You know how we providers always say that this business would be perfect if ti wasn't for the parents? The parents push our policies, dope and drop, pay late/don't pay etc.
Well here's a first for me ... I LOVE the parents of one of my DCK's. He's my newest client and I've had him for about 2 months and he's not a bad kid at all per say, there are just some concerns about his behavior and safety.
He's got some special needs going on and I've tried every trick in the book to help him transition into our routine and he does great for the most part ... until it's time to transition.
I keep our routine pretty much the same every day, have routine cards posted to remind him of what were doing, verbally remind him, set a timer that shows how much time he has in red so that he can see when it's close to time to clean up/do the next thing etc. and still about 75% of the time it results in a meltdown. He KNOWS it's almost time to do something else but still when the time comes to stop what we're doing he'll immediately start to yell and scream.
He also needs to be CONSTANTLY reminded of the rules. CONSTANTLY. For the most part I'm fine with this except for that he runs inside and since he's extremely non self aware and bigger (he's 5) I'm worried about when my own non mobile 7 month and 14 month DCB are having floor time on the carpet. He's always trying to step over them to get somewhere across them or jumps up and hops/jogs in place right where they are even if I have them both on one side of the area and even if I'm physically sitting between the littles and the other kids. He has accidentally kicked my 7mo DD on the head once early on because he doesn't watch where his body is, Not hard but enough to startle her and make her cry. That's when I started physically sitting between the smaller ones and him but there are times he tries to get around me and I have to physically put my arms out to block him. He's not being naughty, just not aware.
He got kicked out of his last daycare center and she was left in the lurch on a Friday with no daycare the following Monday which DCM was very honest about. He was kicked out because of his yelling/screaming which pretty much happens on a daily basis. Usually I just remind him that he's growing up not down and he'll stop but there have been times that he's gone on for 45 minutes.
Like I said he's 5. He's not potty trained. I think he has physical weakness as well, he got mad once and punched me but it was as hard as my 7mo so I don't think he has any strength (it was the first and ONLY time he ever did that, it happened on the 2nd day he was here and I made it clear to his mom and to him that if it became a pattern they'd be out). But still I'm afraid he'll fall on one of the smaller kids, or run into them and knock them down which has happened.
So the point ... I like the parents, LOVE them actually. They're proactive, follow all rules, pay on time, got him an IEP, and have put DCB in speech and occupational therapy. But my days just aren't as stress free as they were before him.
So now I have to term them because it's just not panning out for me and I have no other reason to term other than because he runs/jumps inside and because he yells.
I feel bad for them but I'm just not seeing an improvement and the yelling, running and jumping is stressing me out.
He's a great kid and a gentle giant, but his yelling and behavior (he is developmentally more like a 3 yo than a 5 yo) are getting tiresome.
So how do I term without making it seem like it's because of his special needs? The yelling is taking it's toll.
