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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Closing
nikia 07:01 AM 12-28-2010
So I have decided to close my daycare as of Feb. 1st. I have thought about this for awhile now and with every disrespect, late payment and child who pees on my furniture out of anger for taking a nap I dislike this job more and more. My house, husband and children have suffered because of me doing this and I have decided that I need to put them first and I do not have families that respect that.

Thank you for all your help, comments, encouragment over the past few months. I wish you all the best in your business and life.
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MarinaVanessa 07:32 AM 12-28-2010
I'm sorry that the roads been rough for you but I hope that you succeed in whatever you choose to do!!
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DCMomOf3 07:40 AM 12-28-2010
I am planning the same thing and am hoping my last day will be the last day of school. I am planning on going back to school myself with the start of the new school year in the fall. Best of luck to you and I am sorry that your experience was not a good one.

hugs!
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DanceMom 07:52 AM 12-28-2010
I plan to close also as soon as I can afford to do so. Its unfortunate that these daycare parents tend to ruin this experience for us...Im sure there are some good parents out there but I think the majority of them are not so good.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do !
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meli829 08:13 AM 12-28-2010
I'm very envious of you! I desperately want to close as well but we can't afford it, specially now that I am pregnant and wouldn't want to try to find a job outside the home. We also wouldn't be able to afford daycare, so looks like I'm stuck doing this for a few more years. Anyway, best of luck to you and I'm sure it will feel like a huge weight has been lifted.
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tymaboy 09:15 AM 12-28-2010
My last day is Jan 7th. I only have 1 DCK who I have had since he was 7 months (he will be 3 in Feb) I will miss him. I start my new job on Jan 10th & his dad works for the same company as well so I am hoping to be able to stay in touch with my little DCB.
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jen 09:17 AM 12-28-2010
Good luck to you!
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misol 09:47 AM 12-28-2010
Best of luck to all of you who are closing. May I ask how long each of you have been open?
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Luna 10:01 AM 12-28-2010
Best wishes to you
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Cat Herder 11:17 AM 12-28-2010
Sorry it has been so rough on your family. This is exactly why I have to be such a stickler (lot's of folks use a different word for it ) about my policies. Back when I always bent and gave in to every request, out of guilt for "having a better lifestyle than some of my families", I got my feelings hurt all the time. I felt exactly like you do now.

I wanted to save everyone, solve their problems and make their lives easier for them... I always got the short end of the stick. Ironically the families that I worked the hardest for were the ones most likely to cause the biggest problems when confronted with the word "NO". I finally realized that most are in the situations they are in because of choices they made, that should NEVER affect the choices I made for my family. Light Bulb moment

Once I got a few years under my belt, iron clad policies, and got over the fear that "this may be the last child that I ever get, I can't afford to let them go" my life got a whole lot less complicated and the daycare became a peaceful, fun place to be again. Good luck in whatever path you follow...
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momma2girls 11:46 AM 12-28-2010
Originally Posted by tymaboy:
My last day is Jan 7th. I only have 1 DCK who I have had since he was 7 months (he will be 3 in Feb) I will miss him. I start my new job on Jan 10th & his dad works for the same company as well so I am hoping to be able to stay in touch with my little DCB.
COngrats to you!!!
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momma2girls 11:47 AM 12-28-2010
Congrats and good luck to all of you's!!!
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SilverSabre25 11:54 AM 12-28-2010
I'm sorry you have had such a rough go of it; good luck in whatever you do next. Congrats for making the best decision for your family, though. That can be hard to do.
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boysx5 12:42 PM 12-28-2010
I did this in the past and it was hard but at the time the best for my family and for myself now I have been back at it for almost three years and most days I love it if I could afford to and quit I would
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MommyMuffin 12:57 PM 12-28-2010
Congrats to you. Sorry it didnt work out. I am planning the same venture but I have to wait until my oldest is in school so I decided I will take evening classes and get another degree and then go back to work when she goes to school. Good luck!
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momma2girls 01:00 PM 12-28-2010
Originally Posted by MommyMuffin:
Congrats to you. Sorry it didnt work out. I am planning the same venture but I have to wait until my oldest is in school so I decided I will take evening classes and get another degree and then go back to work when she goes to school. Good luck!
This is a very smart move!!!
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nikia 01:38 PM 12-28-2010
Thank you!!! I am still scared, it is a very hard thing to do. I have yet to write the letter and tell my families so once I get over that hurdle I may have the weight lifted.

We cannot really afford for me to quit, but we cannot afford for me to lose myself either doing this job. My husband just started a new job.

I have bent over backwards for families and have been repaid in lice, late payments and the list goes on and on.

The best piece of advice I could give someone in this business is always stick to your handbook. I let people make me feel bad with sad stories and it always screwed me.

I am going to school for nursing, so I hope to start my clinicals next fall, I have to do my cna course and everything else starting in a few weeks and over the summer.

Even though we cannot really afford for me to do this I have decided I will live more simple and have much more piece of mind. I wish that I had found all good families, I do have 2 that are good, but that doesnt make up for the other 4 that are not.

I wish all of you that are quitting the very best and for ones that would like to quit I hope that you can make the best of it until you are able to close. I found it very hard to enjoy anything while not liking what I am doing. I hope that doesn't happen to you guys.

Thank you for the best wishes

Now to write my closing letter my heart beats faster everytime I think of giving it to the families.
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Live and Learn 03:41 PM 12-28-2010
Sorry it has been so rough on your family. This is exactly why I have to be such a stickler (lot's of folks use a different word for it ) about my policies. Back when I always bent and gave in to every request, out of guilt for "having a better lifestyle than some of my families", I got my feelings hurt all the time. I felt exactly like you do now.

I wanted to save everyone, solve their problems and make their lives easier for them... I always got the short end of the stick. Ironically the families that I worked the hardest for were the ones most likely to cause the biggest problems when confronted with the word "NO". I finally realized that most are in the situations they are in because of choices they made, that should NEVER affect the choices I made for my family. Light Bulb moment

Once I got a few years under my belt, iron clad policies, and got over the fear that "this may be the last child that I ever get, I can't afford to let them go" my life got a whole lot less complicated and the daycare became a peaceful, fun place to be again. Good luck in whatever path you follow...

Agree!!
I think it is pretty common early on to get suckered in to dc family's sob stories. Also I think as women many of us avoid confrontation and want everybody to like us. After getting the short end of the stick a couple of times in my early years providing daycare I realized... It is all about me!...If
I am not happy then nobody is happy!

I am wondering how long you have been doing this Nikia, Tymaboy and DCmomof3?....and if you have any children of your own at home?....I would think being new at this job when your own children are home too would make this job much more difficult. I love, love, love the little group I have now. My own kids are in school all day. When you are a stickler...I mean really hard core ....with your policies this is a great job.
Good Luck.
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nikia 04:40 PM 12-28-2010
2 years I have been doing this and both of my children are in school full time. Last year my youngest was home half days with me, half days at pre-school.
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Live and Learn 05:04 PM 12-28-2010
Nikia,
I think it was around the two year mark I realized that things were gonna have to change around here or I wouldn't be able to make a go of it. I never had the crazy lice parent like you but just a series of small incidents that made me realize that if I didn't take care of myself and this biz then it would all go down the tubes!!! I wonder if you "weed your garden" of the troublesome parents if this line of work would be doable for you? Six years in and I have never enjoyed my work as much as I do now. My daycare kids arrive 15 minutes before my own kids walk to school and my dck leave by 4:00 about a half hour after my own last kid arrives home. It has taken years of tweaking my hours, rates and policies to get to were I am now but I make more now in fewer more suitable hours than I did working outside the home and when my own kids are sick I am home already.....
Good luck to you and your family
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Daycare_Mama 05:14 PM 12-28-2010
I don't blame you one bit. I can't imagine myself wanting to still do daycare after my daughter is in school. Mostly because I am paying off $100,000 in student loans for my degree that I didn't need to get to do daycare! That bugs me a lot of days. But who knows, I might think differently about wanting to be home when she gets home from school.

Good luck to you! I hope it works out the way you want it to!
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DCMomOf3 06:17 PM 12-28-2010
I have been doing this for 3 years and I have 3 of my own, the youngest will start pre-k in the fall. I was always hoping to close when my youngest was in school so I could go back to school myself. It's a year early for that (full time kindergarten) but it's best for me and the older ones to stop now instead of next year. I just hope my school loan get approved.
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JeepGirl6 06:24 PM 12-28-2010
Originally Posted by nikia:
Thank you!!! I am still scared, it is a very hard thing to do. I have yet to write the letter and tell my families so once I get over that hurdle I may have the weight lifted.

We cannot really afford for me to quit, but we cannot afford for me to lose myself either doing this job. My husband just started a new job.

I have bent over backwards for families and have been repaid in lice, late payments and the list goes on and on.

The best piece of advice I could give someone in this business is always stick to your handbook. I let people make me feel bad with sad stories and it always screwed me.

I am going to school for nursing, so I hope to start my clinicals next fall, I have to do my cna course and everything else starting in a few weeks and over the summer.

Even though we cannot really afford for me to do this I have decided I will live more simple and have much more piece of mind. I wish that I had found all good families, I do have 2 that are good, but that doesnt make up for the other 4 that are not.

I wish all of you that are quitting the very best and for ones that would like to quit I hope that you can make the best of it until you are able to close. I found it very hard to enjoy anything while not liking what I am doing. I hope that doesn't happen to you guys.

Thank you for the best wishes

Now to write my closing letter my heart beats faster everytime I think of giving it to the families.

Good luck to you~ I have been doing my In-Home Child Care for the past two years, have went to college for a total of 4 (1 year while doing my daycare), first for Medical and then Teaching, have my degree in both. It hit me about 3 months ago that I really don't want to do this for the rest of my life so I started looking back in the medical field, had a job offer ( was not the one that I was really hoping for), told the hospital I was delighted and would take it. I told all 10 part time parents that they had to find alternative care. After about a week of really thinking about it financially my In-home day care was the job to stick with for right now after I added up the expenses of gas to drive to the hospital, extra taxes and insurance, I was going to have $100 left a month which is not enough for groceries let alone if something went wrong. Working from home does have a great benefit because of gas prices these days....Well after I told all of the parents I had changed my mind, they are SOOO happy, two weeks later the hospital job offer I really wanted was offered to me a little too late, I couldn't do that to the parents twice... I had three of them cry because they were so upset I was giving up my daycare

I have decided to go the same route as you, get back in the medical field and go for my RN, I start prereqs in the fall. I am very excited but nervous at the same time..I would like to start a family in the next year or so and that also makes me worry, wondering if I could do it with an infant of my own 24/7. I plan to operate my daycare during the day, do my prereqs in the evenings and then the school I want to go to offers a Nursing program in the evenings 600-900 two days a week and then every other week Sat & Sun 700-500.It will take me about 4 years, so I will get to be with my children during the day when we do decided to have them and I figure once I start working back in a hospital I would be able to afford to pay someone to care for them...It will be alot I just hope I am motivated to do it...Best Wishes
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safechner 06:29 PM 12-28-2010
Originally Posted by nikia:
So I have decided to close my daycare as of Feb. 1st. I have thought about this for awhile now and with every disrespect, late payment and child who pees on my furniture out of anger for taking a nap I dislike this job more and more. My house, husband and children have suffered because of me doing this and I have decided that I need to put them first and I do not have families that respect that.

Thank you for all your help, comments, encouragment over the past few months. I wish you all the best in your business and life.

I know how you feel. I have been doing daycare for 9 years and I am getting tired, tired, and tired of doing this. I felt I am ready to move on with my life since both of my daughters are in school everyday. I am planning to close my daycare starting July 2011 so I am ready to go back to school full time in the fall. I had thoughts about closing the daycare in the past but we cannot afford since we have so much bills. We will be debt free in July 2011 that I am looking forward to it. I am not sure what I want to be in the future. I always want to be a teacher but I am not sure if I can do it for a long time to get a master degree for deaf education. I have been in school in 2004 to 2006 . I dropped most of my classes because I can't focus on my education since my husband and I have been fighting for our deaf/autistic daughter' school. She was in the wrong placement which she shouldn't be in that classroom with four hearing/autistic kids and doing in my daycare full time. My hometown district filed a due process hearing against us but they lost their case last March 2010. They disagreed with the hearing officer's orders and we shouldn't won the case so they appealed with federal court. We also filed a due process hearing against them for the second time but they offered the settlement because they knew they are going to lost the case again in September. They agreed to pay my daughter's private school which is $12,000 a year, pay me .50 cent per miles that I drop my daughter off to school in 30 miles and other 30 miles back to home everyday. They send the bus to pick her up from school and drop her off at my home after school everyday so we agreed.

Again, we filed a federal suit against them first because we don't want to wait 90 days for them to appeal. We are stuck to pay every months to an attorney until we get in court. If we won, we will get all of our money back that we have paid. Our federal date will be August 1, 2011. That is why we cannot afford to quit the daycare so we can wait until summer of 2011 that we will be paid off our two cars and four credit cards. Your right, family comes first. I am putting my family first too. Good Luck!!

By the way, my daughter absolutely loves her school and she got right education for the first time in four years.
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MommyMuffin 10:30 AM 12-29-2010
For those of you going into the RN program or hating your current situation. I just wanted to share how crazy I am...lol. So here goes..
I have my LPN and all my general education credits done. I got an email yesterday for a great school saying that I am accepted to start the fast track RN program in 2 weeks..all at night! Great right...but I cant do it!!!

As great of an opportunity it is and as much of a dummie I am for not doing it, my heart is just not in it. The medical feild has so many opportunities and openings but I got burned out as an LPN and I do not want to read one more article on health care. I just hated it. hahah..So I am continuing my education in legal administrative assistant..pays wayyy less but I think I would love it.

Moral of my story...If you dont like what your doing...get out and do whatever you can afford to do that you like. Its not worth it being miserable just for the extra money...you spend more time at your job anyways.
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nikia 10:40 AM 12-29-2010
Originally Posted by MommyMuffin:
For those of you going into the RN program or hating your current situation. I just wanted to share how crazy I am...lol. So here goes..
I have my LPN and all my general education credits done. I got an email yesterday for a great school saying that I am accepted to start the fast track RN program in 2 weeks..all at night! Great right...but I cant do it!!!

As great of an opportunity it is and as much of a dummie I am for not doing it, my heart is just not in it. The medical feild has so many opportunities and openings but I got burned out as an LPN and I do not want to read one more article on health care. I just hated it. hahah..So I am continuing my education in legal administrative assistant..pays wayyy less but I think I would love it.

Moral of my story...If you dont like what your doing...get out and do whatever you can afford to do that you like. Its not worth it being miserable just for the extra money...you spend more time at your job anyways.
I dont think that you are crazy, it's not what you love to do, just as daycare is not what I love to do.

The appeal of nursing for me is that I am a fixer, which is my problem doing daycare. I care way to much about people and that is a problem when running a business from my home. I feel for people and want to help them but have screwed myself in running this business. I am not hard core and I have a problem with a backbone. I love kids and would like to do peds for nursing. I feel it better suits me and will make me happy, but you never know I could get burnt out too.

Anyways, I dont think that you are crazy its all about finding what makes you happy and not about the money like you said.
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