Have you been doing this job for years?! My hat is off to you! I have only been open for 8 months and I just gave notice to parents that I will be closing my doors next month. I had the most amazing families, the most amazing children, a great contract and play space and I still didn’t feel into this job. It is HARD! The extremely long hours with little to no break, the constant cleaning and house work, dealing with parents “parenting”, working around 5-6 little personalities and behaviours. I did do this to be home with my children, but really my dream was to be a stay at home mom and I thought this would be the “best of both worlds”. Boy was I wrong!! My children were my biggest challenge as they saved all their behaviours for me (understandable) and with watching 5 other kids plus my own , I hardly felt like I got to see them! I couldn’t go out anywhere like I had hoped (library, drop in center, etc)…so being confind to the house, with the occasional trip to the park, was really hard! Being my own boss and setting my own rules was nice, but the no benefits, no EI, no vacation time or sick time, no one to fill in for me if I had to close, etc was another big downfall! Never knowing how secure my work was was a constant stressor as well....I had one family that was going to leave for a Center spot, another family who only work seasonal so were going to pull their child for the winter...one that was planning on getting pregnant within the next few months so would pull their child when they went on mat leave! I wish I knew it was going to be like this, I wouldn’t have taken in all these wonderful families who I am now leaving stuck to find alternative care…but it sure was a good learning experience!! To all of you still doing this job and actually enjoying it/loving it and not just making it through each day….good for you!! Thank you ladies for all your help and support over the last few months, if it wasn’t for all of you I wouldn’t have lasted one day!!