I REALLY need some help here! My daycare days are coming to an end. In about 4 weeks I will be closed for summer break. I only care for one family & the mom is a teacher. I am THRILLED to have my summer off although not thrilled about the lack of $$ coming in. However, as the end of the school year comes to a close I am getting more & more fidgety about being done & little things are really starting to wear thin on me. I feel like I really need some positive energy to transform me these last few weeks just to get through. I am also really thinking about whether I want to continue with this in the fall. Although there are many positives to being a provider it seems like all I can think of are the negatives. Can anyone offer any adivce/suggestions?

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Take the summer as an opportunity. Enjoy it, the Fall will come into play in the coming months. What I mean by that is you are "prepared". That preparation will guide you as time approaches. Sometimes you have to manage your immediate needs and cast the rest to the universe to take care of. Micro-managing everything will wear you down.

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I have that happen occasionally.
When I feel like I'm losing it, I tend to over-control everything, which in turn makes me crazy. So once I recognize that it's happening, I just tear open my supply closet, pull out the hidden stuff in the farthest nook and crannie, and get crazy with it. I have come up with some of the best ideas when I give up trying to keep everything from getting chaotic. I just have to keep repeating to myself, "Don't be afraid to get messy. Don't be afraid to get messy." I might clean as I go, or wait till the bitter end and smile to myself knowing I could've had a miserable day but I dove right in and made it special. Those are the days the kids fall asleep once they hit the carseat.

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I kind of know how you feel. I'm the preschool teacher at the daycare I'm an assistant at, and these past couple of weeks of trying to teach the preschoolers have been wearing thin on me. They seem to be tired of school, and tired of having to sit for circle time and devotions, and their tears come SO fast. A couple of them have been refusing to "do school" the past couple times for their age group. All of the preschoolers in the class talk to each other and won't listen for even a second, get really stubborn and want their way or no way, or they pick on each other the entire time. And then of course the tears come very quickly, and the whining. The lesson plans have been SO hard to come up with, because I'm just tired and ready to be done, and just DO NOT want to spend another weekend coming up with lessons for the upcoming week. I seem to have run out of ideas. I'll still be there all this summer, but it will be more relaxed, and play based, with no formal "preschool time" or "preschool lessons". Some of the children that only come for preschool won't be there, and we'll have some older school-age children in their place. I'm wondering if it'd be so bad to "be finished" with school early, and focus on fun games and crafts, and other activites that are not necessarily "preschool with abc's and numbers work all the time". I do school with them from 8:30-11, but it's usually 9:00 before we actually get started because we're running late from beakfast and cleanup. At 10:00 we stop for am snack, by the time hands are washed and they've eaten, and we've cleaned up, it's almost 10:30, and by that time their attention spans are not holding for anymore, so we have free play or outdoor play.
Sorry this is so long and that I didn't give you any suggestions. I just wanted to let you know I can understand, in a way, how you feel

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Thanks everyone for your input. It does help. I know the summer off will more than likely rejuvenate me (I hope!) but just trying to muddle through these last few weeks is tough. I'm trying to be creative though & make the best of it by getting outdoors a lot to play & doing some crafts, etc. I really do enjoy the family I work with for the most part so I hate even admitting that I am counting the days but it's something I can't seem to help!

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I think we all go through "blah" stages. I know right now, as I am planning to go on vacation in less than a month, I have "vacationitis" and have been ho-hum about daily activities. Fortunately, it does pass.

If it doesn't pass, then you should be concerned about burn-out. I have found the best way to avoid it or recover from it is to network with other providers who understand where I am coming from. I also highly recommend attending workshops (where you will meet other providers) or take college coursework in child development. You'd be amazed at how much it helps you deal with these types of situations....you'll have the knowledge, the insight, and the support to help you feel better and BE better at what you do.

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