I wouldn't tell a staff assistant that I didn't "need" them to be hurtful. I would tell them that because it would be the truth. I've had staff assistants that I needed because my license and capacity required it. I've had staff assistants because I WANT someone to do the work of the child care that I don't want to do.

There is a BIG difference between those two. The "need" staff assistant is much more expensive than the "want" staff assistant. The "want" staff assistant is much easier to find then the "need" staff assistant. Blowing off work or coming late for a "need" assistant can cause much harm to your business. The relationship and heirarchy of work with the "need" assistant is more complex because their actions and presence can profoundly affect your livlihood.

It's not personal. It's just the way registration and rules work. The majority of my eighteen years I have done care I have had "want" staff assistants. I only care for the number of kids I can legally have by myself. I truly do not NEED help. I have a helper just for ME to be happy. When they aren't doing the things I want them to do then I'm not happy.

I make it very clear when I interview that the staff assistant is for ME. I hire out the portion of the business I don't want to do. If they are coming in late they are taking away from what I want. If they are doing their nails on the couch then they are stealing time which is stealing money from me. If they are taking my time to eat my food while they are separate and away from the work they are there to do then they are stealing time from me and causing me the double whammy of paying for it.

It sounds like your job is very different than what I have staff assistants do. I don't leave my staff assistant here while I leave the premise. I would only do that for extreme medical appointments that can't be done on nights and weekends. That happens once or twice a year. I have someone else come in to supervise my assistant when that happens so she is not here alone with the kids.

My staff assistant doesn't make ANY decisions about what she does every day. She does the work that all of the assistants before her did. I decide everything and after doing this for so long that "everything" is wrought from years of experience where I know how every minute is going to go and what I want the helper to do within our system. She doesn't have to be creative or fill in the blanks. I decide what she will do and what I decide really works well.

I can out perform any staff assistant I could ever hire. I couldn't afford someone as competent as I am. My current helper is thirty years my junior and has been hand trained by me for 2.5 years and I run circles around her. I'm WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY FASTER in EVERY SINGLE THING she does. I know more in my pinky then she does in her whole body. She's very knowledgeable for her age and experience but she isn't knowledgeable in the way I am. We have very low turnover so the number of kids she has had a life experience with is very small. She's only had three babies in her time here.

On the days she is gone I start getting the kids ready to go outside at the same time she does. It takes me about fifteen minutes to change three diapers, get seven kids in whatever outdoor wear they need, and get everyone from the basement to the stroller out front. It takes her about 40 minutes. When I do lunch by myself it takes about twenty minutes. It takes her 40 minutes. When I do diapers it takes me less than a minute per kid. She averages three to four minutes per kid from start to stop.

Now she does this work every day. She changes a hundred diapers for every one I change. She does a hundred lunches for every one I do. She does a hundred get kids ready and get em upstairs for every one I do. Despite the fact that she has WAY more experience doing these direct care chores with these kids than I do and is thirty years my junior... no matter what... I can pop in and have it done in a FRACTION of the time it takes her... even with my inexperience because I hire it out on a day to day.

I can work longer, harder, faster, and with more minute to minute ability because I'm a hard worker, fast, and I know what I'm doing. When I say I can do it with my hands tied behind my back and my eyes closed... I don't mean that litterally but theoretically I CAN do this at a level she simply can't. I've only had one assistant that even comes close to my abilities technically and she was here over seven years and VERY fast. She became so expensive that my business couldn't sustain another highly experienced person.

You said: If a person isn't needed why would they be on time and why would I do anything with the children if I'm "not needed" for it anyway?

If you worked here it would be because your job IS the hours I hire you for and I specifically tell you from the begining that I don't need you... I want you. I want you to do the work I don't want to do. The job IS to do what I want. The job isn't to do what I can't.

I have a really great relationship with my helpers. They stay for a long time for a worker in this business. I'm very very easy to get along with if you do your job. I'm the type of person who just puts out whatever I don't like and then forget it before I even get to the top of the stairs. I don't hold grudges and I don't expect anyone to work like I do and can. I understand that learning this craft takes YEARS and I really really take the time to teach my helper everything I know about caring for kids. These guys are phenomenal care providers when they get three years or more under their belt here.

The kind of training I do here on daycare.com and in my consulting business is the same kind of training I do IRL onsite with my helper. Anyone of the ladies on here that I have consulted with will tell you that within a few minutes of talking to me that they KNOW i KNOW what I'm talking about and can explain very complicated things in a simple workable way. If I can do that with a stranger on a situation dependent basis... you know I can pull it off with an in house worker who is with me for years with kids I know like the palm of my hand.

So........... if I had a worker that painted nail on my couch it would be a declaration of war here. That would mean that all my hard work was for nothing. If they came late and took up even more time for herself... it would mean all the work I do here doesn't matter to them. It would be an insult and I would be pissed.

Work hard and do what I tell you to do and the rewards will be a great salary... a lot of paid time off... great raises... and an education you could never get in a book or a class.

Don't punish me for all the good I do by behaving in a way that shows me that all you want out of this is easy money. I don't NEED you... I WANT you.... Make ME happy and I will make YOU happy and a lot better off financially and educationally.

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