Originally Posted by Annalee:
I reached the point of "hating my job" about 19 years ago; this is my 26th year. My dad was alive at that time and he was a business minded person so we sat down and set up a plan. At the time, I loved the kids in my care but working 6-5:30 with little time off and no pay for the time off caused me issues. So over the next three years, we slowly took out the clients vacations, added in my vacations, began charging 52 weeks a year, then took the school holidays/time off excluding summer, changed our work hours to 6-4:30 with a 9.5 hour limit per client not to exceed 4:30, etc. This has not diminished the "bad feelings" completely but it does help. I am off now one/two days a month along with extra days around holidays and my vacation weeks. Finding a qualified sub can be difficult and I am one of those people that has never left a sub here without me (I work with my mom and have used my nieces as helpers but never left them alone). Now I can plan my doctors, dentists, or just plan time according to my days off. Sure, there are clients that do not enroll here, but I only want those that will comply with my contract anyway. I will always be grateful to my dad whom is passed away now but he taught me the "non-negotiable" rule and how to be confident with that rule. If I was going to implement such rules, then I had to be willing to enforce them. Maybe a contact overhaul will help you all. I do have "those" clients with "those" kids now and it makes me nuts, but looking forward to the days off does help a little. 
One more thing that has helped is being "selective" and having the courage to "terminate" if necessary. When I was preparing for NAFCC accreditation, my mentor was helping me and I told her about a child I had that wasn't happy here making us all unhappy...she told me I could terminate her, which stunned me because I didn't even know I could do that. Then she taught me the 3-step interview process which does help alleviate some of "those kids and parents". Just sharing!