So that frisson of excitement, that harbinger of change that I felt coming over me on Monday? Perhaps I should have just ignored it and hoped it would go away, because the very next morning I got the dreaded "contract termination" letter from my daycare provider. Unless you've been there, the pain and drudgery of changing daycare providers is hard to understand. Also, because of my location, I have no access to center-based or institutional care. It's all family/home-based care, which has been a generator of much of my daycare drama over the past 4 years. And we loved our daycare provider. She was loving yet firm, kind and supportive, energetic and yet willing to just chill out with kids who were having an off day. We will miss her quite a bit, and more importantly, so will my kids. She has really been Miss T's only non-family caregiver (minus a few weeks) since I went back to work. She noticed her first tooth, taught her how to clap, and has been watching her and encouraging her as she makes up her own little games and now is trying to walk.
It was all very unexpected, and I spent yesterday simply not dealing with it. Not denial, per se, but avoidance in the name of self-preservation. I did a little cathartic yard work yesterday evening. Today, however, I have had to start coming out of my funk, and the view is not rosy yet.
I was right about change, just not the change I was looking for.
April 9, 2008
Never Tempt Fate
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4 comments:
ohhhhh,that SUCKS! I was a group family daycare provider for many years and my reason for getting into it in the first place was because there was such a lack of decent daycare in the area and hated the feeling that I was choosing the lesser of two evils when it came to where my kids spent their day.
I do have a suggestion ,though....
on the Fingerlakes Unschooling Network group on yahoo, there are often homeschool moms who also provide daycare.You could post a message on the boards and see what it leads to :)Ya never know!
Good luck!
Oh, excellent resource! Thank you! We've had great luck with the more informal care, minus the whole "oh, were closing" thing.
Lesser of two evils indeed ... the first place I ever looked for my beloved first-born left me thinking that at least he probably wouldn't be injured there. Not the "standard of care" I was looking for.
There are some really great families in the group. I hope you find something helpful :)
Scariest daycare visit ever(which made me decide to open my own) : I visited at naptime and the "caregiver" was administering Benadryl to every single kid. They opened their mouths like baby birds, like it was something that was daily routine. Yeah...didn't give me warm and fuzzies.
Oh, that freaks me out. Yikes!
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