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New Members - Welcome to the Daycare.com Forum!>Please Tell Me This Goes Away!
popples1108 11:35 AM 02-26-2016
Someone please tell me this feeling goes away...or at least settles!

A little background: I opened my home daycare about 6 months ago. I really wanted to be home with my kids and wasn't happy with the job I had, but I have to bring in some income. When I started interviewing I took the first kids that wanted a spot (for fear of leaving my job and not having enough spaces filled). This led to 3 infants and a 3 year old (plus my 2 year old). The infants are all at different stages. One is walking (pretty good) now, one is almost walking and one is crawling. I have SUCH a fear of them getting hurt. The oldest infant, is the clumsiest baby I have ever seen. Trips and falls over his own feet, runs into doorways- you name it, it seems he gets a new bruise or bump on the head weekly. To be fair, he does get them at home too, but every time something happens, I literally feel sick about it and get sooo anxious. Same with the other 2. Today my daughter accidently "kicked" one of the little boys in the cheek. It was very light and the boy barely cried, but a red mark showed up immediately and I started getting so stressed.....Is this feeling just because I'm new or am I maybe too anxious of a person for this job?? I know kids get bumps and bruises and I never freak out when it happens to my daughter but when someone else's kid gets hurt I feel like I did something wrong or like the parent will be upset... I even know I'm getting too upset over most of these things, I just can't quite settle myself down. I feel like I'm putting too much pressure on myself to keep everything perfect, but I don't know how to stop it.
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Thriftylady 02:24 PM 02-26-2016
The best thing you can do is document, document, document. Write up a boo boo report each and every time, and have the parent sign it for the file. If one child is really causing you that much anxiety, perhaps it is time to look to fill the spot with another child. Since I am not there I can't really say other than that.
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childcaremom 03:18 PM 02-26-2016
I was like this initially.

It took a few months but I started to relax. I do injury reports any time there is a mark (maybe it's overkill but I do it to cover all of my bases) and verbally talk to parents at pick up.

I still don't like it when they get bruises/scrapes/marks/etc on my watch, but I don't get worked up over it anymore. I just document everything and carry on.


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NightOwl 03:50 PM 02-26-2016
It gets better with time. Have you ever been accused of wrong doing before? If you are getting physically ill, It sounds like you may be a little jaded from a past experience. If not, it's likely just the first year jitters. It'll help if you have parents who also realize boo-boos happen and treat them as no big deal. High strung parents who rush to the dr over every bump will make your anxiety worse.
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popples1108 08:46 AM 02-27-2016
Originally Posted by NightOwl:
It gets better with time. Have you ever been accused of wrong doing before? If you are getting physically ill, It sounds like you may be a little jaded from a past experience. If not, it's likely just the first year jitters. It'll help if you have parents who also realize boo-boos happen and treat them as no big deal. High strung parents who rush to the dr over every bump will make your anxiety worse.
No, no one has ever accused me of doing anything wrong and the kiddo that is so clumsy has been hurt at home too (and had to make a trip to ER to get checked out), so they're usually very understanding. I just hate when things happen on my watch.

I'm hoping it is just "first year jitters", I think I'm also a little more worried since they're still infants, and hopefully once they get older that'll help too. I think I'm also more nervous because 2 of the parents are first time parents and seem pretty overprotective. However, the youngest one did roll down some stairs at home last weekend so at the risk of sounding bad, I'm glad his first "accident" happened at home.

Thanks for the input everyone!
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Thriftylady 09:18 AM 02-27-2016
Originally Posted by popples1108:
No, no one has ever accused me of doing anything wrong and the kiddo that is so clumsy has been hurt at home too (and had to make a trip to ER to get checked out), so they're usually very understanding. I just hate when things happen on my watch.

I'm hoping it is just "first year jitters", I think I'm also a little more worried since they're still infants, and hopefully once they get older that'll help too. I think I'm also more nervous because 2 of the parents are first time parents and seem pretty overprotective. However, the youngest one did roll down some stairs at home last weekend so at the risk of sounding bad, I'm glad his first "accident" happened at home.

Thanks for the input everyone!
Kids get hurt all the time. Toddlers are the worst at it! The thing is, they aren't like us. We take a tumble and it is serious business. Even if we don't break anything we hurt for days. Kids have forgotten all about it five seconds later.
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Josiegirl 03:55 AM 02-28-2016
I still have this underlying fear, and I've been doing this a lot of years. These things happen no matter who the child is with or where they are. They could simply be walking along holding someone's hand and boom, land on their nose. It happens to every single person and child. Geez, I still fall. Or bump myself and have no clue when I did it.
Someone else already mentioned documenting, also good communication with parents, trusting relationship with them, and it makes me feel better to have dc insurance just in case. It's not mandatory in my state yet but I've had it for years and years.
Bruises happen. Try to be gentle with yourself! We cannot keep kids in bubbles And parents will find out they can't either.
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Tags:documenting, feeling - anxious, injury report
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