I find that one of the biggest challenge in this business is not the CHILDREN but rather having to work with clients who do not SHARE our values or beliefs around child rearing and therefore make our job that much harder because the children than 'struggle' to balance between home and care .... I had to navigate that for years in centre care now that I work from home if you do not share my core values than 'next' during the interview stage and if you are not working WITH me once you are in care than NEXT as well .... life is just way too short to have to deal with the stress of 'parenting' not only the children but the parents as well
So very true.... and yes, I would be approaching these scenarios as teaching the parents as much as teaching the child. I do find it interesting, though, that a child will behave in a very different manner at pick-up/drop-off than they do the rest of the day. That's when you know (provided that they are not brand new and still LEARNING your expectations) that they are TESTING the adults around. Pushing some boundaries, so to speak.