Originally Posted by DORITOSGIRL View Post
    I actually signed up with WEE WATCH, thinking it would be easier to work with agenct. but the hoops I was expected to jump through and the endless sea of paperwork was a huge turn off.
    As was they way they expected to me run my day.. Umm what if we do not want do do crafts at 3pm maybe we want to go to the park instead. I know the supervisor who interviewed me was shocked when I said I had NO intention of doing arts and crafts everyday.. I actually hate that part of daycare, and save arts and crafts for the truly crappy weather ( like today).

    I sooner have the kids out playing and using their imaginations. Not to mention getting exercise and fresh air.

    I also did not like I was expected to attend meetings, training seminars and conferences ALL the time. I had no problem with that but it was relentious, WW also wanted me to arrange playdates with the other two providers in my area.. Sure that works on paper but when neither is with in walking distance it is not exactly convient,considering I do not drive and even if I did I would not drive other peoples children around.

    I also did not like the fact that someone from WW would be here almost weekly, while I get the need to closely supervise its hard to care for children when you have someone coming and going and screwing up whatever routine is in place.

    What finally made me say no was the ridiculous pay.. For everything they expected, the pay worked out to $22 for a full day after taxes.. Really not worth it. As a provider I did not get the impression it was any easier to find children to care for. I still had to go through all the interview processes with parents and reference checks.

    I found my first two kids privately ( craigslist) before ww found me a family to provide care for. I was told by WW that parents prefer a provider with pets.. Personally I think that was a line of BS. I can not have pets as I have severe chronic asthma and pets are my worst trigger.

    The one good thing about WW is you can go on to become a supervisor and there is a ton of childcare courses you can take through them at a discounted rate.I think the parents who take the courses are given priority.

  11. #10
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    I am in Ontario.. and it could just be the particular office I dealt with. The pet thing might just have been a excuse. Since dealing with them I have heard horror stories, and to be honest I was surprised by everything because I know many people who had kids in wee watch and loved it!.

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