Burnout: do you ever suffer from it?

[playfelt]

Remember what the meaning of "free play" is. The kids are free to play with whatever I have set out for them and I am free to do what I want to do within reason. So if that means I am going to sit with a cup of tea and glance at a section of the morning newspaper that is what I do. It is important that while we are overseeing the children that we are not hovering over them all day or directing their play. Also there are times when it is ok to rethink the work we do after hours such as can you skip vacuuming some day and just clean the kitchen and bathroom. If all the kids are in diapers and no one is potty training do you even need to sanitize the bathroom every day - maybe just the sink from all the hand washing. My point is to find compromises that allow you to get the breaks you need. One of the reasons I stopped doing daily reports was because the only time to concentrate enough to do them properly was during quiet time which is also my quiet time-lunchtime.
One trick I found worked really well was that as soon as the last child was gone - go take a quick shower and change your clothes. Always did that when my own kids were little so that I wasn't the one spreading the germs from the daycare kids to my own. And I always felt so much recharged after the shower.

[Spixie33]

Playfelt - I took the shower advice tonight and that was actually nice. I used to do it just before bed time but doing it earlier in the day once the DCK leave was actually a nice escape while I was still semi-alert.

I have been doing more free play. Up until a couple of months ago I felt guilty leaving the kids alone in the playroom or to play by themselves. I felt like I should be there every second. However...you are right...it is great when you can just let them play sometimes and they really don't need you every second. The last couple of months I have been using some of the free play time to prepare snacks and clean up a bit after meals but of course inevitably someone always calls me and tells me that so and so took a toy or there is crying because someone grabbed a toy, etc so those moments are still a work on progress. It has made the kids happier that I am not constantly hovering (In My opinion) because they can relax more when a grown up isn't constantly right beside them watching what they are doing. I think I was making them nervous and they were starting to think of me as this warden rather than their fun, happy daycare provider.

I do have a great bunch of kids and I really do try to have a sense of humor and laugh when things go crazy during the day or when it seems like utter caios has taken over my house but I do think this job is more demanding than people realize.

I used to be a parent who left my child with a daycare provider and I thought to myself that she had it pretty easy because she must love kids, got to stay home and had time with her own family and made a decent living. I never realized just how time consuming and all consuming emotionally it is.

I think I also put a lot of pressure on myself. I feel like I have to live up to the expectations of these parents and deliver them an amazing daycare experience and feel bad telling them we didn't do much that day.

And thank goodness for this forum because it is a lonely job. My hubby doesn't understand or want to hear the details of the day and he gets stressed when I vent about a bad day and none of my friends do daycare so it can feel like I am all alone with these feelings.