I have posted on here a couple of times about problems I was having with some of the kids in my care. The resounding response from everyone here was "kick them out." But those kids have to end up somewhere, somebody has to take care of them. It must be nice to live in a world and be in such a comfortable situation that you can just get rid of clients that aren't perfect. I would bet that most of you would have kicked out all of my kids, or not taken them in the first place. I have no waiting list, so I don't have the luxury of being choosy.

Four of my seven families are on assistance, so that cuts them out of the mix for most of you right away. Out of the kids on assistance, 2 of the kids are extreme behavior problems with developmental delays, that don't remember the rules from day to day and discipline has no meaning. Mom works as a CNA 3 days a week, so they are with us for 13+ hours on those days, starting at 5:30 am. She also sometimes works both days of the weekend. One kid's mom went from waitress job to waitress job and was then unemployed for 3+ months. She is now working in a building supply store, but she sometimes works until 10 or 11 pm. One kid's mom was way behind in her payments, and the kid's behavior was a problem because of his unstable home life. (She finally gave up custody to the grandparents and they paid all the back bills and his behavior has greatly improved.) The last 2 on assistance are immigrants, and I don't know if it's their diet or their clothes (mothballs?) or the body soap they use, but they smell like poop all the time. We had to get an air purifier for the playroom to help out, and started burning scented wax. It is also impossible to tell when the 2-year-old needs a new diaper, because she always smells like poop. We have to hang their coats in a different area so that the smell doesn't spread to everyone else.

Since we opened in August 2015, we have been in the position of taking anyone that was interested, because we NEVER had a waiting list. Before we were licensed, we heard about how there was this HUGE shortage of licensed daycare in our area. But in my experience, that was all a lie. We registered with the local agencies, set up Web and Facebook pages, advertised on the local online classifieds. We did all the things you are supposed to do.

Out of the regular pay clients, one is alternating weeks due to shared custody, with care needed until 9:15pm. Another is on a rotating schedule with care needed until 9:15pm and 3 weekends a month. The last family is the one that we started care with and dad is in construction so he only works sporadically in the winter.

We lost some kids in May when school let out and didn't get replacements until December, so we had 4 spots open for 7 months, plus the unemployed waitress. That is why we have the CNA's kids and the ones that smell like poop. We can't wait for something better to come along. Most months, we only have 1 or 2 days off. Some days we have kids from 5:30 am until after 10 pm.

Through all of this, we didn't have any nibbles of new clients. We took the waitress and her kid back because there was never anyone in 4 months to take her place. We had several that would act all interested, contact us, make an appointment to tour, not show up and then cut off all contact. The point is, we don't have anyone to fall back on.