Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
You both serve children/families 24 hours a day though correct?
Or at the minimum much longer days/hours of availability than other providers...
I am available for a variety of shifts, but I only have daytimers right now. I am available outside normal hours, if the child/family fits. I have no regular overnighters, but I have done that. I do not work weekends now, but I have in the past.
If the point is that extended hours are necessary to operating in this fashion, perhaps, but there is also the "on work" "off work" concept that a lot of providers have (and that is perfectly ok.) I don't have that. I am here. Kids coming and going in my house is something that has been perfectly natural since I was quite young. Getting paid to have some of them here...bonus!
If a child is here during a meal time, they eat. If one is here at bedtime, they sleep.
I understand that a lot of providers don't work this way or feel this way, and that is fine. I just take a little bit of exception to the idea that it CANNOT work or absolutely will cause burnout. How I operate is not a problem for me, and provides a niche of care that virtually no one around me will do. It keeps me full and gives me lots of little grandbabies to love on and then send home.
Not saying it is easy or that everyone should operate this way. Just that it is not impossible to do so long term.