The only other term I had in the last 24 years (around 18 years actually doing daycare) was a mom if an infant who need the attention of a nanny not a group care provider who charged $125 a week..I should clarify, the baby was an angel, the mom needed the attention.
I watched the older sibling (not as an infant) and he thrived here. Then the baby was born and mom was texting me all hours, wanting his exact poop and pee schedule, when he ate and how much and wanted to know what her 3 month old was playing and why he was laying on his tummy off to the side (having tummy time with toys) in a photo I posted of a group activity. Her constant ridiculous questions made me stop posting photos for the group.
She kept asking I needed more burp rags and I explained that he didn’t spit up much here. Apparently at home he basically vomited while being burped. She just couldn’t understand why it was so different here. Eventually it came out that she put rice in his bottle. I explained that I couldn’t do that here, that he doesn’t need rice and that’s it’s not best practice for me but she should do what she needs to do at home. I did not say that the rice was probably the reason for the vomit. Not my monkey and all.
For some reason she just couldn’t quit. Acted like I was doing something horrible by not putting rice in his bottle. Started taking up so much of my time after hours that I stopped responding and it all came to a head when I finally told her that we weren’t a good fit because I couldn’t provide the things she wanted. It was basically a self term that I talked her into. I was caring for one of her friends children and trying not to ruffle feathers (the friend didn’t leave and apologized for recommending her later after hearing about the shenanigans from her friend).
The baby never went to another daycare and mom quit her job. I think that was what she wanted all along but she needed to feel like I was the bad guy. Some parents are so weird.
Thankfully, these are the only terms that I can remember. While I did use my backbone is some ways I didn’t do it soon enough and put up with way too much. These days I choose my clients wisely and make it known right away that I don’t play games and that I’d rather have an open spot than a client or child that stresses me out as much as these people did. Now I have great clients. I think if any of them tried to pull these kind of stunts I’d just point to the door and say “just go, I can’t even”.

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