Time for First Termination?

[cfred]

Good morning! I'm stuck.....this is a little long....

I recently interviewed 2 families and both were golden interviews, both wanted to hire me. I took one family over another as we all have had to do. It was an agonizing decision as I really liked the other family very, very much on a personal level. But this family could come on for 2 days/week while I have a temporary client here, then move to full time after they leave. It was purely a business decision.

Soooo, the family I chose has a 6 MO girl who's never been left with anyone in the past (not even grandparents). Always up for a challenge, I took her on even gave them a couple hours on a Saturday to get acquainted. She'd had 2 full days here which went quite well. The bond has been established and she seems to like me quite a lot. I sent text updates through the day to Mom and took pictures to show them. The progress seemed to be, I thought, quite good. After only 2 days, she reaches for me. She's quite clingy with me, but I figure that will wane as she gets used to the setting.

Apparently at home however, she was very, very tired and clingy. DCPs very concerned that she was so 'off' at home. They don't have concerns about 'me' and think I'm terrific, but are worried about DCGs reaction. They wanted to decrease to half days for this week to see if it helped. We had a half day Tues, which went well and were to have another this morning. Dad emailed and said she wouldn't be in today as she was still having a hard time at home.

I've told them that children of all ages react to starting daycare for the first time. It can affect many aspects of their lives until they've adjusted. Being tired is completely normal. I stressed that routine and continuity are crucial to expediting the process, but they would like me to humour them. I'm wondering if I should just terminate. They're really nice and the baby is adorable. I'm just not feeling like the child will ever acclimate if her schedule is constantly changed. Maybe the parents are feeling that they've made a mistake putting her in so early......I feel as though they are undoing my intense effort to acclimate a young baby on a very part time schedule. We've made such good progress, but now she'll have missed a whole week, which knocks it all back a peg or 2.