Daycare providers over their limit

[AmandaKDT]

Today I went to a park that I don't usually go to since it is a bit of a walk to get there. When we arrived it was obvious that there were a couple other home daycare providers there. Just a few minutes after I arrived they all started leaving - and I witnessed two of the four providers leave with 7 kids each, all definitely under the age of 5. This is way over the limit in Manitoba. If you are unlicensed you can only have a total of 4 under the age of 12 and if you are licensed the maximum is 5 under the age of 6 (but you can have school age kids on top of that too).

So it was upsetting for me to see this, but I don't know what can be done about it. I'm going to report it, but I don't know who they are or where they live. But another mom that was as the park said she sees them there all the time, so maybe someone from the Child Care government agency can go by and try to find them there. I don't know, I'll have to see what my coordinator says when I call her.

[sunnydays]

I don't know what the laws are in Manitoba when it comes to the provider's own kids, but is it possible that some of the kids were the provider's own children? Here in Ontario, we are allowed 5 daycare kids PLUS our own kids...so I have 7 kids when my son is home from school in the summer (my daughter is still home with me). I sure wouldn't want someone to report me when I have never broken a law of any kind.

[monkeymama]

agree ^^. Im in Ontario also and this summer I will have 5 dck plus my own 2 children. Im not breaking any laws.

[AmandaKDT]

It includes your own children in Manitoba, so the 5 I'm allowed includes my own kids since they are 3 and 1 years old. Otherwise I wouldn't have thought much of it.

But I just talked to my coordinator and all I could do was leave a message about where I had seen it and maybe an investigator can look into it.

[apples and bananas]

Wow! That's a lot of kids to be at the park with. Either their own or daycare kids. I don't go to the park with any more then 3, that's my comfort level.

I wouldn't report because I don't know the whole story.

I stand on my front driveway with 6 kids some days. 5 are daycare and 1 is my own. And I'm waiting for my second to come off of the bus. I would be devastated if someone called it in. Although I'm not doing anything wrong, I would still be stressed about it.

[sunnydays]

Apples, I go to the park daily with 6 kids and 7 in the summer...I am very organized and used to keeping my eye on all the kids and I don't feel it is unsafe. I leave if it gets too busy though because then it is way too crazy. However, most of the time we are the only ones there or there may be a couple of other kids and that's it. I have my daycare kids in matching hats so I can quickly count them and I do constant head counts..and i do mean constant...I literally swivel my eyes from kid to kid the whole time I am there and they know the rules as well. I guess everyone has their comfort level

[AmandaKDT]

In Winnipeg there was recently an unlicensed home daycare provider that was charged with child abandonment because she left 6 kids (between 1 and 5 years old) totally alone for atleast an hour in an unlocked house. She was caught because a parent showed up unexpectedly early and found the children all alone. So that has left me (and many other people) pretty upset here and it really bothered me today to see the laws not being followed. If it hadn't been for that I might have just shook my head and said "what can you do?"

[apples and bananas]

Apples, I go to the park daily with 6 kids and 7 in the summer...I am very organized and used to keeping my eye on all the kids and I don't feel it is unsafe. I leave if it gets too busy though because then it is way too crazy. However, most of the time we are the only ones there or there may be a couple of other kids and that's it. I have my daycare kids in matching hats so I can quickly count them and I do constant head counts..and i do mean constant...I literally swivel my eyes from kid to kid the whole time I am there and they know the rules as well. I guess everyone has their comfort level

I think that's awesome that you do that! I'm just not as brave as you. Maybe one day. I love the matching hats idea.

[Judy Trickett]

I don't report anymore. I used to. But now I realize that one, the rules are seriously flawed. What makes a provider in Manitoba less capable than a provider in Ontario? You know? Why can a mother with five kids of her own STILL have five dckids making that TEN kids in her care but another woman with NO kids of her own can still only have five dckids in her care? See? The rules are stupid and asinine and make absolutely NO sense whatsoever.

Not that I go over but seriously.....I have known a few providers in my care who really couldn't (or shouldn't have) handle the five kids they WERE allowed. Meanwhile, I could totally handle and extra one or two kids quite easily.

I can't care about a system that is stupid and doesn't make sense. Besides, most parents can count to five, or whatever small number any province legally allows for home daycare. If the parents don't have a problem with it then who am I to tell them what is and what is not proper daycare for their child?

[jammiesandtea]

I don't report anymore. I used to. But now I realize that one, the rules are seriously flawed. What makes a provider in Manitoba less capable than a provider in Ontario? You know? Why can a mother with five kids of her own STILL have five dckids making that TEN kids in her care but another woman with NO kids of her own can still only have five dckids in her care? See? The rules are stupid and asinine and make absolutely NO sense whatsoever.

Not that I go over but seriously.....I have known a few providers in my care who really couldn't (or shouldn't have) handle the five kids they WERE allowed. Meanwhile, I could totally handle and extra one or two kids quite easily.

I can't care about a system that is stupid and doesn't make sense. Besides, most parents can count to five, or whatever small number any province legally allows for home daycare. If the parents don't have a problem with it then who am I to tell them what is and what is not proper daycare for their child?

Yes. I agree with Judy and couldn't say it any better than she did.

I will not break the law and go over ratio personally, but the rules are inconsistent, flawed, and stupid, and unless I know that a provider is warehousing a gazillion kids, I will not go out of my way to help police a rule that is arbitrary and dumb.