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Parents and Guardians Forum>Are Monitors for Napping Required?
Unregistered 07:47 PM 06-12-2010
One family day home that I've looked into has the children sleep behind closed doors and doesn't use a monitor. It doesn't sound safe or legal to me. Any thoughts?
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Unregistered 08:02 PM 06-12-2010
Oh, I am located in VA.
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GretasLittleFriends 05:33 PM 06-14-2010
I think it depends on your state. In double checking the Minnesota Statute (9502) regarding daycare facilities. All I could find was:
"There must be a safe, comfortable sleeping space for each infant and newborn. A crib, portable crib or playpen with waterproof mattress or pad must be proved for each infant or newborn in care." Then it goes on to list more specific requirements/restrictions for the crib.

It also says that "each toddler shall be provided with a mat, crib, cot, bed, sofa or sleeping bag." It says the same for the preschooler minus the crib.

It says nothing about specifics on where the child is to sleep or how they are monitored. Personally, my little ones (3 and under) do sleep behind closed doors and I do not use a baby monitor either. I do peek in on them every 15 to 20 minutes once they are asleep. I figure, they are children, the sleep just like my children do, and like most kids at home do. Though honestly, I do NOT check on my OWN children every 15 to 20 minutes once they are asleep at night. I'd never be able to sleep myself, and I doubt most parents do either. I don't see anything illegal about it, though I'm not familiar with the laws in your state.
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Former Teacher 06:25 PM 06-14-2010
In TX dc centers you are required to actually be in the room when children are sleeping, no matter what the age is.

I don't know about home daycares..they might be different though. Your best bet is to check with your state.
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jen 07:06 PM 06-14-2010
Originally Posted by GretasLittleFriends:
I think it depends on your state. In double checking the Minnesota Statute (9502) regarding daycare facilities. All I could find was:
"There must be a safe, comfortable sleeping space for each infant and newborn. A crib, portable crib or playpen with waterproof mattress or pad must be proved for each infant or newborn in care." Then it goes on to list more specific requirements/restrictions for the crib.

It also says that "each toddler shall be provided with a mat, crib, cot, bed, sofa or sleeping bag." It says the same for the preschooler minus the crib.

It says nothing about specifics on where the child is to sleep or how they are monitored. Personally, my little ones (3 and under) do sleep behind closed doors and I do not use a baby monitor either. I do peek in on them every 15 to 20 minutes once they are asleep. I figure, they are children, the sleep just like my children do, and like most kids at home do. Though honestly, I do NOT check on my OWN children every 15 to 20 minutes once they are asleep at night. I'd never be able to sleep myself, and I doubt most parents do either. I don't see anything illegal about it, though I'm not familiar with the laws in your state.
Hey, just a heads up as I'm in MN too. Three years ago I had an unannouced visit and got written up because I didn't have the monitor on. The child was not an infant and the door was open....

Of course she also wrote me up because I took the gate down so that she could get down the the stairs...I didn't put it back up during her visit but I did hold the only child who required a gate the entire time she was here--
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Former Teacher 07:19 PM 06-14-2010
Originally Posted by jen:
Hey, just a heads up as I'm in MN too. Three years ago I had an unannouced visit and got written up because I didn't have the monitor on. The child was not an infant and the door was open....

Of course she also wrote me up because I took the gate down so that she could get down the the stairs...I didn't put it back up during her visit but I did hold the only child who required a gate the entire time she was here--
what a joke- then again licensing is a joke
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jen 06:02 AM 06-15-2010
Originally Posted by Former Teacher:
what a joke- then again licensing is a joke
Same woman who walked in my house! I almost had a heart attack when my dd said there was a woman in the house...I was changing a diaper!
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Former Teacher 02:03 PM 06-15-2010
Originally Posted by jen:
Same woman who walked in my house! I almost had a heart attack when my dd said there was a woman in the house...I was changing a diaper!
There should be a law against something like that! I remember the gem of a rep we had. She ALWAYS interrupted me at whatever I was doing. Once I was reading a story and she had the brass knockers to say really loud..UM EXCUSE ME!!!!! I gave her my teacher look (big eyes ) and I said yes? and she said sweetly..how many kids do you have? I told her and then she left. That was just one of many times though.

In case, they should ring the doorbell or something though!
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misol 02:57 PM 06-15-2010
I am in VA and I don't see anything in the licensing standards about monitors being required when children are are napping in a family day home.

I keep a monitor in my nap room but rarely use it. The only time I turn it on is if one of the children appears to be getting ill or is recovering from a recent illness. I am sure the provider does regular checks on the children as they are sleeping. I check on mine about every 20 minutes. I don't always go into the room either - sometimes I just peek through the glass doors to make sure everything is in order.

During your visit, did you ask her about it? It's even possible that she had one that you overlooked.
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misol 02:57 PM 06-15-2010
Originally Posted by jen:
Same woman who walked in my house! I almost had a heart attack when my dd said there was a woman in the house...I was changing a diaper!
Keep those doors locked!
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Unregistered 11:25 AM 06-24-2010
In Maryland monitors are not acceptable means of watching a sleeping child. You must be on the same level of the home with sleeping children and must check on them every 15 mins if they are under 12 mos of age.
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jen 01:27 PM 06-24-2010
Originally Posted by misol:
Keep those doors locked!
I sure do now!
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nannyde 02:54 PM 06-24-2010
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
One family day home that I've looked into has the children sleep behind closed doors and doesn't use a monitor. It doesn't sound safe or legal to me. Any thoughts?
Can you tell me if you have someone up watching your child sleep at night? What about a child sleeping without an adult watching them sleep seems unslafe and illegal? I would think that the VAST majority of children across the world sleep without an awake adult watching them.

Why would it be safe for your child to sleep three/four/five/six hours a night WHILE YOU SLEEP and not be safe sleeping without an adult watching them while the child is under someone else's care? Is it not the same child?

A baby is markedly safer in a home with an AWAKE adult even if they are in another room, another level, and the door is closed than a baby is in the same room with their parent while their parent is sleeping. It's the AWAKE adult that can save a child's life.

Why is it that the value/safety of children's lives becomes so exponetially increased when there is two/three/four dollars per hour being exchanged? How is it that money somehow increases the worth of the child to a degree that is so far drastically different than when they are in the care of their own parents?

If we are going to say that the only safe way to care for a baby is to have an AWAKE adult watching them sleep then why wouldn't that be the law for every baby in every home every day? If your baby needs an AWAKE adult watching them 24 hours a day 7 days a week then you should start with doing that at your home and see how well that works.

Why would you WANT a provider to have the door open during naps? Did you know that a child's chance of surviving a fire is markedly higher if they are sleeping behind a CLOSED door. A solid core door is the best. A closed door can be the difference between life and death of a baby in a fire. Call your Fire Marshall and ask them if your baby's chance of survival is higher with a closed door or an open door. He'll be able to answer that one real fast.
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Childminder 04:39 PM 06-24-2010
I do overnight care. No way am I sleeping in the same room - I'd probably get accused of some kind of Michael Jackson thing. Also it it unrealistic to check them every 15 minutes I just use a monitor even though the state says I should check that often. Go to a garage sale and pick one up if you want to do cheap. It's tax deductible.
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misol 07:30 PM 06-24-2010
Originally Posted by nannyde:
Can you tell me if you have someone up watching your child sleep at night? What about a child sleeping without an adult watching them sleep seems unslafe and illegal? I would think that the VAST majority of children across the world sleep without an awake adult watching them.

Why would it be safe for your child to sleep three/four/five/six hours a night WHILE YOU SLEEP and not be safe sleeping without an adult watching them while the child is under someone else's care? Is it not the same child?
Great point.
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Former Teacher 07:43 PM 06-24-2010
Originally Posted by nannyde:
Can you tell me if you have someone up watching your child sleep at night? What about a child sleeping without an adult watching them sleep seems unslafe and illegal? I would think that the VAST majority of children across the world sleep without an awake adult watching them.

Why would it be safe for your child to sleep three/four/five/six hours a night WHILE YOU SLEEP and not be safe sleeping without an adult watching them while the child is under someone else's care? Is it not the same child?

A baby is markedly safer in a home with an AWAKE adult even if they are in another room, another level, and the door is closed than a baby is in the same room with their parent while their parent is sleeping. It's the AWAKE adult that can save a child's life.

Why is it that the value/safety of children's lives becomes so exponetially increased when there is two/three/four dollars per hour being exchanged? How is it that money somehow increases the worth of the child to a degree that is so far drastically different than when they are in the care of their own parents?

If we are going to say that the only safe way to care for a baby is to have an AWAKE adult watching them sleep then why wouldn't that be the law for every baby in every home every day? If your baby needs an AWAKE adult watching them 24 hours a day 7 days a week then you should start with doing that at your home and see how well that works.

Because yes the parents are PAYING for a service for another adult to WATCH and CARE for the child. Not to be sleeping. Of course you don't put a price of a child. But in this day and age of sue happy people, you can never be to cautious.
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nannyde 03:26 AM 06-25-2010
Originally Posted by Former Teacher:
Because yes the parents are PAYING for a service for another adult to WATCH and CARE for the child. Not to be sleeping. Of course you don't put a price of a child. But in this day and age of sue happy people, you can never be to cautious.
NO

You can't pay someone 2/3/4 dollars an hour to cover that kind of service. It's not enough money.

I have a staff assistant. It would cost me 15 dollars a day to watch the morning sleepers sleep and 25 dollars a day to watch the afternoon nappers sleep. That's 40 dollars a day. That's 200 a week and $10,000 a year. Then add another 1000 bucks to cover the employer portion of the taxes and now we are at $11,000

I would have to raise my rates 6.50 per kid per day to cover that. I promise you if I went to all my clients and said for an extra 6.50 a day I will have an adult watch your child sleep they would laugh all the way out the door. They may want it but they would only want it if it were free.

This is a PERFECT example of how we expect home day care's to do EXPENSIVE care of children yet the rates we can charge don't come CLOSE to the staff time cost of doing it.

We tell home day care's that something like this is for the "safety of the children" yet from the time the child leaves our home until they come back the "safety of the children" isn't being done. If it's a TRUE need of human babies it should be required every day regardless of who the adult is. It's the same baby. Either they need an adult watching them sleep or they don't. Which one is it?

Have you ever done home day care? I see you are a Nanny and a former preschool teacher but I haven't read about you running your own home day care.
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nannyde 03:36 AM 06-25-2010
Originally Posted by Former Teacher:
Because yes the parents are PAYING for a service for another adult to WATCH and CARE for the child. Not to be sleeping. Of course you don't put a price of a child. But in this day and age of sue happy people, you can never be to cautious.
My State DHS tried to implement rules that we couldn't do overnight care unless we had an adult awake thru the night and checking on the kids every fifteen minutes.

The Union put a screeching halt to that. They implemented some physical requirements of the home to accomodate overnight kids but were NOT successful trying to implement an awake adult at night.

A rule like that would have stopped all home day care at night because the cost of paying an adult to stay up all night would have been enormous and finding a provider who didn't work day shift to do it would have been impossible.

The Union enlisted the assistance of some of our corporations who have overnight workers who need home day care. Once the biggins got involved in it they backed down. Sad but I don't know if they would have been successful if they companies who had to hire the overnight workers wouldn't have stuck their noses into it.

Anyway... they backed off of it because the truth is that kids don't need an adult watching them sleep. If we are going to have regs like this there has to be MONEY to pay for it.

You said: Of course you don't put a price of a child.
Ah well parents do. The put a price on the child everytime they allow them to sleep without an adult in the room. Money could solve it. They could pay money and have someone watch their kid sleep but they don't. NOT paying for it is as much of a "putting a price on children" as paying for it is "putting a price on children". It works both ways.
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Unregistered 06:01 AM 06-25-2010
I think the heart of the matter is that providers are naturally held at a higher standard because they are providing care for someone other than their own child. Because you are responsible for someone else's child (especially because you are providing a paid service to do so), providers have a liability. And if a provider were to have a freak accident, unexplainable incident, or much worse while a child is sleeping then the speculation alone would be damaging to the provider.

I imagine this scenario: You provide overnight care and place little Johnny down for bedtime and go about your business. You go to bed. You wake up to find that little Johnny has vanished from your home. This news story breaks out in your local community via newspaper, local news stations, etc. The licensing agency investigates. The police investigate. Who knows who else is in your home questioning you and your family. You will not have a single answer to explain why little Johnny couldn't be found the next morning. What would that do to your business? What would that do to your reputation as a provider and individual? Would your other families pull their children from your care? Most likely.

So before jumping on your soapbox about how a parent doesn't stay up all night to watch their kid sleep or pay someone to watch their child sleep, think about the position you are in. You are a provider. You are being paid to ensure the safety and well being of their child. It IS YOUR responsibility and parents are expecting this from you as part of your service.

All states have different laws or regulations pertaining to monitoring a child while they are sleeping. If you aren't following the reg your state mandates, then you are falling short. If your state doesn't call for supervision of sleeping children, then you are still setting yourself up for the potential speculation of wrong doing if something were to occur while children are sleeping unsupervised. Simply saying "XYZ state doesn't require me to watch your child while they are sleeping" will do nothing for your reputation as a provider if something were to happen. CYA.
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Former Teacher 04:31 PM 06-25-2010
Originally Posted by nannyde:
Have you ever done home day care? I see you are a Nanny and a former preschool teacher but I haven't read about you running your own home day care.
No I have never done home daycare nor do I plan on it. I put up with enough BS from the parents and licensing etc to last me a lifetime. Yes I am a current nanny. I am a private provider to one family. I am required to be there at 6:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. I work a hour away. Which means yes I get up at 4:45 to be on the road by 5:30. The mother that I work for works out of her home so she is home with me. She has even suggested that I take a nap with the little boy to freshen up. Am I exhausted? Yes. Do I nap? No because I AM GETTING PAID AND PROVIDING A SERVICE. I see no difference in working a day shift or a night shift. If you provide care for overnight then yes I believe you should have an adult AWAKE to watch the child. If you must pay for that adult to watch a sleeping child then you must as a BUSINESS. Pass that cost onto the parent even if it means an extra $5.00 or whatever you said. You only get what you pay for. By no means am I am a supporter of TX Licensing. I have said before that I think they are a bunch of hypocrites among other things. However while majority of the laws do indeed protect the child, they are also there to protect the provider as well. Texas law requires that an adult is AWAKE during the child's care time, at all times.

Originally Posted by Unregistered:
I think the heart of the matter is that providers are naturally held at a higher standard because they are providing care for someone other than their own child. Because you are responsible for someone else's child (especially because you are providing a paid service to do so), providers have a liability. And if a provider were to have a freak accident, unexplainable incident, or much worse while a child is sleeping then the speculation alone would be damaging to the provider.
I imagine this scenario: You provide overnight care and place little Johnny down for bedtime and go about your business. You go to bed. You wake up to find that little Johnny has vanished from your home. This news story breaks out in your local community via newspaper, local news stations, etc. The licensing agency investigates. The police investigate. Who knows who else is in your home questioning you and your family. You will not have a single answer to explain why little Johnny couldn't be found the next morning. What would that do to your business? What would that do to your reputation as a provider and individual? Would your other families pull their children from your care? Most likely.So before jumping on your soapbox about how a parent doesn't stay up all night to watch their kid sleep or pay someone to watch their child sleep, think about the position you are in. You are a provider. You are being paid to ensure the safety and well being of their child. It IS YOUR responsibility and parents are expecting this from you as part of your service.
All states have different laws or regulations pertaining to monitoring a child while they are sleeping. If you aren't following the reg your state mandates, then you are falling short. If your state doesn't call for supervision of sleeping children, then you are still setting yourself up for the potential speculation of wrong doing if something were to occur while children are sleeping unsupervised. Simply saying "XYZ state doesn't require me to watch your child while they are sleeping" will do nothing for your reputation as a provider if something were to happen. CYA.
I normally don’t quote unregistered…but you said it right on!
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Aya477 06:18 PM 06-25-2010
Originally Posted by Former Teacher:
I normally don’t quote unregistered…but you said it right on!
Sorry Former Teacher....I posted the comment from work today and failed to login apparently. Thank you for your support in my opinion.
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Former Teacher 07:35 PM 06-25-2010
Originally Posted by Aya477:
Sorry Former Teacher....I posted the comment from work today and failed to login apparently. Thank you for your support in my opinion.
You are SO welcome! I am just glad that there are people out there that can read my posts and say things alot clearer than I can!

P.S. I see you are new...welcome aboard!
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nannyde 05:15 AM 06-26-2010
I think the heart of the matter is that providers are naturally held at a higher standard because they are providing care for someone other than their own child. Because you are responsible for someone else's child (especially because you are providing a paid service to do so), providers have a liability. And if a provider were to have a freak accident, unexplainable incident, or much worse while a child is sleeping then the speculation alone would be damaging to the provider.

We run that risk every day. There's always something that could happen that would ruin your longstanding career in one day. The longer you do this the more you realize that today may be the day that something completely beyond your control could happen and wipe you out of business. Just an accusation of negligence or abuse could shut you down.

Watching the kids sleep could decrease your liklihood somewhat of the sky falling in but really it's just one area where there could be something catastrophic happen. It doesn't rise above other risks like having day care parents bring in a child who was ill at home, a child that they injured or had an "accident" at home and put that "failing" child under your watch without telling you about it at all or minimizing what happened and just telling you to keep an "eye" out on the kid. That's a REAL possibility.

I imagine this scenario: You provide overnight care and place little Johnny down for bedtime and go about your business. You go to bed. You wake up to find that little Johnny has vanished from your home. This news story breaks out in your local community via newspaper, local news stations, etc. The licensing agency investigates. The police investigate. Who knows who else is in your home questioning you and your family. You will not have a single answer to explain why little Johnny couldn't be found the next morning. What would that do to your business? What would that do to your reputation as a provider and individual? Would your other families pull their children from your care? Most likely.

I don't do overnight care now but when I did I had a Security System on in the house with motion detectors. I'm awake now whenever the kids are in the house so I stand the same risk everyone else does of someone breaking into the house. Now that our DHS has posted online our names, address, phone number, and a "directions map" to every home day care there is definitely a chance we could be targeted. The State decided to put that risk out there for us so we have to either deal with it or quit.


So before jumping on your soapbox about how a parent doesn't stay up all night to watch their kid sleep or pay someone to watch their child sleep, think about the position you are in. You are a provider. You are being paid to ensure the safety and well being of their child. It IS YOUR responsibility and parents are expecting this from you as part of your service.

See here's where your thinking causes so much distress and imbalance in home care. For some reason "society" thinks that when there is a few dollars an hour between two people for the care of a kid that that really really small amount of money commands that the child be in an environment of DO WHATEVER IT TAKES no matter how much it costs ... no matter the price to the business... Well let me tell you: Somebody has to PAY for "do whatever it takes" and three dollars an hour doesn't cover "do whatever it takes".

We entrust our public school system with the care of our children every day. They do not "do whatever it takes". My son is allowed out of his room to go down the hall by himself every day without adult supervision. He's allowed on a four acre playground with hundreds of kids at recess and TWO adults on the playground supervising them. TWO for two hundred kids.

He's in a classroom of 26 kids and one teacher. If you do research to find out what is the best adult to child ratio for school aged kids you will see that the best MAXIMUM adult to child ratio is one adult for fifteen kids. Year after year he's in a classroom of 25 plus kids. My school district KNOWS that this isn't good for kids. They KNOW that their education is comprimised by these low numbers but year after year they do the SAME thing knowing FULL WELL it is the WRONG THING TO DO.

The reason in all of these situations is because of MONEY. You have to have the MONEY to do the "best interest" of the chldren. If you don't have the MONEY then you do the best you can with what you have. Like what you do at night with your baby. You don't have the MONEY to have someone watch your baby sleep so you do the best thing you can without money... you put up monitors or sleep in the same room... but what you DON'T do is stay up all night and watch your baby sleep. You don't do it because you don't have the money You can't throw three dollars an hour at this and solve this in YOUR world. How can you think that you can throw three dollars an hour at it in my world and have it solved?


All states have different laws or regulations pertaining to monitoring a child while they are sleeping. If you aren't following the reg your state mandates, then you are falling short. If your state doesn't call for supervision of sleeping children, then you are still setting yourself up for the potential speculation of wrong doing if something were to occur while children are sleeping unsupervised. Simply saying "XYZ state doesn't require me to watch your child while they are sleeping" will do nothing for your reputation as a provider if something were to happen. CYA.

No. My State doesn't require us to watch babies sleep. They use very broad terms like "careful supervision at all times". We interpret what carefull means and what supervision means. I know some States have specific rules like check in them this often or be in the same room with them or on the same level. My State just gives a blanket code that covers their arse.

I'll give you some aditional math on this.

I have a friend that owns a couple of Centers. She is allowed to have one staff in each room for all kids ages two and up. She has two infant rooms where she has to maintain ratios at nap just as she does during non nap BUT the infants are being paid at an additional 10 dollars per day.

So she has 96 two and ups. She has 24 kids in four classrooms. Each classroom has one staff who costs ten dollars an hour with salary and employer portions. Her naps are two hours long. She spends 20 dollars per day per class for nap. That's 80 dollars a day. 88 parents pay for this so the daily cost per parent is .83 cents per day to cover nap.

She can easily build her naptime fees into parent fees because the cost per parent is so low compared to the cost of this in a home day care. It would cost me over six bucks a kid every day to cover the cost.

The Centers LOVE naptime because they make a huge profit off of that time of the day. It's the most profitable time of the day because they don't have to have ratios met as long as they have one adult in every room as opposed to two to four adults.

I'll give you one more quick thought. You know the number one cause of death in children under five is motor vehichle accidents. Every parent every day brings their kid to me via car. It's happened thousands of times where children start their day with their parents doing the most dangerous thing they could do in a day. Ride in a car.

If we are going to save lives and "do the right thing" then why don't we start there? If you are going to choose between having an adult watch a healthy child sleep or keeping the kid out of the car which one would be "in the best interest"?

See we don't do what's in the best interest even when we KNOW it would be better or safer. We do what is realistic and what we have the MONEY to do.

I can't find clients willing to pay me to have an adult watching their kid sleep. If I ask them ... do you want to pay 30 dollars a day and have an adult checking in on your child every fifteen minutes during nap but not staying in the room... OR 36.50 a day and have an adult IN the room watching your kids chest rise and fall every second of nap... I promise you that I would not get a single solitary parent that would agree to the higher rates.

It would cost me that amount of money to offer that service. I can't offer it within the 30 dollars a day cuz that 30 dollars is going to all of the other services I offer that I can't change. I have to have a roof over the kids head. I have to have food prepared. I have to have clean laundry for them. I have to have my yard mowed. I have to do repairs on the house. I have to pay for electric. That 30 dollars a day is taken already so if I do this I have to FIND parents willing to pay for it.

I can't.

What you don't see as a non day care provider is that these kinds of "do whatever it takes even if you don't get paid cuz it's in the best interest of the baby" scenarios get slammed onto us year after year yet the money for the care of kids rises at a very slow stagnant below the cost of living increase year after year. When I first started doing care there was NO expecation that providers "educate" children. It never crossed my mind to even do play doh with them. My job was to babysit kids. I could have my whole day just having the kids PLAY just like they did in my generation and my parents generation.

Then bit by bit it started... they should have SCHOOL too on top of your care and supervision. The pressure to do this and the regulations that followed became more and more yet the salary the average provider gets doesn't cover or barely covers the increase in the cost of living that goes to the hard costs of operating (like electric, food, mortgage, laundry soap, dish soap, paper products etc.).

Now the ante is even higher. Now it's "just not safe" for a baby while in child care to sleep without an adult watching them even though EVERYWHERE the child goes once they are thru my door it's perfectly safe. Now we are to do direct care during the one two hour break we get a day to do non direct care stuff like book keeping, laundry, cleaning, parent contacts, etc. Now we have to do that stuff when there are no kids in the house making our day another two hours long.. thus MARKEDLY decreasing our hourly wage again.

I can tell you from someone who has done child care for 31 years that the responsibility for TIME CONSUMING harder work tasks becomes greater and greater every year. They are all cloaked in "do whatever it takes for the best interest of the baby" yet most of us can't find a single client who is willing to fairly compensate for THAT level of care. We can build "fair compensation" that will actually cover the cost of it but then we price ourselves right out of the market AND we end up with a 12 hour day that leaves us exhausted and not wanting to continue the business because it is TOO much. We have a house full of kids who don't have that level of care anywhere else under anyone else's care but when they are with US for a few dollars an hour THEN they are so valuable and so needing of these things that the provider MUST do them regardless of fair compensation.

It gets old. It's not fair to put this HIGH level of "do whatever it takes" when the kids are with us but say it's not necessary AT ALL when they walk out our door. If a kid needs an adult watching them sleep then they need it 24/7. If they need a "developmentally appropriate activities" life then they need that when they are home with their parents. If we are going to eliminate everything that is a true risk to the kids then they shouldn't be in cars. If we are going to say they must have the best nutrition then we need to REQUIRE that parents feed them that way or be subject to their world crashing down around them if they don't.

It has to be for EVERYONE having the children not just the three dollar an hour worker. We need to stop pretending that it's okay to continue to add onto the providers the "best interest of the children" when no one else is expected to do it and few are willing to pay for it.
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nannyde 05:30 AM 06-26-2010
Originally Posted by Former Teacher:
If you must pay for that adult to watch a sleeping child then you must as a BUSINESS. Pass that cost onto the parent even if it means an extra $5.00 or whatever you said.
See that's where you can tell you haven't done home day care. It doesn't work like that. I can go to my parents tomorrow and say that Former Teacher says their child must have an adult watching them sleep and the salary you are paying me won't cover the 50 bucks a day that's gonna cost so I need you guys to fork over another 6.50 a day.

They would say NO. You are assuming there are clients out there who will pay the fee for day care PLUS the additional fee for this. You can say to add it to my fees but once I do I loose all my clients and I can't find clients to come in at that rate.
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Former Teacher 06:06 AM 06-26-2010
Originally Posted by nannyde:
See that's where you can tell you haven't done home day care. It doesn't work like that. I can go to my parents tomorrow and say that Former Teacher says their child must have an adult watching them sleep and the salary you are paying me won't cover the 50 bucks a day that's gonna cost so I need you guys to fork over another 6.50 a day.

They would say NO. You are assuming there are clients out there who will pay the fee for day care PLUS the additional fee for this. You can say to add it to my fees but once I do I loose all my clients and I can't find clients to come in at that rate.
You get what you pay for. If it concerns the welfare and safety of their child I am sure that any NORMAL parent would understand. IMO the only parent that would have a hard time are those parents who don't give a rat's behind about their child and who complain about EVERYTHING.

As for that comment because I said...don't know if you were serious or not, but I don't make the rules/laws. In any event, the rules/laws are there for a reason. Again I am not defending licensing but I think that requiring adult supervision AT ALL TIMES during childcare is one of the better laws they came up with.

I am not going to sit here and aruge with you since you obviously seem to have an answer for everything. You stated your opinions, I have stated mine. Life goes on.
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nannyde 07:21 AM 06-26-2010
Originally Posted by Former Teacher:
You get what you pay for. If it concerns the welfare and safety of their child I am sure that any NORMAL parent would understand. IMO the only parent that would have a hard time are those parents who don't give a rat's behind about their child and who complain about EVERYTHING.

As for that comment because I said...don't know if you were serious or not, but I don't make the rules/laws. In any event, the rules/laws are there for a reason. Again I am not defending licensing but I think that requiring adult supervision AT ALL TIMES during childcare is one of the better laws they came up with.

I am not going to sit here and aruge with you since you obviously seem to have an answer for everything. You stated your opinions, I have stated mine. Life goes on.
I am sure that any NORMAL parent would understand. IMO the only parent that would have a hard time are those parents who don't give a rat's behind about their child and who complain about EVERYTHING.

NO

You have parents who are willing to pay for a low child to adult ratio. Parents who are willing to pay for a good dedicated day care space. Parents who are willing to pay for healthy home made meals. Parents who are willing to pay for top of the line safe equipment and toys. Those parents who are already paying for the REAL hard costs of a good operation and staff are not necessarily going to be willing to pay for something that they NEVER do themselves. They are not going to pay for something that the child NEVER has the minute they walk out the door from day care.

Home day care is a small group of customers/clients. There isn't enough parents to cover the cost and there isn't the high adult to child ratio like the Centers are allowed to have for THIS particular issue.

My day care parents love their kids. They picked me and I'm the highest paid day care provider in my area. They get a one to four ratio and a whoppin 150 square foot per child of dedicated day care space. I have the safest play pens ever made. I have huge collections of very excellent devlopementally appropriate toys for their kids to use every day. We have one adult for every four kids. They CARE enough to pay for THAT. They can AFFORD that but they wouldn't trade a one adult to eight kids, small house, small amount of activities/toys for each kid, and low nutrtion meals for the service of having an adult watch their kid sleep when they don't watch their kid sleep.

I do "room chedks" every fifteen minutes. I go into both sleeping rooms and do a visual check on each kid every fifteen minutes. This takes me about a minute. If I have a kid that I'm feeling not so great about then I bump that up to every five minutes for that kid AND put a audio/video camera on that kid that has night vision so I can see their every move. If I think they are getting sick or acting off then I camera them.

I also have a vent system in this house (ddn't plan this it just came out that way) that magnifies sounds from the two basement rooms. When a kid is even talking to another kid I can hear it from where I hang during nap. It's actually annoying it's so loud. If one of them starts to cry during nap I can hear it without a monitor and I fly into the room. It's so unusual for me to have a kid not passed out from start of nap to end of nap that any noise from the rooms is going to put me on alert and get me down there to see what the heck is going on.

I also have TWO egress windows down there. One in each room. I can get to the kids and get them out in seconds.

I have the safest possible sleeping arrangements for them. I don't use blankets or allow ANYTHING loose on their bodies. I don't allow ANYTHING in bed but the child. My play yards sit one inch off of the floor so the furthest a kid could "fall" out of one of them is 27 inches.

I have both wired and battery operated smoke detectors and both rooms have "fire walls" in the walls and ceiling. Both rooms have all doors be solid core doors.

To me... that is careful supervision. Careful supervision includes EVERYTHING you do to maintain safety. It doesn't mean you have to have your eyes on the rise and fall of every kids chest every minute of sleep.

My parents know my safety routine and they think the fifteen minute checks are rediculous. They can't believe I do it. They all tell me they don't do that and they never would. They don't like the idea that I'm going in and out because they believe it will interupt the sleep of their kid. I have to assure them that the kids may not sleep thru that at their house but they do in mine. They are used to me doing it so they sleep thru it... until about the end of nap and then I do wake them up sometimes.

I'm doing the best I can with what I know with the resources I have. I can't afford to have an adult in each room watching the rise and fall of each kids chest while they breathe. I can't relocate the kitchen to the nursery so I can get lunch dishes done while they sleep and I can't leave the breakfast lunch and snack dishes till the end of the day so I can do them at six o'clock at night when all the kids are done. I can't have three hours of work to do at night after these kids leave because I can't do anything while they are here but eyeball each one of them every second. There HAS to be some reasonable comprimise. That comprimise is checking them at nap on a regular basis, setting up the physically safest posssible sleeping environment, and having the sound of each room clear to the provider either by the house set up or monitors, and direct supevision for any child showing any kind of possible problems. The other comprimise is that the money they pay "extra" for service here goes to a second adult that I do not have to have at all so that ANY time the children are up there is an adult within a few feet of them at all times. My children are NEVER left alone in a room when they are awake. Not even for one minute. I put our staff dollars into that cuz that's what the parents are willing to pay for. They are not willing to pay for that while their kid is sleeping.
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QualiTcare 06:52 PM 06-26-2010
nannyde, you said,

"He's in a classroom of 26 kids and one teacher. If you do research to find out what is the best adult to child ratio for school aged kids you will see that the best MAXIMUM adult to child ratio is one adult for fifteen kids. Year after year he's in a classroom of 25 plus kids. My school district KNOWS that this isn't good for kids. They KNOW that their education is comprimised by these low numbers but year after year they do the SAME thing knowing FULL WELL it is the WRONG THING TO DO."

once again, that would take more MONEY also....except that money comes out of taxpayer's pockets - taxpayers that may or may not have kids. NOBODY wants to pay more taxes EVEN if "it's in the best interest of the children."

anyhow, daycare and school isn't even a good comparison as far as ratios. school children are older than DC children and require less "care" if any as far as feeding, changing, etc. for the most part, it is a group of children all the same age (which makes a difference) and they're being taught instead of "cared for." they can go to the bathroom by themselves. the teacher doesn't have to cook for them, feed them, or clean up after they eat. there is a nurse on site if someone gets hurt or needs to change clothes. there's a janitor to clean the bathrooms or pick up a spill or vomit. it's WAY different. i've worked in daycare and in the classroom and the classroom requires way less physically demanding work which allows more time for supervision and....dun dun dun.....teaching.
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nannyde 07:46 AM 06-27-2010
Originally Posted by QualiTcare:
nannyde, you said,

"He's in a classroom of 26 kids and one teacher. If you do research to find out what is the best adult to child ratio for school aged kids you will see that the best MAXIMUM adult to child ratio is one adult for fifteen kids. Year after year he's in a classroom of 25 plus kids. My school district KNOWS that this isn't good for kids. They KNOW that their education is comprimised by these low numbers but year after year they do the SAME thing knowing FULL WELL it is the WRONG THING TO DO."

once again, that would take more MONEY also....except that money comes out of taxpayer's pockets - taxpayers that may or may not have kids. NOBODY wants to pay more taxes EVEN if "it's in the best interest of the children."

anyhow, daycare and school isn't even a good comparison as far as ratios. school children are older than DC children and require less "care" if any as far as feeding, changing, etc. for the most part, it is a group of children all the same age (which makes a difference) and they're being taught instead of "cared for." they can go to the bathroom by themselves. the teacher doesn't have to cook for them, feed them, or clean up after they eat. there is a nurse on site if someone gets hurt or needs to change clothes. there's a janitor to clean the bathrooms or pick up a spill or vomit. it's WAY different. i've worked in daycare and in the classroom and the classroom requires way less physically demanding work which allows more time for supervision and....dun dun dun.....teaching.
I'm not making the comparison based on the care of the kids. I'm making the MONEY comparison. The school district knows that the ratios are way too high but they don't spend the money. The taxpayers say no to the MONEY. We understand we aren't doing "the best interest of the children" because of the money.

With home day care society expects us to just DO it even if the money isn't there to cover it. I've seen this with preschool education expectations. Doing "developmentally appropriate programs" costs money. It is harder work. Bit by bit over the years the salary for home providers hasn't changed but the expectation that we should just "DO IT" because it's in the "best interest of the kids" increases year after year.

We don't expect parents to do the "best interest". We don't expect the school to do the "best interest". Somehow with child care that's being paid at a few dollars an hour NOW it's time to do whatever it takes. Do it whether you are paid or not because it's for the children.
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mac60 07:53 AM 06-27-2010
I wish I was paid a few dollars per hour, my rates come in under $1.75 per hour, less per child if 2 kids from 1 family. I agree with you. Our pays sucks, yet the expectations from us are high.
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Crystal 09:23 AM 06-27-2010
I think the way it SHOULD be, is that no ONE provider should be allowed to care for children around the clock. If you provide services 24 hours per day, there should be a daytime provider and an evening provider. One to supervise day shift, one to supervise night shift. If you are being paid for children during the daytime, and recieving the same rate for children at nighttime, they should be offered the same level of care and supervision as the children during the daytime.

If you do nightime care only, you should sleep during the day and be up at night, just as with any other "graveyard" shift at any other job. Why would a provider charge a rate that is the same as a daytime rate when they are doing FAR less work.....I do think that this is why some providers do nighttime only....same pay for far less demanding work.

I honestly think that family child care should not be allowed to operate around the clock without the stipulation that one provider does not work more than 12 hours in a day....it is not healthy for the provider and it is not safe for the children.

And, while it may work out to earning $3.00 per hour PER CHILD, we do not make three dollars per hour when you add all the children together.....we make WAY more than $3 per hour, or we wouldn't be in the field. Of course, I have expenses to take out of that, but so does the average worker: commute time, clothing for the job, DAYCARE, etc. So, it's not fair to make parents think that THEIR $3.00 per hour is not enough.
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jen 01:13 PM 06-27-2010
I am so suprised at the number of people who think that providers should stay awake all night! So here are my questions...

Have you ever had a daycare kid spend the night as a favor to a parent or would you not do that because of the implied safety risk of sleeping? I keep kids once in awhile as a favor...well, a paid favor. Heck, I kept one family for a week while Mom and Dad went on vacation.


I know a few nurses who work nights and expect to pay LESS in daycare because the provider is sleeping. They wouldn't DREAM of paying extra to have someone be awake, nor do they think it is the least bit necessary. I asked. The response was..."what? why? It isn't like I would be up if they were home with me!"
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Former Teacher 02:19 PM 06-27-2010
Originally Posted by jen:
I am so suprised at the number of people who think that providers should stay awake all night! So here are my questions...

Have you ever had a daycare kid spend the night as a favor to a parent or would you not do that because of the implied safety risk of sleeping? I keep kids once in awhile as a favor...well, a paid favor. Heck, I kept one family for a week while Mom and Dad went on vacation.


I know a few nurses who work nights and expect to pay LESS in daycare because the provider is sleeping. They wouldn't DREAM of paying extra to have someone be awake, nor do they think it is the least bit necessary. I asked. The response was..."what? why? It isn't like I would be up if they were home with me!"
Let me do my best:

IMO that if you are providing a service to someone (NOT related, YES being paid), then yes you should be awake. If the child is a friend of your own child or your little niece or nephew then of course not.

Speaking of a service I am meaning a service that is occasional such as a date night deal. Not one that is 24/7. I agree with Crystal on that one as well (of course!). I still believe that IMO that a person should be awake even if the child is sleeping.

As for the nurses comments: there is a difference. You are being PAID to provide a service. They are not. YOU are the provider, they are the PARENT. God forbid something horrible should happen, YOU as the provider would have alot more to answer then THEY as a parent would.
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nannyde 04:51 AM 06-28-2010
Originally Posted by Crystal:
I think the way it SHOULD be, is that no ONE provider should be allowed to care for children around the clock. If you provide services 24 hours per day, there should be a daytime provider and an evening provider. One to supervise day shift, one to supervise night shift. If you are being paid for children during the daytime, and recieving the same rate for children at nighttime, they should be offered the same level of care and supervision as the children during the daytime.

If you do nightime care only, you should sleep during the day and be up at night, just as with any other "graveyard" shift at any other job. Why would a provider charge a rate that is the same as a daytime rate when they are doing FAR less work.....I do think that this is why some providers do nighttime only....same pay for far less demanding work.

I honestly think that family child care should not be allowed to operate around the clock without the stipulation that one provider does not work more than 12 hours in a day....it is not healthy for the provider and it is not safe for the children.

And, while it may work out to earning $3.00 per hour PER CHILD, we do not make three dollars per hour when you add all the children together.....we make WAY more than $3 per hour, or we wouldn't be in the field. Of course, I have expenses to take out of that, but so does the average worker: commute time, clothing for the job, DAYCARE, etc. So, it's not fair to make parents think that THEIR $3.00 per hour is not enough.
Have you ever done a business of overnight care? I did around the clock care for thirteen/fourteen years. The cost for the care of all overnight kids is markedly lower than the cost of daytime care at least where I come from. I rarely got kids who were just 10 p to 6 a. or hours where the kid slept the entire times. Most kids who spent the night came in early in the evening. I also had kids who came for the 3-11 shift. Those kids had the same number of direct care hours as the day kids.

People who access pure sleeping hours day care do NOT want to pay anywhere near the rates for day time. They could get family or friends to do it for that kind of money. Also, people who work overnight and have small children usually wanted some day hours attached to the deal so they could go home and sleep. I never had a pure overnight kid who was paid at even my lowest rate who didn't come any of the waking hours during the day.

When it comes to caring for kids while they sleep you can believe the parents know this coming into it and only want to pay a nominal fee because they know you can sleep. They won't pick a provider who charges full rates because she is awake watching the kids sleep over a much cheaper rate where the provider sleeps while the kids sleep. They don't watch their kids sleep so they don't want to pay someone to watch their kids sleep.

If you are offering "watch them while they sleep" service for a fair compensation you won't be picked. You can offer that service but you won't have any takers except for maybe special needs kids who need nursing care and supervision at night. You would have to have a number of them to make a living at it and that would be a hard job. Offering that for healthy normal kids is going to be very hard to make a living at.

Little secret: It's not necessary so parents won't pay for it. The kid doesn't have it anywhere else they go under any other adults care so they won't pay for it.

Now if the State requires it then you will have a lot of private relationships where the parent finds someone to do it illegally for cheap. That person of course will sleep. There's no market for watching kids sleep.
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kimerajamm 06:13 AM 06-28-2010
Originally Posted by nannyde:
Have you ever done a business of overnight care? I did around the clock care for thirteen/fourteen years. The cost for the care of all overnight kids is markedly lower than the cost of daytime care at least where I come from. I rarely got kids who were just 10 p to 6 a. or hours where the kid slept the entire times. Most kids who spent the night came in early in the evening. I also had kids who came for the 3-11 shift. Those kids had the same number of direct care hours as the day kids.

People who access pure sleeping hours day care do NOT want to pay anywhere near the rates for day time. They could get family or friends to do it for that kind of money. Also, people who work overnight and have small children usually wanted some day hours attached to the deal so they could go home and sleep. I never had a pure overnight kid who was paid at even my lowest rate who didn't come any of the waking hours during the day.

When it comes to caring for kids while they sleep you can believe the parents know this coming into it and only want to pay a nominal fee because they know you can sleep. They won't pick a provider who charges full rates because she is awake watching the kids sleep over a much cheaper rate where the provider sleeps while the kids sleep. They don't watch their kids sleep so they don't want to pay someone to watch their kids sleep.

If you are offering "watch them while they sleep" service for a fair compensation you won't be picked. You can offer that service but you won't have any takers except for maybe special needs kids who need nursing care and supervision at night. You would have to have a number of them to make a living at it and that would be a hard job. Offering that for healthy normal kids is going to be very hard to make a living at.

Little secret: It's not necessary so parents won't pay for it. The kid doesn't have it anywhere else they go under any other adults care so they won't pay for it.

Now if the State requires it then you will have a lot of private relationships where the parent finds someone to do it illegally for cheap. That person of course will sleep. There's no market for watching kids sleep.
i agree
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QualiTcare 06:45 AM 06-28-2010
Originally Posted by nannyde:
Have you ever done a business of overnight care? I did around the clock care for thirteen/fourteen years. The cost for the care of all overnight kids is markedly lower than the cost of daytime care at least where I come from. I rarely got kids who were just 10 p to 6 a. or hours where the kid slept the entire times. Most kids who spent the night came in early in the evening. I also had kids who came for the 3-11 shift. Those kids had the same number of direct care hours as the day kids.

People who access pure sleeping hours day care do NOT want to pay anywhere near the rates for day time. They could get family or friends to do it for that kind of money. Also, people who work overnight and have small children usually wanted some day hours attached to the deal so they could go home and sleep. I never had a pure overnight kid who was paid at even my lowest rate who didn't come any of the waking hours during the day.

When it comes to caring for kids while they sleep you can believe the parents know this coming into it and only want to pay a nominal fee because they know you can sleep. They won't pick a provider who charges full rates because she is awake watching the kids sleep over a much cheaper rate where the provider sleeps while the kids sleep. They don't watch their kids sleep so they don't want to pay someone to watch their kids sleep.

If you are offering "watch them while they sleep" service for a fair compensation you won't be picked. You can offer that service but you won't have any takers except for maybe special needs kids who need nursing care and supervision at night. You would have to have a number of them to make a living at it and that would be a hard job. Offering that for healthy normal kids is going to be very hard to make a living at.

Little secret: It's not necessary so parents won't pay for it. The kid doesn't have it anywhere else they go under any other adults care so they won't pay for it.

Now if the State requires it then you will have a lot of private relationships where the parent finds someone to do it illegally for cheap. That person of course will sleep. There's no market for watching kids sleep.
i agree with you that parents don't want to pay someone to watch their kids sleep when doing overnight care, BUT....

that's different than wanting supervision while the kids take a nap BECAUSE they ARE paying that higher day time rate and they expect you to be awake and supervising at all times - unless you give discount based on how long the kids sleep.

if that wasn't the case, everyone could just lie down and take a nap with the kids during naptime. we all know that would NOT go over well if a parent walked in. i can see it now...."well, you don't stay awake and watch them sleep at home, do you?" why don't you try that tmw. and let us know how it works out!
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Crystal 07:36 AM 06-28-2010
FTR, my post was regarding overnight care, and IF the provider is charging the normal daily rate. I still think though, that a provider should not be allowed to work more than 12 hours continuously, it is not safe or healthy, and, of course, preference would be that there is an AWAKE provider if the child is be provided child care services. I have had children stay over night before, some just as a favor to Mom so she could get a night out, some when Mom was having a baby, some who are friends with my son. NO, I did not stay awake all night, BUT, I also have NEVER charged for a child to stay the night, and when they do stay overnight, parents have the understanding that I am NOT working and that their child will be treated as a member of my family.

Re. daytime sleeping......YES, there should, at the very least, be a monitor if the children are left alone to sleep. All of my children nap in the playroom. I am either in the playroom at my desk or in the kitchen which is adjacent to the playroom. There is never a closed door and I can either see or hear all of the children. I do not hover over them, and I do tend to light household tasks and prep snack, etc. but I am there if they need me. I think that is basically common practice, all providers have things that need to be done when the kids are down, and we should be able to attend to those things when we have that very limited downtime.....but we should always remain alert to the children.....you never know what COULD happen.
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jen 09:31 AM 06-28-2010
I do charge even if I'm doing a favor...tomorrow night one of my parents is taking an older child to Justin Bieber, I'm keeping the youngest and I'm charging her my normal daily rate but no way in the world am I staying awake!

The general argument I am seeing is that because a provider is providing a service, they should be awake. That is ONE service, and here is another:

1. A warm, safe bed
2. edtime snack
3. bedtime story
4. Tuck them in safe and sound
5. wake up with them for any reason that comes up
6. Wake them in the morning and get them ready to go
7. Breakfast

I think that those are the services that most people are looking for in overnight care and what people are willing to pay for.
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GretasLittleFriends 10:36 AM 06-28-2010
I was going to not respond, but I can't resist. I operate a 24/7 daycare. At least that is what I offer. That does NOT mean I have children here 24/7, with of course the exception of my own children. Hmmm... Taking a look at last week's schedule my earliest arrivals were:
Sunday no kids,
Monday 1:30pm - 10:30p,
Tuesday 9:30a - 9:15p,
Wed 12:30p - 9:30p,
Thursday 2:30p - 11:30p,
Friday Noon - midnight,
Saturday midnight - 1a then 1:30p - 11:45p.
Yesterday I had a mom call she was in a pinch. She had military obligations last night and the person her son was going to stay with had a family emergency. I took him last night starting at 7p, he spent the night, and will be leaving today about dinner time. The mother is well aware that she is paying standard rates for her little guy. It seems to me the parents in my area are thrilled that someone is willing to offer extended hours and are more than willing to pay my standard rate. I've actually had parents that offer to pay more even though I am sleeping.

If you look at Friday/Saturday you see that was actually continuous until 1a. That mother is a nurse and does not expect me to be awake with her boy either. She will usually call me when she's about 20 mins from my house to pick her son up. 9 times out of 10 I am awake though.

It doesn't matter what hours the kids are here. They are expected to rest (quiet time) between 1p and 3p and bedtime is 8p. Even if the kids are leaving at 9 or 9:30 they still lay down at 8p. I charge the same rate whether the child is here at noon or at midnight. I charge hourly. I sleep when I have overnight children, but usually don't go to bed until around 12:30a or 1a. As you can see, however, I generally don't have to get up early in the morning. When I have an overnight I usually get up about 7a and check on them, then lounge until 8 or so, unless I know they are early risers. The boy this morning was up about 8:30a.

Ok, I'm wondering how it is not safe or healthy for a provider to work more than 12 hours. Stay at home moms work usually 16+ hours a day. Military personnel work 24 hours straight, often. There are other professions that work 12-14 hours shifts each day. (Construction, transportation, nurses...) I don't see the big deal having children in one's home for 14 or more hours, especially if you already have your own children.

Just my .02
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Crystal 11:30 AM 06-28-2010
Originally Posted by GretasLittleFriends:



Ok, I'm wondering how it is not safe or healthy for a provider to work more than 12 hours. Stay at home moms work usually 16+ hours a day. Military personnel work 24 hours straight, often. There are other professions that work 12-14 hours shifts each day. (Construction, transportation, nurses...) I don't see the big deal having children in one's home for 14 or more hours, especially if you already have your own children.

Just my .02
I think occasionally it is okay. But day in, day out is a quick way to lead to burnout, stress and fatique. It is not healthy for a provider to work 24 hours a day without time off. These things make it unsafe for children. I think the way you described your schedule is different than what I am talking about....you don't have a full house all day, and you do have time without children there. I am referring to providers who have children 24 hours/7 days a week.

Sure, a sahm, works ALL day, but generally with JUST her own children, not a houseful.
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Janet 11:49 AM 06-28-2010
I wasn't going to reply but I guess I will anyway. I operate during 1st shift and 3rd shift and I am closed on the weekends. I don't stay up all night long to watch my 3rd shift kids sleep. That would be absurd and it would be a huge disservice to my 1st shift families. My 3rd shift families would never want me to stay up all night long to watch their child sleep. I have one 3rd shift family right now (but she is out until school begins). Also, as far as having a different provider for the day shift and the evening shift, no way. I wouldn't want to pay someone to come over to my house and stay up all night long, doing nothing, while myself, my family and my 3rd shift kiddo sleeps. That's a waste of money.
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Unregistered 09:59 AM 07-02-2010
Originally Posted by Former Teacher:
Because yes the parents are PAYING for a service for another adult to WATCH and CARE for the child. Not to be sleeping. Of course you don't put a price of a child. But in this day and age of sue happy people, you can never be to cautious.

Thank you. Some of these "teachers" here are something else. When my daughter was in daycare I arrived at nap time on numerous occassions to find her teacher IN the room while the children slept. She had a tiny lamp on where she read at her desk and the rest of the room was comfortably dark and cool. I have heard of too many horror stories of kids strangling etc. while a daycare owner was in the other room during nap time. Children should be supervised for an hour nap time PERIOD IMO.
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fctjc1979 02:04 PM 07-02-2010
I, too, offer care 24/7. Right at the moment, I only have one family with three girls and they only come for about 5 hours on Wednesdays because I’m pregnant, my husband is leaving for Afghanistan soon for at least a year, and we don’t really need the money at the moment. Once I have the baby and begin to feel comfortable, I will be advertising for 24/7. I don’t charge as much for third shift as I do any other shift. I also make it very clear to parents in interviews that this is a family. My family will continue to live their lives and their children will be part of what my family does while they are here. There are a few exceptions. For example, I might bring my daughter to one of my doctor’s appointments but I wouldn’t bring a daycare kid. Other than that, I treat all my dck like they are part of the family. I also don’t fill to capacity on any shift. So I don’t have a house full of kids constantly. I have my own and 1 or 2 more. Yes, I think that trying to do multiple shifts of daytime type care (projects, activities, games, etc) would be way too much. But it’s also way too much for kids. I do those things for 1st shift, a few of those things for 2nd shift but mostly self-directed play, and sleep for 3rd shift.
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