The Venting Thread

[Annalee]

Had a DC parent that spent most of the summer trying to decide if she wanted to put her child in brick and mortar preschool or not (child is 3.5). I knew she was thinking about it but I didn't say anything as she never said anything directly to me about it. Finally right before school starts she says to me "I had NO idea you offered preschool for the kids at 3. So DH and I decided to keep her here with you." OK, problem solved.

This was discussed in depth during the meet/greet prior to enrollment but I understand her not remembering as her child was a baby when she started. Never mind that she has seen things/heard discussions about our preschool activities and read newsletter info in regards to the preschool stuff but whatever...

Anyways she was super excited her child was going to be participating in academic activities (her words) this year!

Fast forward to current time and her child spends several nights a week at grandma's house and being dropped off late/right before lunch time and she ends up missing all three "preschool" mornings here and then DCM asks why she didn't get to do the activity/project she saw on the website.

These parents are killin' me lately.

the generation of kids we developed a QRIS classroom for where they didn't have to problem solve (search, adapt, observe how to for anything) are now parents....there is no logic, adaptation or rationale.....I repeat more than I ever have because no one retains what I say/print.....it's a fly-by-seat-of-your-pants generation....

[GirlMomma]

I have a DCK2 that can’t put their own shoes on. No matter how many times the child is shown. DCK has an older sibling who is 3 and potty trained-ish. The issue is the independence. The child absolutely can’t pull up their own pants. Afterward, when it’s time to wash the child’s hands, the child looks at me clueless. I try to help and direct and it’s like the child’s fingers turn into noodles. Literally! I’ve never seen anything like it before.

[GirlMomma]

Alwaysgreener well yeah, parents think it’s a competition!

This is off topic, but funny… I used to play softball 20 years with one woman. I’m friends with her on social media, but otherwise, I haven’t really talked to her much. Her daughter is a few months younger than mine. Well, recently I posted DD2 singing her ABC’s. A day or so later, this acquaintance direct messages me a video of her child doing the same thing. WHY? LOL I didn’t send her a direct message of my daughter singing.

[Alwaysgreener]

Just between you and me, I exaggerated on my son's achievement sometimes. Lol

[GirlMomma]

Alwaysgreener I’ll have to try it and see if it works 😂😂😂

[Springvalley]

Employee has a kid that comes to our center and is the class that she teaches and is now in the hospital because he has an infection and they don't know where it's coming from. Everytime he gets sick she calls out and someone has to close or they have to combine classes . Administrator got mad because she called her at 3 the other morning and said that she needed to take her kid to there er and the administrator got so mad because of it and stated that something was fishy about it.. but today she commented on FB and said that she hoped he was better

[Blackcat31]

I understand the admin's reasons for being upset but a Mama's gotta do what a Mama's gotta do and my child would come first in that type of situation. I wonder if the employee would be eligible for FML? My sister's youngest had a medical issue that required her to miss a good deal of work so she ultimately put in a request for a short Family Medical Leave to focus on her child's health. Once the issue was taken care of, she returned to work and all was good. I sure hope they find the root of the infection in this child. I can't imagine how difficult this is for the mother. Prayers for her child and her family!

[Alwaysgreener]

Quarantine kids are back. I can't say I missed them.

Two weeks of kids not taking my towel off the towel ring and throwing it on the counter. One time using the bathroom and new towel is on counter by SA DCB. You would think that he would be old enough/ tall enough to use it on the ring with taking it off.

Two weeks of no spills at breakfast. Today three spill and major ones where the bowl left the table then I had to get mop to clean up.

Really??!?!?!!

It only took two hours for Dcg to tell me how much she hates being here all because she didn't get her way.

It doesn't help that I didn't sleep well.

[Momboss]

I could be over emotional about this but it just makes me really upset because of all I’ve had to deal with so far living in this house. I rent my home that I do daycare in and ever since moving in I’ve had people every couple of months drive by and take a picture of the home because the owner of the home hasnt been paying his mortgage not only does that stress me out I’ve been willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and I don’t really bother him about it knowing that because of Covid there are some programs out there that help people. Me and him had an understanding that we would just call each other if there were any issues instead of going through the rental company because then going through a third-party just ends up taking longer and he ends up having to pay fees to them if they help him out, I thought we could call each other “friends”. Well yesterday I got a call from the rental company as well as an email saying that I’m delinquent on a bill that’s over 60 days late. It’s a utility bill from the city. I’m somebody who always pays my bills weeks earlier than they need to be. I’m super money conscious and OCD about paying bills. So I was really distraught by this that the owner would get a letter from the city saying I hadn’t paid a bill. Well after looking at this letter and talking with the city, it was actually a letter meant for the owner because he never paid a utility bill from when he moved out of the house. So January bill. I’m so irritated that he went to the rental company and accuse me of this. The letter states that because he’s so late on the bill that he’s risking A lien on his home and additional assessor fees. He probably brought it to the rental company to talk to me about because he’s really upset at me. Well I’m super upset at him as well as the rental company for not making sure that he knows what he’s talking about before accusing me of something. This idiot didn’t even look and see that it’s his account number with the city and it’s not my account number. He didn’t even bother calling the city to make sure it was for me and not him. The fact that he went to the rental company instead of talking to me directly really irritates me as well because I thought we had an understanding. I feel like I deserve an apology. It really Stressed me out. How dare he accuse me of being late on a bill when he doesn’t even pay his mortgage. I also got his mail for montbs and saw lots of bills from creditors and final notices. He obviously has an issue paying bills and he didn’t even think that that letter from the city was actually for him knowing that he don’t pay any bills. Maybe I’m just being an emotional baby about this but still irritating. I would love to see the look on his face when he realizes he made a mistake and essentially embarressed himself.

[Sparkles]

Every kid has left early, except for one.

And it's the kid that is usually one of the first ones to be picked up.

Ughh! It never fails

[e.j.]

Always the way!

[GirlMomma]

The family that gave me red flags in the interview a few weeks ago is now giving me problems. Something I was really hoping I wouldn’t have to deal with. Thankfully, the more I do this, the stronger my backbone gets. They’ve been advised that if they break another policy, they will be terminated.

Monday payment wasn't made. Yesterday, the child was picked up 15 minutes late because “DCD forgot” he’s been doing the drops/picks all week, and normally does them a few times/week.

DCD came in late this morning and apologized for being late. Then he asked how much money he owed. I said “thank you” and told him the amount (that he was invoiced for last night via email) I could tell he was looking for an “oh, it’s okay” response. It was not okay, my DD had practice yesterday.

I have had a call (almost) every day for the last two weeks of families looking for child care… so I have a “shape up or ship out” mentality lately.

[Blackcat31]

Past DCF. Oldest 2 kids aged out of care. Single mom/state pay for almost 5 yrs of full time care. FF and DCM is now married and has two little ones (3.5 yrs and 2 yrs). The 3 yr old attends preschool. DCM contacted me recently and asked if I could take 2 yr old. DCM's family owns a business in town and they are in need of full time help.

I said sure! Needs care 4 days a week. First week goes fine. DCM is a massive hypochondriac...is constantly saying her kids have some rare illness/disease etc. it borders on Munchausen's (but that's a whole 'nother story ). She tells me she suspects 2 yr old has the same "medical condition" that 3 yr old has and put a call in to their primary physician to start figuring it out.

I can read between the lines and know what's coming. lol!

Second week she opts to keep 2 yr old home on Monday as 3 yr old is 'not feeling well'. Repeat for Tuesday. No call/no show for Wednesday. Texts on Thursday and says "Good morning! 2 yr old was up all night not really breathing correctly (thank goodness we have a nebulizer) so he won't be coming today. Since I probably won't be able to continue with work I don't think daycare is going to work for us financially and since we were out all week due to our illness etc, can you refund us the fees we paid for the week? I'll stop by Friday after the oldest kids are out of school and pick up 2 yr old's things. Thank you!!!"

I'm seriously starting to think there is something fundamentally wrong with parents today.

[GirlMomma]

I hope you told her NO! 😂

[Annalee]

Past DCF. Oldest 2 kids aged out of care. Single mom/state pay for almost 5 yrs of full time care. FF and DCM is now married and has two little ones (3.5 yrs and 2 yrs). The 3 yr old attends preschool. DCM contacted me recently and asked if I could take 2 yr old. DCM's family owns a business in town and they are in need of full time help.

I said sure! Needs care 4 days a week. First week goes fine. DCM is a massive hypochondriac...is constantly saying her kids have some rare illness/disease etc. it borders on Munchausen's (but that's a whole 'nother story ). She tells me she suspects 2 yr old has the same "medical condition" that 3 yr old has and put a call in to their primary physician to start figuring it out.

I can read between the lines and know what's coming. lol!

Second week she opts to keep 2 yr old home on Monday as 3 yr old is 'not feeling well'. Repeat for Tuesday. No call/no show for Wednesday. Texts on Thursday and says "Good morning! 2 yr old was up all night not really breathing correctly (thank goodness we have a nebulizer) so he won't be coming today. Since I probably won't be able to continue with work I don't think daycare is going to work for us financially and since we were out all week due to our illness etc, can you refund us the fees we paid for the week? I'll stop by Friday after the oldest kids are out of school and pick up 2 yr old's things. Thank you!!!"

I'm seriously starting to think there is something fundamentally wrong with parents today.

Your Friday makes mine not sound so bad...

[Blackcat31]

Oh, it's actually not that bad... I am laughing... it's just that its tiresome having to keep these people that are "adulting" in check.
Just grow up and BE AN ADULT. Stop with the dramatic play already!! lol!!

Hoping your Friday isn't going badly?!?.... It's Friday! It's a good day just because it's Friday!

[Annalee]

Gotcha, and to think these parents have to get up and put their OWN clothes on...LOL

My Friday isn't that bad....only 5 kids but I had to remind three families WHY they can't bring their kids back today since they had the stomach bug yesterday???? Parents, just do the right thing? It's not always just about YOU!

[e.j.]

Both of you are making me appreciate the families I have! TGIF!

[Rockgirl]

My home seems to have a laxative effect on children.

[Meadow]

Handing out my first termination letter today at pickup. I'm a nervous wreck, hopefully I find my backbone 😬.

[e.j.]

Good luck. Stand firm.

[Meadow]

Update, it was ugly. Nasty messages after they opened the letter 😭. I do feel relieved, though!

[Rockgirl]

Ugh, I’m so sorry!

[Sparkles]

I know that when a dcp has a question or request, I should always say "I'll let you know" so I have time to think of a response.
But, I always freeze in the moment. I did eventually say "I'll let you know for sure" but not after rambling.

Ugh, thankfully I'll be able to backtrack this one easily.

[Sparkles]

Everytime I have to close early, I have one dcm who always says "I'll try to be here before then" , "hopefully I'll be able to leave work on time."

Yeah, that's NOT how this works

[Blackcat31]

Make sure you always state that late fees will apply if children are not picked up before early closing time. My clients are all great about picking up early if required but I had one a few years ago that would "try" and rarely succeed so I finally told her that she would need to pick up at noon on early close days, even if I didn't close until 3PM. I needed the extra time because she failed to respect my previous request. If she failed to pick up by noon, I told her my next step would be not allowing her to use any services on days i needed to close early. She got her ducks in a row and picked up on time every time until her child aged out. Sad that it had to come to such extremes but sometimes parents seriously need to be treated like kids. lol!

[Alwaysgreener]

So today I had an inspection.

1. said I needed to update the policy. I said I did, it is on the second page. Showed him and he said he did not finish reading it. He crossed the citation off.
2. said he cited me and that I needed a handrail, I questioned why did he (past 2 years) nor the other inspectors ever say anything. I said I disagreed with him, he took a picture and we moved on
3. said that I had the wrong form, that I need to get the updated one. I had no idea that there was an updated one. I questioned that the form was outdated because I just had the families update them last year. Well, he got defensive. (warning)
4. said I needed to finish my e-plan. Which I knew (warning)
5. said I needed more bark, (last year he when I asked he said I was good and didn't need to add any) (warning)
6. said I had too many bees (my neighbor has bees in their walls but I have 10 in my backyard) (warning)

Well off to find the new updated form. You know what it says... that my current one is still useable. (previous additions may be used)

Oh after I disagreed with the handrail, his tone changed. After I questioned the form, it did not get better. Once he got done reading the citations and warnings, he threaten to change the warnings to citation because I did not like that he cited me for the handrail after 7 years of not being told to put one up. When he was reading the warnings to me, he keep saying "that I did not give you a citation for". After he made the threat he started asking, what do you want to do. I said just leave it. He repeated that he would change the warnings to citations, what do you want to do. I then said to end this conversation. Then he stopped.

This is three years in a row that he has cited me for things that the previous inspector did not find anything wrong with and there is no way to predict what he will cite next.

[Annalee]

Ask for the rules in writing.....my handrails are mandated from the fire marshall??? Licensing inspects all the forms?? Licensing doesn't inspect that here. I have licensing, health dept and fire marshall and some of their rules contradict each other. ??

[Alwaysgreener]

The rules are online, the conflict how he reads the rule vs me (and past inspectors)
I am outside of zoning so I only have to follow licensing rules on this.

Yes my last inspector came in for an interim and said he only had to observe me interacting with the kids. (It just happened to be nap time and I had to nurse ds, so he sat at the table for 45 minutes then left.) This guy comes the next year and inspects everything for an interim and I questioned why the difference. He never answered me.

This time he comes in and says he needs to see all paperwork, that it is a new requirement for an interim inspection. Ok what it is up to date, or list I think it is, until he goes through it with a fine tooth comb reading the wording on my contracts and other forms. The only difference between the one he says I need and the one I have is the new one cites rules on it. (My training is listed online and he could view that from home and spend less time here but he sits going through it.

I can't say anything about your rules but here foster care and day care has rules that contradict each other. Which you would think that they wouldn't since they are both carrying for kids that are not yours.