My first child has started, a wonderful little boy that started off very shy, but after only a couple of days is really letting down his guard and getting along splendidly with my daughter's. Yesterday I was watching them play together and it made me think about why I love having the dayhome so much, compared to working in a daycare. Essentially, they are they time thing: taking care of children, but there are plenty of differences.
1. I don't have to leave the house. This means no commute, no fighting with rush hour traffic, no bundling up the kids in -40 weather to get to work, no running to catch the bus. If I don't want to leave the house all day, I don't have to.
2. I can let kids be kids. In a daycare setting when you have anywhere from 12-20 kids in the same space together, things can get out of hand very quickly. Kids are always being reminded to be quiet, and don't rough house, there is quite a long list of "no's" that you have to tell the children. With a dayhome, there are only 6 children at the most, and 2 of those are babies, so with 4 kids running around, it's relatively easy to keep the under control, without having to say "no" very often.
3. My kids can sleep in. Is there anything worse than having to wake up a child in the morning before they're ready to wake up? I think not.
4. It forces me to keep a clean house. After all, I can't expect parent's to want their children to be playing on a dirty floor, or eating off a table that hasn't been wiped in days.
5. It makes me keep a routine. I know that having a daily routine is practically an essential for any kids well-being. When kids know what to expect during the day there are less tantrums, less fights, and they are happier children when they can learn what to predict throughout the day. I know all this, yet when it is just my own kids I slack off, having other children to take care of means I need to keep a predictable schedule so everyone stays happy.
6. I don't have to pay someone else to take care of my children, while I take care of someone else's children.
7. I set my own schedule. If I don't want to work a certain day, I just let my parents know I'm not available that day. Likewise with holidays.
8. My monthly income is not finite. In a daycare my income is limited to how much the owner is willing to pay me, which usually isn't much, and is always the same whether I am watching 4 kids or 8 kids. In my own dayhome I can choose my income. If I only need a little bit of extra money, I only need to watch one or two kids, if I want to make lots of money, I can take the maximum of 6 children, plus some part time or drop in kids, and keep my dayhome open extended hours. It is up to me, and I love that.
9. I don't have to sell my self short. Working in daycares I found my boss never appreciated me, always putting the needs of parents above the needs of the staff, and sometimes even putting her needs above both of those. Some parents didn't appreciate what I did, and only viewed me as nothing more than a teenage babysitter. When it's my business, it's my rules. If I feel that a parent is not respecting me, I can tell them to take their kid somewhere else.
10. I get to be my own boss! Need I say more?
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