Am I crazy?

[torontokids]

My eldest liked being in the daycare but mostly because she was home with me. She really had a hard time sharing me and struggled a lot towards the end. My second loves the daycare but has her days where I hear "mom, I don't like daycare anymore." I've recently started letting her have more freedom and this has helped. She is excited that I am closing in Feb for a mat leave and although she will miss her friends, I think ultimately she likes daycare because I am there...not for all the other aspects which makes it harder when as mentioned above I can't be spend the day cuddling with her or just "hanging out" because there is a program to run. There is definitely a lot of guilt with this job but I don't know if it is anymore than I experienced when my eldest went to a daycare centre and I was away from her.

[5 Little Monkeys]

There are pros and cons to having your own children in your hdc or another dc. I don't have kids but from my experience in working in both home and centre daycares.....I am almost 100% sure that I'd prefer to have my kids in my own dc. Centre kids are just different than hdc kids and the issues between kids is a lot every day in centres. Bullying and ganging up on kids is something that we as staff had to stay on top of. Staff there also couldn't leave if they needed to pick up a sick child of their own from school ( which I always thought was ironic because a sick dc child was expected to leave ASAP lol)

Like mickyc, if I had kids, there would be no mixing personal toys with dc, my children's rooms would never be used for dc and I would find the time in each day for special one on one time (I already do this just for my dck's as I feel it's important) Any day that my husband had off would also be spent with our kids to give them a break and to experience what other kids get when their parents have a day off.

[Wonderwiper]

Of course you're crazy ha ha!!!

Totally kidding! No one can know how you will feel except you!!

I love my daycare but a big factor in that is probably the fact that I don't have to pay the bills in my household. Money stress has a major effect on job satisfaction.

What this means for me is that I can be and am extremely fussy about who I take on as clients. Your clients will make or break you. I have never chased a payment, terminated, disliked or felt unappreciated by a client. It also means that I would not hesitate for a second to end things with a client if I was ever disrespected.

Also, I personally would never be able to have my daycare in my families space. It just doesn't work for me. My basement daycare is massive and filled with toys that are mine, not my childrens. Even nap time is downstairs. If I don't want to tidy up I just go upstairs and shut the door!! Daycare is closed when we are upstairs. My kids never come down in the evening or weekends.

I wouldn't trade having my girls home with me for anything!! I don't think my daycare has taken anything way from them. I can and do snuggle with them all the time!

My oldest is in SK now. I make arrangements to attend very special things at school, just as I would if I worked out of the home. I can't go to everything. Most parents I know can't go to everything either....they can't just take days off all the time.

Like any job, one size does not fit all. You have to make everything work for you right from the start.

[MsBell]

For sure one pro is the tiny commute! Especially in the winter months. But I will point out that for me, unless I just throw something in the oven of have a crockpot meal going, cooking/preparing dinner for my family during daycare hours is near impossible. It is the end of the day, and the kids are wanting to go home, I find the last hour of my day, the hardest and the hour that takes the most of my attention. I would LOVE to close at 5, but I dont think I would ever get enough clients, and I open at 730 am, I work out in the mornings and could not consider starting earlier so that I could close earlier.The same applies for cleaning, you can wipe up here and there, but real cleaning will have to be done after hours, and you will not believe how messy your house gets when you plus a number of kids are there all day.
A dedicated daycare space would be a dream, and very likely make a huge difference to how I feel about being "stuck" in this career. My work is always in my face, I MUST clean it constantly,(I would LOVE to just shut the door!) I do however keep my basement as family space, no dck allowed.My daycare space in on my main level, the main room is open with all the toys, but we use my dinning room, kitchen and bathroom for daycare.
I am glad that the impact that daycare has on your own children was brought up, I find that as my kids get older, the harder is can be for them (somedays harder then others)
Please keep in mind, I am a single mom, with two very active kids, and a dud ex . I find that I am stuck because the income is great, I am my own boss, and I am home for my kids, no commute. Cons, I work a least 60+ hours a week (50 daycare hours, plus shopping, organsizing and cleaning), I am always at work (Although I do have a rule that weekends are daycare free, I dont take on the phone, do paperwork, have interviews or anything that involves Daycare Fri afternoon until Monday morning), I find MOST people think my job is "easier" than it is, even teachers at my kids school will often say things like "Oh your at home all day..." as if I am sitting eating bon bons, I also have one parent that likes to say "you have the best job, you get to play all day!" to which, I let her know that she could do it to if she so desired.

also just wanted to ad, I do find parents can be rather invasive. I understand the desire to know that person you choose to leave your child with, but it can still be unsettling. I have had parents (both while I have their child in care, as well as just at interviews ) ask me personal health questions (like why? do I have a doc appt), about my dating life, questions about my extended family, my childrens school grades, my future plans, will I marry again, have more children etc (One father asked me "how good my birth control was" because they didn't want me to be pregnant while watching their boy, I told him my doctor assured me my tubal ligation was a success, needless to say, I didn't take them on. So that can be another CON to consider, you will have to open yourself up to these people as well as your spouse and children