Ontario Caregivers - daycare announcement due today

[Artsand crafts]

Arts and Crafts, I am not sure how that helps though. It is still the same numbers per provider...still the same income per provider. Or I guess if you hired an assistant and paid them less maybe you would be ahead....but the thought of 12 kids in my daycare is a bit crazy!

At least that could be an option instead of having to close. You don't have to share 50% of your income. You can hire an assistant. Currently having an assistant has made much of a difference. I have 5 kids and I easily think I could have other 3 or 5 no problem with her, maybe more (I'd have to try). Since my days are very light with 2 people here she is mostly cleaning, cooking, doing laundry, etc most of the time. All areas are always spotless. When I need her the most for daycare is when we have field trips or when I need her to watch kids to do my daycare paperwork, but if I get to have 12 kids for sure she would have to be more focused on the kids than on household activities.

[treeholm]

I am not telling my daycare families anything at the moment. I have no idea what the timeline is on this and I don't want to cause them unnecessary stress and worry or risk losing them to a centre if they get in. If they ask me about it I will tell them the truth..I have no idea if or when this will happen but it is certainly possible! I also know exactly who will have to go as I will have to let go the two youngest who are also the two most recent to join...I would be bascially going by seniority which seems the fairest to me. I have no idea what those two families will do for care though as nobody will have space for one year olds!!!!!!!!

I am not criticizing you for not telling your parents yet, that is a tough decision. I'm on the fence... but, I am very stressed out about the fact that if it passes over Christmas, I have to email my families during the holidays and tell them my daycare is not re-opening Jan 6th as they expect according to their contract... How would you feel as a parent? It's not like they can just take their child to work... and where are they going to find daycare when they have to apply for a spot between Christmas and New Year's? Can I really do that to them? I'm not telling you what you should do, I'm agonizing out loud... I have awesome parents... I just can't bear to close up suddenly over Christmas, but I have to keep my grandchildren... which means getting rid of all my paying clients...on January 6th...

[Isawitfirst]

Sorry if this has already been addressed but are ten year olds counted in the five children rule? Has the age really been changed to 13? I am about to tell my oldest client that I can no longer care for her children. Am in shock.

[cfred]

It is my understanding that the definition of a 'child' is up to age 13 now. Ugh....this is all confusing.

I want to clarify....the 1 under 1, 2 under 2, 3 under 3 has gone out the window, correct? It's just 2 under 2 now? I thought I read that earlier. If so, it doesn't affect me till next year, and I still might be able to swing it. Still jacking up my rates for incoming little ones after my April client starts.

[Isawitfirst]

Cfred what will you increase your rate to? I am in Pickering and am considering this as well.

[playfelt]

I have taken on a school age child over age 10 as an emergency case with no promises other than I would get her through till the end of the semester - her nanny quit suddenly. Child has special needs and goes on van from my driveway so no issues there. Under the old system not a problem but with the new rules it wouldn't even be an option to have him stay past Christmas - not that I really want him to anyways. I know for sure mom isn't going to be following all this talk so it will be me breaking this news to her. Anyone in Orleans interested in being a nanny?

[Isawitfirst]

Playfelt, Do you know where in the Act it defines the child as one under 13? I have two ten year olds that I guess I must terminate. Can I let them finish the year? What kind of time line do we have?

[sunnydays]

If it truly is just 2 under two but we can have as many under 3 up to 5 kids, I will only have to terminate 2 babies, but will not close my daycare immediately. That means two newly returned to work moms will be in big trouble...but what can I do? I just don't want to tell them now and lose the kids and then find out it didn't pass or it passed but will come into effect months down the road. I just feel it's a bit up in the air still...but I am agonizing too. This is just a crappy situation all around!!!

[cfred]

Cfred what will you increase your rate to? I am in Pickering and am considering this as well.

If it's 2 under 2, I'm actually ok for a good while as the ages of the kids I have now and coming in are staggered well. That may work ok for me. And my kids are young adults and teens, so that's cool. I feel so bad for those of you with younger ones! I think I'll have to wait and see what the market can bear here. I moved here 18 mos ago and raised my rates $5 above the norm. There was no problem getting clients and now others have started following suit. I suspect I'll go as high as $55, but do it slowly....test the waters. I can always advertise spaces high and lower it to see what happens....do a little fishing if you will. Of course, I'll go as high as I can so I can maintain the high standards in leaner times. I suspect I'll have to up the anty with my offerings and be a bit more aggressive with my advertising, etc. Ugh....I'm sooooo not an aggressive, business type. Blah......I just want to work with kids, not navigate through this crap!

[Fun&care]

I know many of you don't want to tell your clients but when I told one dcm her response was " oh yeah all the moms were talking about it at work". So there is a pretty good chance they already know about it but are waiting for you to say something...instead of scaring them why not ask them to help you by signing the petition that was posted earlier and writing letters to those idiots who started this mess? I think that's the better way to go.