What Did You Do Before Daycare?

[spud912]

Immediately before this I was a stay at home mom.
Before we had DD I worked at a daycare.
Before I met my husband I was a flight attendant
Before that I was a children's activity planner at a Disney resort

Now that sounds like a fun job!

[Leanna]

As a teen I worked in a bakery.
In college I was a nanny.
My first job out of college was a toddler teacher. I left that job after one school year to be a teacher supervisor at Head Start. I really wanted to run my own program though so when I was able to buy my house I opened my daycare.

[LoraJenkins]

I worked as a waitress, an exotic dancer (my daycare families have NO CLUE) and at a factory doing line work. Then I got pregnant with my 3rd child and the rest is history

[AllDeezBabies]

I worked in the stock market. I was a accounts research representative for 4 for a stock transfer agent that managed shareholder accounts.

I moved up in the company and became a part of the dividends and distribution department. So the folks that received dividend from their stock, we were the ones that made sure they received them.

Got tired of dealing with customers and working for other folks so went into childcare. It's soooooo much better. I often kick myself in the bottom because I wonder why I haven't done this sooner.

[e.j.]

I worked in customer service in various capacities - complaint rep, development specialist (training) and supervisor. Prior to that, I managed a bookstore and in college, worked in an on-campus day care center.

[jenn]

I taught kindergarten in our public school system.
Also, before doing daycare I had a much cleaner house and less gray hair

[Lianne]

I was a nanny for almost 14 years before opening my home daycare.

[MarinaVanessa]

I either worked office jobs or managment positions in retail but since I was 10 years old I always did babysitting (back when it was ok for a 10yo to babysit ). During high school I was a nanny when I wasn't working at my family's business (pet supply store) until they sold it. No matter what I tried it always felt like a job but I always did some form of child care on the side which I loved so then I figured that I'd give family child care a whirl (I had the support and mentorship of my then child care provider).

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

Daycare centers (2) while in college getting my teaching degree
Office manager #2
Nannying
In home health care to a special needs child (during teaching hiring freeze)

Bought a house with the purpose of turning the downstairs into a preschool and did.

[KDC]

I was Quality Assurance Manager for Defined Benefits (Human Resources Outsourcing) - automating/managing testing for pension calculations. Yea, that was about as fun as it sounds

Funny thing, I HATED math growing up. They had a round of layoffs, and then offered me my same position back, but I took the 7 months of severance and started my own daycare business. With having three small children and being pretty full, I'm sure I ended up ahead money wise. I don't think this is my forever career, but I've enjoyed watching kids (all the kiddo's, not just mine) grow up happyface

[blandino]

My daycare was originally my Mother's, so in high school I worked for her. I also worked at a Mother's Day Out in FL, when I spent summers with my dad. When I graduated I came back to the daycare, and eventually became partners.

[daycarekay]

I worked in retail all throughout high school and college. I graduated with a Bachelors in Education, and taught middle school science for three years. I burned out on that very quickly and moved on to working in a child care center, where I am now. I start classes in January for my Associates degree, which I will use to be a lead teacher until I can buy a house and open my home daycare. I keep telling people that early childhood education is the final frontier in education. I feel like it's the only place left where you are able to truly care for a child holistically. Once they reach kindergarten, it's all about the scores and tests and numbers. At least with early ed, I can be the kind of teacher I dreamed of being my whole life. I just didn't know there would be diapering involved.

[snbauser]

I worked in retail during high school and the first few years after that. For the 7 1/2 years immediately before this I was a systems project manager for a major credit card company.

[Laurel]

People are shocked when I tell them, "I use to be a Quality Assurance Analyst for Chemical Weapons of Mass Destruction." I usually follow up with, "I now do little weapons of mass destruction."

Curious..., what did you do before daycare?

Omg, I'm 61 so do you want the whole list? ::

-Clerk Typist for County Welfare Dept.
-Medical Secretary
-Secretary for Temp. Agency for 2 years (really interesting cause I went to a lot of different companies)
-cashier at Kmart
-Stay at home mom till my children were in school all day (BEST job of my life!)
-Subbed in the public school system as various things such as paraprofessional in special ed classrooms, school secretary at my children's school, librarian, etc. This was after my kids were in school. That way I was home when they were. Also did TONS of volunteer work mostly at the school.
-part time jobs in the school systems
-full time at a Montessori preschool; I worked as a teaching assistant and also ran the before and after daycare there.
-Moved to Florida and worked in the public school system as a paraprofessional again for only a year. Then started doing home daycare and have done it for about 18 years full time.

I think that's all!

Laurel

[Lefse&Kids]

Waitress then various line manufacturing jobs. All of which got me into awesome shape. That's the only thing I miss about them. I looked soooo good in a bikini and could weight lift with the best of them :-D oh and made at least double sometimes triple what I make now.....

and THAT is how I met my husband ;-)