I have a few questions for the more experienced providers out there. I've been watching 3 girls (from the same family) in my home for several months now with great success. They love it here and I enjoy having them in my home. They only come once a week, however, so I took in a sister and brother three days a week. They are ages 5 and 3 1/2. I'm really struggling with these two and feel terrible that I mentally groan when they show up. Neither one of them speak very well. It's not speach impediment. That I could live with. It's a complete lack of vocabulary. The five year old has no knowledge of letters. When the parents finally returned the start up paper work, they completely skipped the child information sheets that asked what the children are interested in, their likes and dislikes, their abilities, and other information. The 3 and 1/2 year old is not potty trained. I know that boys take longer and can still be learning past the age of three, but they have not yet started other than switching from diapers to pull-ups. I made the mistake when I met them and assumed when they told me he was 3 1/2 that he was already potty trained. I didn't even ask. Bad move on my part, I know. I don't usually take kids that aren't potty trained. I'm pregnant right now and changing his dirty diapers is literally making me ill. I'm really feeling torn right now because I really want to help these kids learn since they are obviously not getting any type of instruction at home (they only want to watch movies and they get upset if we try to do other activities) but I'm to the place where trying to figure out what they are saying for 8 hours a day is just exhausting me and the diaper changing is making me sick. I'm new at this and have no idea if I'm totally overreacting and expecting too much out of these kids or if my suspicion that their parents are "lazy" is correct. I also have to keep a very close eye on the boy to prevent him from pushing, kicking, hitting, biting, and hissing at the other kids (including my own two). So far, no injuries but we've had some close calls. Sorry this was so wordy.
Any help would be very much appreciated.
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