Today I sent out my summer newsletter. It included a reminder I'm closed for memorial day, that I know summer schedules will be more lax (I have mainly teachers kids) and that I will officially be open only Mon, Wed, and Fri come september.

I'm very excited for this! When I first started dong home daycare (my 2yr anniversary is coming up June 1st!) I wanted full time. As I got super busy and full I realized I had less time for mother and son stuff (ds will be 3 soon) and that I felt more like a sitter for my son than his mom. With the crazy schedules I have with some of the kids or the high needs children I'm sometimes so flustered with my day my poor son gets the brunt end of it. He's an extremely smart child with photographic mind and memory tendencies and I'm starting to realize what a butt of a mom I've become due to the stress of the home children. I did this to stay home with him and when he said to me "mommy you're not angry anymore are you?" at bed time a few weeks ago I lost it.

This is not what I wanted. Being a mom was the most important thing to me (I lost mine young 20yrs ago) that I'm failing myself in that department because of other peoples kids whom sometimes drive me bananas. While I have some A+ families and most days are sunshine and roses the few that aren't take a toll. I finally laid down a new schedule. After the summer break I'm only doing 3days a week. I will continue to offer all that I currently do and keep up with my preschool program. My son needs the social interaction and the preschool structure but he also needs mommy time.

Moreso I need my son time. He's going to be 3. He's gonna be our only one. I don't want him remembering these times and I don't want to be reminded by him (seriously, the kid remembers Easter and christmas from LAST year among other things like where we bought something 2yrs ago or that shirt he wore for a friends bday. I'm scared lol).

I feel a big stress lifted already. I might lose a sibling set (their mom doesn't have the same weekly schedule) but I'm not too concerned. I told everyone to let me know ASAP if their childcare needs change.

IM SO READY FOR SUMMER!! For my son and I:

The days are just packed!

*special points awarded to the person who knows where the above quote is from*

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It sounds like you have worked out a good arrangement for you and your son and that is what matters. It will be awesome to have those days off from the daycare because as you said, its tough when you have young ones at home all day too.

As for the memory thing, TOTALLY hear you on that. My four year old scares me sometimes too. She draws pictures and talks ALL the time about things she did two years ago. I pull out her old clothes for her little sister and she remembers who gave her what, where she wore it and everything. One time I got lost going to a friends house and this little voice pipes up from the backseat and she remembered what exit to take from the highway and what turns to take to get to a house she had only been to ONE time before....this was at 2 years old, maybe even before 2, cant remember when it happened but this stuff is all the time. I do worry about how the daycare affects especially her.

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Can you share how you are making this transition? How does it work financially? How did you advertise? I'm in your situation (my poor kids miss their mommy) and would love to do this too but feel I would have extreme difficulty fnding clients.

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I would love to do this too but there isnt a demand for it locally that I have seen. I have a lot of calls for part timers but they usually still need every day as a possibility. There are a lot of hospitals and such around here and the work schedules there dont accommodate this type of program.

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SO jealous!! LOL I would love to even just cut my hours daily..but the demand is too high for full timers. Very LOW demand for anything else..

Have fun..enjoy every second <3

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It's easy for me because ive only been doing part time care for a while now. My teacher parents are mon, wed, fri to begin with and the other sibling group comes 2-3 days too.

Some parents were talking about going full time so they could have a day to themselves possibly and the sibling group has started coming more frequently than when they started. The youngest in the sibling group is a baby and a handful and the parents are taken aback by it so now I get them a lot more than I anticipated a year and half ago when we signed the contract. The last few months I've had all the kids practically every day as their back up tues and thrus sitters were out of commission or on vacations or mom/dad had things to do. So I've been just slammed and Getting to the point where I'm almost running on empty. Dh senses when I'll have all the kids that next day or week. I get very quiet as I know the hurricane is coming lol.

I have one parent whom I said the new schedule does not pertain to. I'd gladly take their child all the time. The others needed some downsizing. I don't want to terminate them as I do like the parents and kids but I need more of a strict schedule from them. I don't care if they are all here all three of those days as long as I get a breather in-between. If one decides to drop care because this won't work than thats fine, I'll just advertise for part time again. I've always had a lot of inquiries about every other day care so it might not be a hard spot to fill. Even if I get a mon and tues kid.

I just need some time to get back to not being insane.

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Plus on those off days, I'd like to see what it's like to be just a SAHM. Just time with my son. Ikea for lunch today? Ok we'll go...hmmm...now! Sit in our pjs and watch some Dora? OK! A haircut for you not on a weekend? Already booked the appointment kiddo!

I had more time to do stuff when I worked full time outside the house. Now I have no time for anything.

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Good for you! I switched this year from five days a week to four (my daughter is also three, and deserved more than I was giving her), and it was the best choice I ever made. Worth the lost pay, for sure.

I had no trouble with it because for some reason, in 6 years, I've never been able to find any full-time families. Isn't that strange? When I taught in preschool classrooms, we always had full-timers. But so far, all my kids had been part time.

Enjoy your family time!

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