my least favorite ALL SUMMER activity, cheap vs great, and go with the gut

Last spring I poled the folks I was sitting for to see who would be requiring my services again this school year.  I know already that the logistics become complicated for working parents with kids entering preschool. 

Visiting the local forest preserve.

In my line of work, I have always considered preschool my biggest rival.  Back when I only babysat for two families, I agreed to drive a kid to preschool.  That sucked.  The mom enrolled the kid in a preschool with no drop off line.  Is it me, or does that seem cruel and unusual?  What child-focused group would require parents to take their kids out of cars and walk them into a building.  Am I the only mom out there who had more than one kid in a car during preschool days?  I sat in wonder watching these folks wrestle car-seat straps made more argumentative by winter coats.  I thought, 'You know there are preschools right around the corner that provide a drop off line?'

I vowed never to agree to such lunacy again.  (It didn't help that when I pointed out the non-drop-off-line dilemma the mom suggested that I leave the other kids I was sitting for in my car while I walked her kid into preschool.  Yeah, we parted ways after that academic year).

The results of my pole revealed my biggest fear.  My little in-home daycare was going to take a hit thanks in part to preschool.  Two families left because of preschool schedules.  

Another family fudged why they left. ('I have meetings after school once a week'  me:  oh, I can work around that - then she had nothing.  She would not be honest with me).  Their departure cut me to my core.  I believe that they jumped ship in search of cheaper prices elsewhere.  Considering my entire family loved their baby so much, I struggle to understand how you opt for 'cheaper.' 

These are the two 'big' babies I sit for.
 One comes Tuesday/Thursday and
 the other comes Tu-Wed-Thu. 
They are almost a year and 9 months.

Summer of '18 when they interviewed me, they initially took a pass sighting my prices as out of their range.  I wondered if they thought I would negotiate.  I wouldn't.  Weeks later they texted back.  This was where they wanted their baby all along, and did I still have room?  Being the wise-ass that I am, it was tempting to text back and say 'Sure, but my prices just went up.'

There are two kinds of in-home daycares in my estimation:  those with high enrollment numbers and no opportunities to leave the house but downright cheap, and mine with less than 5 kids and a willingness to go on outings to the zoo, library story-time, parks, and other awesome spots specific to my location like forests preserve buildings and the arboretum children's garden.  I also offer each napper his/her own bedroom for naps.  

Ed kept telling me to relax, I would find new families.  I spent all summer (this is exactly what I did NOT want to do) introducing myself on a parent Facebook page, applying to jobs on care.com, and interviewing interested folks.  Finally by mid-August my roster was full.  Each family that hired me only required part time hours, so I managed to organize everyone's schedules to coincide with one another, so that I would have Fridays off. 

Meet Baby Mikey, or more
specifically Mikey's hair.
 He has so much hair for a little guy!

There were two families with new babies that hired me.  The second family wanted to start the same time as baby Mikey.  I informed them that I intended to take one week to become acquainted with Mikey before I was prepared to juggle both babies.  Baby Mikey was on my schedule first so his start date of Sept 9th was all set, and I wanted baby #2, Linda (and that is this poor child's real name) family to work around that. 

Linda was born July 9th.  They requested I watch their kids (they also have a 2.5 year old) the day after Labor Day- starting a week


before Baby Mikey, but then take the following week off while I became acquainted with Mikey.  Ya follow?  This was decided mid August.  

There is something to be said for gut feelings.  Lind'a family - well, my gut felt unsettled about them . . .