Ontario Caregivers - daycare announcement due today

[Artsand crafts]

I may have been misinformed about the 10$ per day but I did read in an article from I think the globe and mail that said agencies take up to 30% of your pay.

When I worked for Wee Watch they charged parents $42 (for under 3yo) and they paid me $30.

[cfred]

When I worked for Wee Watch they charged parents $42 (for under 3yo) and they paid me $30.

Yes. I looked into Wee Watch and Hopscotch. Both charged me about the same....for things I already have in place! They offered me insurance. When I indicated that I already had appropriate insurance, their retort was that I wasn't covered for sexual abuse charges. Ummmmm, excuse me??? Yes I am luv. Well, what about First Aid/CPR? Yep, got that too. Wait....training? Well, I figure my ECE diploma might cover that. Toys and equipment? Yeah, kinda got that covered in my first decade in the industry. All I needed was help getting clients when I first moved into a new area. Turned out I didn't need them and now am turning people away. Their fees are outrageous and not remotely justified! And anything I've heard about their service isn't great. I've interviewed people who said my daycare was far superior to anything they saw through either of those two agencies. They indicated that it was just someone's living room with a few toys. I'm trying to understand how this is better....aside from the inspections.

Can you get licensed here without an agency? Is it even possible? I'd rather do that than go with them.

[Artsand crafts]

Yes. I looked into Wee Watch and Hopscotch. Both charged me about the same....for things I already have in place! They offered me insurance. When I indicated that I already had appropriate insurance, their retort was that I wasn't covered for sexual abuse charges. Ummmmm, excuse me??? Yes I am luv. Well, what about First Aid/CPR? Yep, got that too. Wait....training? Well, I figure my ECE diploma might cover that. Toys and equipment? Yeah, kinda got that covered in my first decade in the industry. All I needed was help getting clients when I first moved into a new area. Turned out I didn't need them and now am turning people away. Their fees are outrageous and not remotely justified! And anything I've heard about their service isn't great. I've interviewed people who said my daycare was far superior to anything they saw through either of those two agencies. They indicated that it was just someone's living room with a few toys. I'm trying to understand how this is better....aside from the inspections.

Can you get licensed here without an agency? Is it even possible? I'd rather do that than go with them.

Wee watch does not even offer home daycare insurance anymore. The "equipment" they lend (limited amount of gates, playpens, highchairs) anybody could get at a fraction of the price at Kijiji.

A client quit on me, because she needed to use back up care occasionally (for personal reasons on my side) when I worked for Wee Watch (they accommodate kids in other home daycare when a provider is not available). She told me she could not send her kid to those places, not even occasionally, because of the poor quality of care. So she ended up hiring a nanny.

My "training" was someone reviewing some parts of the manual they left with me. Nothing that is worth to be called "training" really

Inspections were just a lady asking what I did with the kids for the past month so she could fill out a form to be given to the parents. No safety inspections, the only safety inspection they did was pushing the button of the fire alarm almost every time they came.