FINALLY A GOOD ARTICLE in the Toronto Star!!!!

[Other Mummy]

I am anxious to see what is going to come of this...if I am forced to go through an agency I might not want to continue doing daycare. I don't like the idea of basically working under someone, I like this job because of the fact I am self employed. It's so obvious too that agencies are in this for the money,using this opportunity to convince the government to make all providers go with an agency because it would benefit THEM. It's annoying! At the same time I think that if they do indeed force us to go through an agency, our numbers will be cut down, many provides might decide to close their doors so where are all these kids supposed to go? So for that reason I think that we are probably safe in a way because the gov can't just make rash changes without causing an economical upheaval, right?

You are correct Fun&Care. There would be major upheaval and parents scrambling and seriously cause a ripple throughout the economy. Imagine if one day, all of us unlicensed, self employed daycare providers had to close our doors tomorrow morning. I cannot imagine the chaos it would create.

And yes, if I had to work for an agency, I would close my doors tomorrow. Have no problem with inspections and licensing once, twice, three X's a month if it allowed us to continue running our business OUR way. I do however, have a big problem with giving someone a "cut" of my earnings (Agencies).

[Sassygirl]

I agree! Finally a decent article from the Star.
I am currently pregnant with my 5th child, my youngest son is 19 months and my older ones are all 10 and over.
If these rules come into play I will have to close my door and most likely look into Social Assistance. I would need to upgrade all of my skills to get back into the workforce of my last career which was Legal Admin Assistant. I don't have the money to do that. It would also be extremely difficult to get a job in the service industry which would work around my husbands work hours so I would have to pay for daycare for 2 young children.
I understand the inspections, which I would open my door with open arms. I am CPR/First Aid Certified, my home is clean and childproofed. I understand the idea of being licensed and yikes, paying the fee to be so.
What I cannot get past is the not so much counting your own kids in your "5" under 10 rule its the 1 under 1 2 under 2 etc. That would cause me to shut my doors. Hopefully if this is implemented that is brought into consideration.