Originally Posted by Unregistered:
I think that you guys are forgetting what it was like to work outside the home. I don't mean that in a rude way but just to give you another perspective. I also, rarely take time away from my kids but sometimes I really need it--so, I get it. We wake up at 5am to hurry and get ourselves ready only to hurry and wake our poor kids up early to get them to daycare, drive a horrible traffic for an hour, work all day, drive in horrible traffic at night to pick up, make dinner, give baths and that whole time trying to make THE MOST of those 3 hours you have at night with your kid. Nonstop playing, interacting, reading, rocking, kissing and cuddling until 8:30 when you get them to bed. Then making lunches, cleaning the house (because you didn't do it when the kids were awake because you want to be with them), laundry only to finally collapse in your own bed at 10:30.
I know all you ladies work very hard so this isn't meant to be a put a down but working outside of the home is exhausting too. For most parents, when you work outside the home you try your best to absolutely maximize your time with them and the time they are sleeping is 100% spent on getting caught up on cleaning, bills etc. So you truly NEVER have downtime. When you work outside the home you don't have 15 mins here to throw in a load of laundry or 5 mins there to pick up toys. It all needs to be done in the evenings.
Again, I never take time away from my kids though I do need it sometimes.
Also, when you aren't doing something all day and getting good at it, it can be hard. You all work with kids all day, are great at it, so you might not think it is a huge deal to take 4 kids shopping at Target. But, you might think that it was really difficult to sit at a desk all day and juggle phone calls and excel spreadsheets and managing other people. You know? It is all what you are good at and get practice at.
Anyways, jsut wanted to offer another perspective.
I think you might not realize that the perspective of daycare providers comes from one that often sees excessive avoidance of parenting responsibilites. Most parents don't want to take their kids to do shopping. I don't. What I see is CONSTANT avoidance of parenting, for long hours on many days off. Parents that want to see their children for MAYBE two hours in the evening then put them to bed. "Good lord, don't let Johnny nap today or he'll be up till 9 and I'll actually have to parent for a few hours. Just let him stay awake all day and be cranky because I want to put him in bed at 7 without a backwards glance." The same parents are desperate to drop their kids off first thing every morning and leave them in daycare for as long as they can muster. Parenting is hard when you forget how to do it, and don't learn appropriate guidance techniques.
I work outside the home... in daycare. My kids go to daycare with me, come home with me. We have a long day. I agree with the ridiculousness of parents needing "time away".
For example... on Friday one DCP came in at 10 with her son who'd been coughing and feeling sick all week. She said "I'm only so late because I was going to keep him home to rest since I have the day off, but he kept asking to come to daycare." So she let her 3 year old decided that he wanted to be at daycare... thats 1. Here's 2. After pointing out that he hadn't been feeling well all week she left him there until 5:45. 15 minutes before all the staff goes home, he was one of the last 5 children there.. not feeling well, on a friday. WTF.
Several of our parents work a 7 on 7 off schedule and their kids don't miss a day. EVER. All the parents take their days off because they "need a break" but they don't realize that daycare is hard work for young kids. It's their job and it's NOT a desk job staring at excel sheets. It's fun but EXHAUSTING for children.
Here's how I feel. My children are CHILDREN and daycare is their employment. They will never have to work harder or longer hours than I do. I'm the adult. My job is to suck it up and make their lives easy, not have someone else make my life easy for me.
There's one infant dad at our centre who last week complained that we don't offer dinner in our group child care facility because his child is hungry at 5. Mom gets off work at 4. Dad is on disability right now. WTF is wrong with parents that they can't cope with raising their children?
DAYCARE IS HARD WORK for young children. Why don't many parents realize that?