Quote Originally Posted by michellesmunchkins View Post
Cocoon, I'm in Oshawa Ontario. There are literally hundreds of other home daycare providers in the nearby area...well I should rephrase that...there are hundreds of stay at home Mom's who only charge $20/day to take in kids. I charge $35 because I used to work as a special education teacher and feel I should make more than someone without any qualifications or the formal education I spent 5 years in college getting. Its very frustrating to have people call and say oh we found someone cheaper...when really they just found someone who wants to stay home with their kids. I'm not knocking stay at home Mom's at all, just frustrating that parents can't see the difference between a 'real' home daycare program and someone just wanting to be home 'babysitting'. I worked hard on my programming but don't feel compensated enough financially for the hours that I work but can't increase my feels because everyone will just to with Jane Doe down the street for $20
I can completely understand how you feel but I must say as a SAHM I need to defend us just a little bit. I am trying very very hard to make sure these kids get the as much education as I can give them. I spend hours on the computer on my evenings to learn as much as I can without the same sort of resources I would love to get from college training (can't afford it). I want these kids to have everything I want my own kids to have in respect to learning, healthy food, exercise, and most importantly LOVE! Don't get me wrong, I absolutely think someone with the credentials SHOULD get paid more and the right parents will pay you more, AND most importantly appreciate you more. Those are the type of parents you want to have!