Ontario Caregivers - daycare announcement due today

[momofnerds]

there is an ad on our kijjiji it 2 sisters (they are older not teens) who are advertising for 15 dollars a day, they say that they adhere to the rules but some of the pics they posted make me go hmmm. And they say that they go to ontario early years alot. Now thats a red flag for sure.

[giraffe]

I just sent this to my Liberal MPP

Hello xxx,
I need to express my serious concerns about the daycare legislation currently being proposed by the Liberals. I am all for improving the safety of our children and grandchildren, but there is an important piece of information being left out.
Home daycares usually choose to remain unregistered because of the requirement that registered daycares adhere to ratios of having no more than 2 children under two. Unregistered daycares are permitted no more than 5 children, plus their own, but can have whatever ages they want as long as they remain within the limits of 5 children plus their own.
The Liberals are proposing that unregistered daycares be forced to adhere to those ratios in order to removed the financial incentive to remain unregistered. I understand that... but what will happen to the thousands of one year olds who will immediately lose their daycare spot? For example, I have one friend who has two little ones of her own, plus 5 children under two. She will now have to FIRE four families. They cannot go to registered daycares, because there are no spots for one year olds since the registered daycares already have to follow the "no more than 2 under 2 rule". They can't go to daycare centres, because the spots for one year olds are very limited there as well, due to the high cost of having one year olds. Everyone will be looking for 2 and 3 year olds for their daycares. Home daycares are already suffering because the four year olds have gone to full day Kindergarten. I can't see anyone addressing this in the media. Parents want safer daycares (of course) so think this is a great idea. When I point out to them that if their child is under two, they may very well be fired from their current daycare, they are shocked. They have often spent months during their mat leaves finding a wonderful daycare for their child, and now they will suddenly be told they cannot return to the daycare if this legislation takes effect. Please address this issue with the minister!
Thank you,
my name

You should send this to the media as well

[cfred]

I am an ECE. I have to say that, really, my business will be just fine for quite some time, if not permanently. Given the huge competition there will be for 1 year spaces, I can just up my rates to make up the loss. My children are older, so that doesn't factor in for me.

As I said, I am an ECE. This entire circus has made me realize that all the hard work I put in in school was a complete and utter waste of my time, effort and enthusiasm. This is an industry that places absolutely no value on it's worker's what-so-ever, regardless of background. In the government's eyes, none of us is worth a hill of beans. I looked online yesterday, just to see if daycare wages had improved at all since I abandoned that line of work in 1996. Nope. As an educated provider, I can expect to make a whopping $21, 000/year (no benefits of course). I mustn't forget my wage enhancement cheques, woo hoo! I feel completely devalued and forsaken by a government who is, essentially, using me and my peers as a scapegoat for their own lack of judgement and action in their jobs, ultimately resulting in deaths. For a government who is suddenly screaming about the need to upgrade the system for the betterment of the industry and children, they certainly treat all of us like shit. We are one of the lowest paid industries in this nation. I don't know about you, but I find that very telling with regards to the government's commitment to the children. I chose to go into home daycare, mainly, because (even with an education in the field) this is the ONLY way I can survive financially. That's very, very sad. I want to get licensed, but sadly, my home doesn't even meet the criteria. My entire main floor is daycare and child proofed. But alas, in a townhouse, I don't have 30 sq ft of unobstructed floor space for each child. Nor do I have child sized toilets. Oops, no change table beside a sink either.

My point is this....we need new legislation, agreed? But this is nuts! Why not revamp the entire document? Why not make it POSSIBLE for home providers to license their home, thereby subjecting us to the same inspections, etc. But we need a different licensing standard with regards to environment especially, because home daycare is a different industry than commercial daycare. Perhaps this is something we'd be wise to push for? I've wanted to be licensed forever, but can't. Can't survive on daycare wages either. I would like to not feel that my educational pursuits and years of effort haven't been completely wasted.

[Fun&care]

Cfred you said it beautifully. I too feel COMPLETELY DEVALUED and demoralized. what keeps ringing in my head is how everyone always says how IMPORTATNT the first years of life are and how important kids our to our future but they sure don't give a CRAP about the people who care for them. Nobody is willing to put their money where their mouth is and it's terrible. All this crap about " unlicensed daycare" is making me sick.

I'm lucky I won't be affected immediately by all this but I will suffer probably in the long term.

And them stripping away our rights by slapping us with big fines makes me wonder also if this is going to be worth the risk.

Cfred would you mind if I copy pasted your post and shared on Facebook? I've been trying to get through to everyone and no one seems to get it but I think you out it nicely. I've been sending emails to MPPS etc but I want to do more.

[cfred]

Sure, go ahead....I'm flattered. This whole thing has been just terrible. Financially, it won't really affect, me, as I said. I'm just so sad as I love what I do and feel completely betrayed by the people who are supposed to take care of us.

[playfelt]

Stay at home parents are undervalued and unappreciated. Why should we be any different? Really the reality is that we do what we would do for our own kids if we stayed home and I think in the long run if our daycare parents were staying at home with their kids they would start to do the same things too. Having an ECE or special training doesn't make us a better diaper changer or story reader or cuddler.

[momof5]

As many of you know I have struggled just to fill my spots, I had finally filled them! And now this! I have to now count my own 2 youngest ages 3&4. Now I'm over ratio once this passes, plus the age restriction, I have to term 3 families all at once!
This is completely ridiculous! I'm considering raising my rates for the 2 families that I will have left, or just close completely! Heartbreaking for all the innocent families that will be left with no childcare, also for all of us that will take such a huge financial hit!

[treeholm]

Oh wow... in all this stress, I COMPLETELY missed the fact that we can now double our rates for one year olds since spots will be a hot commodity... wait until we let the media know this... "No problem, we applaud the government for taking steps to keep our children safe, and as long as parents understand that the daily rate for a one year old will probably double due to the lack of available spaces, we're sure everyone will be happy with the new legislation."

[Artsand crafts]

Oh wow... in all this stress, I COMPLETELY missed the fact that we can now double our rates for one year olds since spots will be a hot commodity... wait until we let the media know this... "No problem, we applaud the government for taking steps to keep our children safe, and as long as parents understand that the daily rate for a one year old will probably double due to the lack of available spaces, we're sure everyone will be happy with the new legislation."

and these will be the lucky ones. The rest of under 2yo will not even have a daycare to go even if they want to pay more

[cfred]

Treeholm, that was a realization that hit me last night....and I slept like a baby. This whole situation blows beyond the telling of it. But on the bright side, competition among parents will be fierce for these precious few spots. It might actually be good for business in some ways. And to those with school aged kids counting in the ratio, it might be worth looking into before and after care for them. It might make more financial sense to have them elsewhere so you can bring in the larger fees with the little ones. I think all the fees will go up, not just 1 yr olds. I was worried sick about my own situation, but as I sat and thought it through outside of the heat of the moment, I realized that we can absolutely work this out....those without small children anyway. At least, with the full day kindergarten, even those with young kids only have a few lean years to get through.

Of course I'm only looking at this from MY perspective. I don't have to ax any families...all the ages line up well. So long as no one leaves unexpectedly, we're cool for at least a year or 2. My kids are grown, so that's great. I feel horrible for the posts I'm reading about having to cut 2/3 of client base, thinking about putting off having another child because of the daycare.....awful and I'm so sorry for all of you. I'm simply looking at it from my own, completely self absorbed standpoint right now. While I feel badly for the parents left without care (and I really do feel for them), my main concern is that of my business and being able to keep a roof over my family's head.