3 years in

[crafty]

Well I've just celebrated my 3rd anniversary as a daycare provider ! It's been a crazy ride... boy do we go through A LOT don't we? I had soooo many doubts when I first started and at times I questioned myself and the choice I made but now I KNOW FOR SURE ,it was the best decision I ever made. I now love my job more than I ever did , I'm confident in the services I provide and most importantly I know my strength and weaknesses and I accept them.

I'm still providing care for my original family. They stuck with me throughout sicknesses, moving and a pregnancy . I now care for their 3rd baby and it's a true vouch of confidence.

I don't post often anymore but the reason I chose to post this is # 1, I am just so happy and proud I wanted to share it with my peers and #2 I know some of you are struggling , it's not an easy business at all. I wanted to let these people know that as you grow and learn things do get better and easier . ( note I am not saying it gets EASY but it gets EASIER haha) If you truly like caring for children stick with it. It pays off and if I can give advice is... learn your weaknesses and accept it. Build your program around your strength. It's going to get a lot less stressful.

So that's it... that's all I wanted to share today . Warm and happy toughts to all on this cold day

[mattsmom]

Congrats on your 3 years! I have found that over the past 8 years of doing care that I have learned a lot about myself as a person and business person. Dealing with so many different situations, dcp's with various personalities, and just learning how to stick up for myself and not get taken advantage of!

I don't regret taking on this career as I have been able to stay home with my second son, who will start high school in September, and it felt good to be there when he left for school and when he got home. It made me feel more involved in his day to day than if I were to be working the crazy shifts that I used to when I worked outside the home.

Also, although I have had my share of very difficult parents, I have also met some wonderful ones as well. I too still care for my original family and they are like family to both my hubby and I.

It can be a crazy ride sometimes, but in the end, if you enjoy what you do, the good outweigh the bad.

[5 Little Monkeys]

I've been in Childcare for roughly 9 years and been doing home daycare for almost 3.5 years and I agree with both of you!!

It absolutely is my passion and I am so thrilled that I was able to get out of centres and open my own hdc as young as I was able too. It definitely has helped me grow as a person!!

My husband and I were just talking on the weekend and I had said that one of my fears is having to close up and work out of the home again. He said unless we were eating bread and water, that it wouldn't happen because he knows how important my dc is to me Its nice to know he supports me and the dc because there are times that I know he wishes I didn't have it. Thankfully he enjoys the dc more often than not though lol. I think he just remembers how crabby I was at the last centre I worked in and is scared to have that wife again Lmao!!!

Great job to everyone who does this!! It's not always easy dealing with multiple children, multiple families, multiple styles of parenting and keeping everyone relatively happy!!

[MsBell]

It will be 10 years for me this fall! (WOW!!!) anyways, every now and then I think about going out and getting a "real job" (Thats's what my ex says I need to do, thats another thread! ) But when I sit down and list the pros and cons, the pros do win everytime. And yes a few of my dearest friends, come to me through this business (both clients and fellow providers I have got to know)

My daughter is getting ready for High School in the fall, when we went to "tour the school" on night before Christmas, we bumped into a former client, and their boy, same age as my daughter is heading off to High School too......THAT hit me hard, a boy that I watched in daycare, is heading off to high school, seemed harder to imagine then my own daughter!

I hope this Bill 10 does not have too much of a negative effect on me, I think I would like to do this for another 5 years.

Very good piont Monkey, sometimes this business is hardest on our loved ones who share our home. I know my kids sometimes feel like it takes me away from them too much, I have to remind them that, I wouldn't be here at all if I was working out of the home.

[Gloucestermom]

Congratulations on your 3 years!
It'll be my 1 year anniversary next week.
Thanks for your advice!

[kindertime]

Congrats, 3 years is great. It was about 5 years in for me that I felt like I was over the "hump." Being completely exhausted at the end of the week, frustrated with parents and situations out of my control, etc. In August, it will be 10 years for me. I worked as a nanny for several families for about 7 years before that, too. And had a couple of p/t jobs in centres and nursery schools. And of course babysitting all through high school.

I count all of it as experience, in one way or another, I have been looking after other people's kids for nearly 30 yrs. I have even had a child in my daycare who's dad is someone I babysat in high school.

I too have thought from time to time that I should get a job somewhere else. But it all comes down to one thing. I don't want to work for someone else. Within the laws, I can set my day up pretty much however I want it. For the most part, I get to spend my days with the cutest, funniest little humans and when everything is going well, (like now) it is the BEST job ever. I hardly feel like I'm working.

So now that I have jinxed everything... I have also found this wonderful forum that I can used when everything falls apart. Cheers!