Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
For many years I took kids from 6 weeks until 12 years. I stopped taking kids under 18 months for a while but still felt stressed about the daily work load. I had a SA kid that was shall we say, "really hard to deal with" and because of that one SA kid, I decided to not take SA'ers anymore.
Wow!!! What a huge difference. Not having the SA'ers in care also made me realize that the infants weren't so tough. Especially when I wasn't having to constantly re-direct or assist the SA'ers.
I also learned along the way that not taking a child until 18 months was hard because I wasn't involved in their upbringing until that point. Making the toddler and early preschool years kind of tough for some kids.
Now I take infants at 6 weeks again, but ONLY from currently enrolled families. Training an infant from the get go makes any behavior or other issues that could pop up later much easier to manage and deal with.
i see how you would feel this way about starting with a baby from the beginning. i think that is a good plan for many kids. the continuity is important. however, i have had good experiences with starting older kids, over 12 months old. that is still hard work but nothing compared to the majority of babies that cry from 4 months to 12 months or so it would seem. plus now three of my four kids are preschool age (2 to 5) and i hate holding the household back due to babies and napping. we like to go for a walk every day, get outside a lot and recently, i have the room now to do short trips to the library as well as school pick ups. generally first time parents of infants do not want their babies transported and many dont even want them out of the house. my provider friend said that she has had several parents specifically request that their baby not even go in the providers backyard. they want them in the play room at all times! anyway, babies just dont mesh well with me and what i can provide and i am sick of the crying (which seems to be an issue with most babies in daycare?) so it was a happy day on friday when i let that kid go. she SCREAMED right before pickup but i didnt mind.....last time i have to hear that ever!!