It's countdown time. Next Thursday I close my daycare. Ever see a pregnant woman do a jig? You just might if you come by my house next Thursday afternoon.
It started off as a way to make extra cash and bring some 'friends' into the home for Gutsy. The little guy was 2.5yrs old and socialized oodles with friends' children already, but for some reason this still seemed like something I should do.
The goal was:
- Trade in the sedan for a minivan
- Take in three children
- Happily watch my children enjoy the company of others, learn to share and practice their manners
- Go on lots of outings, which would work well because those daycare children are used to listening to adults
What happened:
- Traded in the sedan for an uber-sweet minivan with a DVD player that rocks my nuts
- Took in one full-time child and one part-time baby
- Watched in horror as Gutsy pummelled the older child at every opportunity and built 'traps' to keep out the mom and the baby in the morning (the traps were hilarious, btw)
- Tried desperately to find something that helped him adjust
- Tried time-outs, time-ins, loss of priviledges, special time with mom, talks, stories, roleplaying, close monitoring of their play time, VERY close monitoring of their play time, crying to friends as I monitored the beatings at play time and considered drugging Gutsy's morning snack with sedatives (ok, not really.)
- Gutsy finally started getting used to said child after, oh, six months (but he still built traps in the morning which kept getting more creative)
- Realized that daycare children don't listen as well as I had been lead to believe - I blame discussion boards where people can make these things up
- Found out about Gutsy's hearing loss and decided to close down daycare due to additional appointments and his comfort level
- Older child went first in February, while younger child still came part-time
- Oops. Pregnant! Told younger child's parents and they informed me that they were only keeping her here until September until a subsidized spot opened up somewhere else. Hrm. Thanks.
So now I have younger child plus her older brother for a couple of weeks. It's been hell on earth. They're good kids, but damn. Gutsy likes them for about three hours and then desperately wants his space back. He wants his big brother all to himself. He wants non-interrupted story time with mom. See, he plays really well with friends and shares like a pro, but not 10 hours a day. Too much for poor lil' Gutsy. So he tends to turn into a bit of a bully when he gets fed up. This is still so foreign to me, having always been the passive child. It's one thing to parent a child a lot like you, but these ones have their dad's shortcomings (of course, since I, er, don't have any shortcomings...)
Anyway, next Thursday the clock strikes midnight and my coach turns back into a nice, simple pumpkin. The money isn't great for the work I do, anyway. Raising your own kids is tough, but helping to raise someone else's... well, I'll save that for my next entry. On the plus side, I've heard horror stories about terrible daycare parents and I'm thankful not to have had those. I think at this point I'd rather work part-time outside the home than do full-time childcare. It's just not worth it for our family. Intrepid and Gutsy like their space. I like not having to wipe other people's children's bums, thankyouverymuch.
Going back to being a bon-bon eating, story-watching SAHM is just fine with me. And if we can exchange the bon-bons for some Timbits, all the better. And if you don't know what Timbits are, we just can't be friends.
It started off as a way to make extra cash and bring some 'friends' into the home for Gutsy. The little guy was 2.5yrs old and socialized oodles with friends' children already, but for some reason this still seemed like something I should do.
The goal was:
- Trade in the sedan for a minivan
- Take in three children
- Happily watch my children enjoy the company of others, learn to share and practice their manners
- Go on lots of outings, which would work well because those daycare children are used to listening to adults
What happened:
- Traded in the sedan for an uber-sweet minivan with a DVD player that rocks my nuts
- Took in one full-time child and one part-time baby
- Watched in horror as Gutsy pummelled the older child at every opportunity and built 'traps' to keep out the mom and the baby in the morning (the traps were hilarious, btw)
- Tried desperately to find something that helped him adjust
- Tried time-outs, time-ins, loss of priviledges, special time with mom, talks, stories, roleplaying, close monitoring of their play time, VERY close monitoring of their play time, crying to friends as I monitored the beatings at play time and considered drugging Gutsy's morning snack with sedatives (ok, not really.)
- Gutsy finally started getting used to said child after, oh, six months (but he still built traps in the morning which kept getting more creative)
- Realized that daycare children don't listen as well as I had been lead to believe - I blame discussion boards where people can make these things up
- Found out about Gutsy's hearing loss and decided to close down daycare due to additional appointments and his comfort level
- Older child went first in February, while younger child still came part-time
- Oops. Pregnant! Told younger child's parents and they informed me that they were only keeping her here until September until a subsidized spot opened up somewhere else. Hrm. Thanks.
So now I have younger child plus her older brother for a couple of weeks. It's been hell on earth. They're good kids, but damn. Gutsy likes them for about three hours and then desperately wants his space back. He wants his big brother all to himself. He wants non-interrupted story time with mom. See, he plays really well with friends and shares like a pro, but not 10 hours a day. Too much for poor lil' Gutsy. So he tends to turn into a bit of a bully when he gets fed up. This is still so foreign to me, having always been the passive child. It's one thing to parent a child a lot like you, but these ones have their dad's shortcomings (of course, since I, er, don't have any shortcomings...)
Anyway, next Thursday the clock strikes midnight and my coach turns back into a nice, simple pumpkin. The money isn't great for the work I do, anyway. Raising your own kids is tough, but helping to raise someone else's... well, I'll save that for my next entry. On the plus side, I've heard horror stories about terrible daycare parents and I'm thankful not to have had those. I think at this point I'd rather work part-time outside the home than do full-time childcare. It's just not worth it for our family. Intrepid and Gutsy like their space. I like not having to wipe other people's children's bums, thankyouverymuch.
Going back to being a bon-bon eating, story-watching SAHM is just fine with me. And if we can exchange the bon-bons for some Timbits, all the better. And if you don't know what Timbits are, we just can't be friends.