Originally Posted by Unregistered:
Hats off Nan! You have created the ultimate it private daycare. You have established a reputation for providing nothing but the best, and your parents are willing to jump through hoops to get it! Good for you!
3kidsmom
For the record, I would guess that the reason that Nan doesn't get upset when people disagree is because she is laughing her way to the bank..after a relatively stress free day of doing things her own way, and having her parents appreciate her for it.
Ah this is nuttin. I've been on day care message boards for 12 years.
I'm so used to it that it goes in one and out the other. I think it's terribly sad that the idea of raising kids without violence (defined by me as hitting, shoving, kicking, hair pulling, slapping, slamming, and biting) is just impossible to do.
It IS possible. I've been doing it for YEARS. I had to learn my first year of doing care what to do to avoid it but I've been completely successful since.
People want a magic bullet answer to what makes it work and I don't have ONE thing or a small group of things that I do to make this happen. I have hundreds of rules of play and hundreds of non direct care things I do to make it all happen so easily, so calmly, and so happily every day. One of my hundreds of rules is
NO PARENTS IN THE PLAYROOM that contributes greatly to keep children and the energy in the house C-A-L-M. Calm kids don't fight. One of the main reasons I get picked is because we are violence free. If the parent wants that they have to do THEIR part in making that happen and THEIR part is to stay clear of my playroom where the other kids are playing.
I haven't written a book on this so I don't have all my methods pretyped out or put into words. It would take me forever to do that so the best I can do is answer posts as they come up and say what I do. Whenever I do that I get whacked upside the head for either lying or being mean to kids. I'm used to that ... it happens every time.
Oh and laugh to the bank... yes we are very successful here BUT a lot of it goes into the program so I don't get to keep it all of course. I actually live a very modest life in a middle class neighborhood. I'm very very fortunate that I have been able to prosper especially in the last three years since the economy here took a dive. Our providers here are DYING for kids. The Center down the street from me is at 40 percent capacity right now. I think they may actually close down soon. I don't think they will make it much longer. They have a capacity for 65 kids and they only have two or three cars in their parkinglot every day when I take my kids to see their kids. (My kids call them the "fenced in kids""
When I ask the on site supervisor how many kids do you have today she says 27 or 32. That's not good.
My friends who have done day care for twenty plus years are all sitting at half capacity. It's very very hard to compete with providers offering 90 dollar a week day care and in some areas the average has dropped to that. For the first time in my long career State Paid kids are the highest paying kids on the market for most providers in our area. That's a pretty sad deal.
I've stayed full all the way and have been able to raise rates. It hasn't affected my business in any way. Now I have a waiting list... woooot
I have a part time Forum job called "Ask the Nan" at
www.justthebabysitter.com where I answer specific questions regarding growth and development and discipline. Ease on over if you have any specific questions. It takes me a bit to get them answered but I will get to it as soon as I can.