I think if it had been any other time of year there wouldn't have been as much objection from the family but it is month end, year end and busy for many people at work not to mention seasonal activities and people at work also sick, etc. - just lots of factors parents are facing. That does not excuse their rudeness just explains it a little.

One of the downfalls of home care for sure is the chance of being left suddenly without care when a caregiver closes due to illness. Even though we warn them at interviews it always catches them off guard when it actually happens.

Leaving out the other issues you have with this family since they are separate issues just adding to the annoyance and anger at this point but I can see in a similar situation where my daycare parents might be upset if I decided to close just to have a day to cuddle with my kids. Yes your children have ear infections but as the mom of 4 I realize life has to go on when one or more of them are sick. That means opening daycare as usual. It means not doing programming and having lots of freeplay for the daycare kids while I sit on the couch and cuddle one of my own. It means turning on the tv or putting on a movie to get quiet. And in reality it is only 3-4 hours in the morning that you would have had to deal with because naptime takes care of the need for quiet in the afternoon. If your own children were up in the night then they probably would be able to be in their own beds in their own rooms for a quiet rest during the daycare morning. I guess what I am saying is I would question whether the situation warranted closing daycare or not too just like the parents did. Yes we stayed home to be with our own kids but if we are going to open a home daycare and be professionals it means there are days we have to "go to work" as normal and still care for our own children when they are not up to par. I also get that you have been sick and your strength was already taxed and for sure that complicates things in terms of meeting everyone's needs including your own. As I said at the beginning, had it been any other time of the year there might not have been as much objection to the closure.