Errands

[playfelt]

I had a single parent situation years ago when I was first starting daycare and often she would complain to me about how she had to do housework and errands on evenings and weekends and about how much her son wanted her to just play with him. He would even say but Sharon plays with me all the time why can't you. It made me realize that I was giving the children a false impression of what "home" care was all about. With that in mind I would have them dust the playroom with a rag on Wednesdays ( I did it properly on the weekend) and on Friday we sorted bins and put things back where they belonged and straightened up the playroom. I started doing a half hour freeplay system where I was "free" to do my own thing too. That meant for that half hour they had to play with only what as already available, not asking for something off the shelf, etc. and there were bonus points for getting along, sharing, etc. I was free to put in a tub of laundry or change a bulletin board display or sort and straighten up something. They learned that there was more to making a group function than just playing with me.

I do have concerns about the providers that do outings with a mixed age group where the youngest spend the whole time in the stroller or wagon. I get that yes they are seeing neat things as you wander around the museum but they are not really learning at their level of comprehension. They should be at home playing. Very young children need a one on one adult to lift them up , comment on what they find interesting not just what the group is looking at etc to get the best benefit from the outing - ie with the parent on the weekend not me during the week but that is just my feeling. I took my own kids on outings not the whole group.

Have we ever walked up to the corner store to get a jug of milk because we were running low and hubby was out of town and had the vehicle and I didn't want to go at night yes but it was because of them that the outing was necessary - ie not them tagging along with something I wanted to do.