View Single Post
nannyde 04:51 AM 06-28-2010
Originally Posted by Crystal:
I think the way it SHOULD be, is that no ONE provider should be allowed to care for children around the clock. If you provide services 24 hours per day, there should be a daytime provider and an evening provider. One to supervise day shift, one to supervise night shift. If you are being paid for children during the daytime, and recieving the same rate for children at nighttime, they should be offered the same level of care and supervision as the children during the daytime.

If you do nightime care only, you should sleep during the day and be up at night, just as with any other "graveyard" shift at any other job. Why would a provider charge a rate that is the same as a daytime rate when they are doing FAR less work.....I do think that this is why some providers do nighttime only....same pay for far less demanding work.

I honestly think that family child care should not be allowed to operate around the clock without the stipulation that one provider does not work more than 12 hours in a day....it is not healthy for the provider and it is not safe for the children.

And, while it may work out to earning $3.00 per hour PER CHILD, we do not make three dollars per hour when you add all the children together.....we make WAY more than $3 per hour, or we wouldn't be in the field. Of course, I have expenses to take out of that, but so does the average worker: commute time, clothing for the job, DAYCARE, etc. So, it's not fair to make parents think that THEIR $3.00 per hour is not enough.
Have you ever done a business of overnight care? I did around the clock care for thirteen/fourteen years. The cost for the care of all overnight kids is markedly lower than the cost of daytime care at least where I come from. I rarely got kids who were just 10 p to 6 a. or hours where the kid slept the entire times. Most kids who spent the night came in early in the evening. I also had kids who came for the 3-11 shift. Those kids had the same number of direct care hours as the day kids.

People who access pure sleeping hours day care do NOT want to pay anywhere near the rates for day time. They could get family or friends to do it for that kind of money. Also, people who work overnight and have small children usually wanted some day hours attached to the deal so they could go home and sleep. I never had a pure overnight kid who was paid at even my lowest rate who didn't come any of the waking hours during the day.

When it comes to caring for kids while they sleep you can believe the parents know this coming into it and only want to pay a nominal fee because they know you can sleep. They won't pick a provider who charges full rates because she is awake watching the kids sleep over a much cheaper rate where the provider sleeps while the kids sleep. They don't watch their kids sleep so they don't want to pay someone to watch their kids sleep.

If you are offering "watch them while they sleep" service for a fair compensation you won't be picked. You can offer that service but you won't have any takers except for maybe special needs kids who need nursing care and supervision at night. You would have to have a number of them to make a living at it and that would be a hard job. Offering that for healthy normal kids is going to be very hard to make a living at.

Little secret: It's not necessary so parents won't pay for it. The kid doesn't have it anywhere else they go under any other adults care so they won't pay for it.

Now if the State requires it then you will have a lot of private relationships where the parent finds someone to do it illegally for cheap. That person of course will sleep. There's no market for watching kids sleep.
Reply