So some of you may remember me posting back in January about a little boy I took on who was being Attachment parented and how his parents had no plans to transition him ready for group care. I had asked for people opinions on how this would work. I would never have interviewed them in the first place if she had been open and honest about her parenting style to begin with but after signing them on back in the fall, I only found this info out a couple weeks prior to starting.

Well after 3 weeks of transitioning and this child SCREAMING constantly, not crying, and the boy wouldn't let up for a second even if I picked him up I gave the parents 2 weeks notice of probation for him to transition, otherwise the spot would come to an end. That's where I was up to in my previous related post and I thought I would offer an update of how things went.

So I had a letter typed up for pick up on the Thursday (I only work M-Th). The letter was intended as a document to take home for dad to read and I planned to talk to mom obviously to be much more personable about the situation. Well dad picked up which doesn't normally happen but made the conversation so much easier as he isn't like the mom at all. Totally understood that this was not something to be taken lightly as we needed to work together to get over this, but he didn't blow it all out of proportion like the mom would have done. Well actually she kind of did. Well I got a text about 530 asking if we could meet for coffee. I agreed as I thought it would be in my best interest to have a conversation with her about things. We went for coffee for nearly 3 hours and had a great conversation and I got a much clearer understanding of who she is and the type of parent she is which I found very helpful. At no time did I tell her what I think is the right way to parent, in fact I didn't really mention AP as a method, I simply gave her some ideas on how to deal with her son with regards to successfully transitioning him into a group setting and this was just based on my experience.

Well Monday morning was like night and day. This child was an absolute angel. I was SHOCKED! At pick up I asked mom what had changed and she said that from Friday they stopped AP all together and started leaving him to cry it out and self sooth including sleeping 100% independently. I never asked, told her or implied that she should do this as its not my place to do so but I was so pleased she chose to do this on her own and learnt from this that this was the reason for change.

This little guy is by far one of my easiest kids now and has been here about 10 weeks. If he is ever off his game, he has had a rough night and his parents have co-slept which once again just proves my point in this particular child's case and how the co sleeping approach does not work positively for him.

Now for just a little offload of some of the ridiculous stuff that comes with dealing with this family.....definitel y could be worse, but having such stupid things bottled up drives me mad at times

Mom is very neurotic and laid back at the same time to an extreme too. Child literally has 2 sets of clothes for the week. He always comes clean so its not that it matters, I've just never seen this before. Kind of makes sense keeping him in set clothes just for daycare so they can get stained etc with no issue. I don't think that's the case with this child though from other things. He always comes in odd socks. EVERY day....she said she really struggles to make pairs...god help her in the future then if she cant even manage it now lol It doesn't really bother me now and doesn't effect her ability to care for her child obviously but I just think its a little bit silly that she cant manage something so basic as this.

This boy is 13 1/2 mths and is still in a baby carry car seat. He was 11 months when he started and it was far to small for him then. If he was in a car accident, I doubt he would survive as his legs would just be crushed on impact he has such a major overhang from his legs. Initially I didn't have to say anything because after 3 days I got him ready for pick up and put him in his car seat and had to alter the straps and head rest so they were aligned properly. As a result when the parents collected they couldn't understand why the left over for pulling tight was only an inch long. I explained that I altered his seat as the straps were not in the right positions. At this point they said oh maybe its time for a new seat and we got to talking and I said that most kids are out of these seats by 6 months and sometimes a few months beyond if they are petite. She laughed it off and told me that I need to tell them if they are doing something wrong, to which I replied as politely as possible that this wasn't my job to tell them and she just said feel free to tell me.....SIGH! This child is still in the car seat although apparently the new seat will be here this week. I have my own seats so if we go out in the minivan he goes in one of my "safe" seats.

Last week I had sickness go through my daycare. Fortunately none of my family had it including me, but we were sick in the new year so I think that might be why. Tuesday night I get a call 7:30ish from this mother saying that her son had just been sick and can he come tomorrow. I said no and reminded her of the policy. She went on to say that he doesn't have a fever and he is happy and playing now. She went on to tell me that she gave him two bites of fajitas and that she thinks he was sick because he doesn't like Mexican food. OMG I struggled not to laugh down the phone at her. I am very patient and understanding, even more so with first time parents as I totally get that they can overreact a lot, but this was the stupidest thing I had ever heard. I said that this would not be the cause when you consider that other kids were sick in the daycare. I understand that some kids are sickly and vomit easily but that is not what's going on with this child. I make a curry from scratch weekly that is spicy and all my dckids wolf it down. So.....she topped this theory by asking me if he had banged his head at daycare that day. I was puzzled by her question but answered her with an absolutely not and it is my policy to always call and notify of a head injury no matter how minor so if she had to ask me that question she already had her answer. She said she was asking in case he had vomited due to a concussion!!!!!! Give me strength lady, this is beyond normal levels of anxiety for goodness sake. I didn't find that funny anymore, just bloody stupid. I reassured her that he just had this stomach bug. She said she would keep him home the following day and that was that. He was off for 2 days due to sickness and so his parents have been co-sleeping with him ever since so now he is a whiney little thing again and I am working very hard to get him back into a routine although his parents are apparently not trying as hard but I think we will be fine to be honest as this can happen with most kids when they are unwell. I'm not totally unreasonable lol

Yesterday he was high need. Clingy, naps were short and lots of crying/screaming. Mom had told me that for 3 days, while he was sick and after, that he refused food and had straight breast milk for 72 hours....SIGH......I ts a one off, I get it, but now she wonders why he is so off his game. He isn't 6 months old he is totally playing her and now has this attachment issue going on. She said this morning that he had been up all night crying unless someone was with him. I asked how long she left him and she said 10 minutes....well there you go then. She said she thinks he has an ear infection. I asked why and she said because he stuck his finger in his ear....seriously??? He hasn't been pulling his ears, no fever, not cranky like he is unhappy or in pain, just whiney because he wants the boob all day and wants to be babied. He is teething so that's IMO the cause of the up in the night and excessive crankiness along with the co-sleeping which probably wont be helping. She called at 10 to ask if he is okay, to which I replied that he was fine. He is teething and biting/chewing everything very hard but no sign of anything else.

High maintenance much LOL