Getting back to the topic at hand..

1. I have had parents tell me to spank their child if they misbehave, which I refuse to do. I used to watch a four-year-old who was a friend's son (yeah I know..big mistake and I definately learned my lesson anyway), and he had a lot of behavior problems while in my care and at home as well. Whenever I would tell his grandparents about his behavior in my home, their only response would be "bust his butt", which of course I wouldn't do. His mom's reaction would be to get right up in his face and scream at him, hit him, and things like that..the poor kid was clearly scared of his mother, and it was no wonder that his behavior would get worse as time went on, and that I terminated care. I am no longer friends with his mother, which came as no surprise, and I don't think the child in question is even living with her anymore.

2. Years ago I worked with my mother, and a mother of a little girl (it's been many years, but if memory serves me correctly she was around 3-4 years old) told us to put alum on her child's tongue when she misbehaved, and if she cursed since she and the child's grandmother were having problems with her cursing at the time. She even brought a container of alum, and we refused to use it. We terminated care not just because of that, but after the child told us about how Mommy's boyfriend put his hand down her pants, we had to contact authorities. Months later my mom saw the mother of this child out in public, and she proceeded to start screaming at my mother about how we caused her to lose custody of her child.

3. Also there was another parent who informed us to punish her two children (I think they were school-aged) by putting a drop of dish detergent in their mouths and then have them drink water. Wasn't going to happen.

4. A couple years ago I had a gentleman contact me for child care for his four-year-old daughter and two-year-old son. When he came by for an interview he made some comments about my home (I live in a mobile home, which I take very good care of, and it is in a well-taken care of community)..he admitted he was expecting a dirty house with a lot of cats, because of the type of home I live in.Then he asked me if my boyfriend/now-husband (who at the time was unemployed but helping me with the children until he got a job) and I were married, and I said no. He asked if my son was my boyfriend/now-husband's son, and I explained that my son was from a previous relationship. He then said rather huffily, "Well our children are me and my wife's children..WE don't have children with anybody else". My reaction was I was shocked (and offended) because me not being with my child's bio-dad was never an issue to anybody else but this guy, and was irrelevant in regards to my qualifications as a child care provider.