Okay here's my list. I have never really termed, rather I've pushed back on policies that were violated or I have had to say "no" a lot and some parents have been offended enough to leave. But here it is.
Family #1. First family in care, before I was licensed. Lots of oppositional behavior from mom. Used to bring dcb2 in dirty clothing so bad it was like 1/4 thick of breakfast on the front of clothing. We made him bibs for his birthday to use at home. Not used. Wouldn't bring vaccinations when I was getting licensed, even though I told dcm that there would be a civil money penalty. Pitched a fit when I told her that her kids needed to be excluded from care due to open cold sores (my family doesn't have that virus and voted for exclusion). Dcm texted me to say that she would have to look for other care. I didn't blink and texted back how much we'd miss them. Buh bye! Left owning me money.
* Changed my policies to prepayment.
Family #2
Dcm told me point blank at enrollment that she wanted dcg to be my favorite.
Dcm strong outgoing personality (to the point of diva) and SA dcg was the same. Dcm decided that they wanted to be vegan and provide own lunch. Lunch provided was never vegan and was mostly sweet stuff. Dcg had eating issues and couldn't stop eating. Dcg used to lie to the littles and take their food from them if my back was turned. Dcm wouldn't hear me out about the eating issues. Dcm liked to bring dcg in high fashion, brought her in boots with tons of lacing. I was losing my patience at this point and bluntly told her that she couldn't come in those boots anymore. Dcm left in a huff.
* Changed my policies to say self-sufficient dressing for SA kids.
Family #3
Held a spot for a teacher during the Summer. Teach was DS least favorite teacher ever. The kids used to alter her name and call her something like Mrs. Screwover (name changed for privacy
). But, I thought, he was in 7th grade. Maybe he just didn't like her because she gave too much homework. Nope.
Day before care, I called to remind to bring formula but that I would provide cereal. Mom shows up with no formula but brought cereal, and she asked me to only feed infant water. No can do, dcm. Mom brings infant in white romper and comments if she finds any spots of food on it. Mom says that she doesn't want commando crawling infant outside because he might get dirty. The insanity went on for about a week, at which point she said that I had never mentioned to her that DS subbed once a week while I took DD to a class. There would have been a very short overlap on the subbing due to teacher schedule. Dcm says that she needs to quit over DS subbing.
* Changed policies to never hold spots without payment.
Family #4
20 mth old had maybe a 1/2 second attention span, and was completely incapable of playing by himself for even 10 minutes. Constantly bugged older sister, but I still worked with him. But parents wouldn't have convos with me at drop off/pick up. Ignored my requests for sweaters as the weather got cooler. I donated some of DD's nice, too small, sweaters to the family. I sent an email to all parents about bringing sweaters, but I accidentally left dcd's email address off the BCC list. (They never gave me mom's--I think that dad called all the shots in this family.) I told dad at pick up that I would need to start charging fees to loan sweaters. He grabbed his kids and charged out the door without a word and termed.
I suspect that there was a little ADHD with dcb and also with dcd.
Family #5
I've already written about that one extensively. Bottom line is that dcd creeped me out when he began saying that he thought that dcg was getting hit at my house. After consult with OCCL and getting advised to watch for signs of abuse, I actually told them that I'd been given that advise. They were just too much overall in a number of ways, but that final stuff was bizarre and creepy. I ended up at the doctor's office at that time with chest pains and was diagnosed with stress (nothing wrong with my heart). I told the doc all about this family, and she agreed that the incident probably triggered the chest pains.
* Going to put more effort into vetting in the future. I've just been too willing to give people a try.
IMO there is just no drama like daycare drama.
