Pet Peeves in the World of Day Care

[KiddieCahoots]

The never ending snotty nose, that mom will insist is an allergy or teething.
If I had a dime for every time I heard allergy or teething, I wouldn't have to work anymore.

[MOM OF 4]

CHOMPING on food, including very loud chips, not just my DCK's when I had them but ANYONE...RUDE and ANNOYING
Gum chewing! Like it's the LAST piece of gum. When I see a MAN chewing, it's even worse!

Yesterday at gymnastics (my son's) a MILITARY mom was chomping her gum LOUDLY, had her FEET on the wall (of the gymnastics area), and was screaming into her cell (because it was loud and neither party could hear each other, but we ALL could hear what SHE was yelling) and then instead of telling her child to do as the coach was ordering, was letting her run back and forth to mommy, thereby irritating the coach. The entitlement everyone feels is disgusting! Military or not, it's RUDE to behave that way.

[AmyKidsCo]

Parents who say they're going to pick up early then don't.

Oh, I said that already. Grrrr! Another one:

Parents who pick up later than normal - only on Fridays.

[Lynn825]

The never ending snotty nose, that mom will insist is an allergy or teething.
If I had a dime for every time I heard allergy or teething, I wouldn't have to work anymore.

That's the worst! I get that all the time...I never knew allergies were contagious until I started a daycare.

I had a DCG show up with pink eye and DCM tried to tell me it was a bug bite.

[Unregistered]

My pet peeves are:

1. Parents stopping their conversation with me about their child's day to give full attention to the three year old interrupting.

2. Parents telling me to stop using a bottle for the one year old and just give him a cup at nap time but they give him bottles at home, resulting in screaming fits at nap time.

3. Early drop offs after being told and reminded when I open.

4. Parents that let their children run their home and I have to deal with the consequences every single day.

[coolconfidentme]

Kids who SCREAM cuz it works at home.

[Little Buttons]

1) Wanting a 15+ minute conference at the end of the day...every.single.day.I give a 2-3 minute synopsis but your child's day was just like every other day. If anything happens or changes I will let you know.

2) Over sharing about your personal issues and expecting me to play therapist.Your bill would be so much higher if that was my title!

3) Late night text messages about your kids...or anything really.

4) Bringing your kid hours late, unfed with breakfast in hand expecting me to feed them.If you want to let them sleep in to the point of making you late for work, that is your problem not mine! Don't expect me to compensate for your lack of time management skills!

5) Coming in the door every single morning with some overly dramatic story.Get it together! You have been doing this parenting thing for 18 months now!

6) Packing your kid nothing but packaged junk food for the day.

7) The D*mn car seat...smacking my walls, wrestling your child into it every day, using it still even though I have said and showed you so.many.times. that he is over the height limit for it.

8) Taking advantage of family!
***So many of these will be fixed once I am licensed!

[Unregistered]

I honestly don't "care" what parents feed their children. I don't do the whole healthy vs nonhealthy food thing for the children I watch. I also think (I'm not criticizing just sharing my opinion) most children under 13 don't understand the concept anyway. Why is an apple that has sugar healthy but a donut not? I also think it sends the wrong message. "Never ever eat sugar/fat/junk food/ect". When there are healthy fats and sugars. I'm not saying anyone is teaching children never eat sugar or fat, but to children (and the way their minds work) saying "Don't eat donuts all day every day because they have fat/sugar" is translated to eating food with sugars/fat is bad.

On the subject of food, I hate when parents say a child is allergic to something or not allowed to have it (say because of diabetes or something) and I see them bring it in or something worse. That's why I switched to all meals/snacks are provided by guardian. I reduced my prices, I'm still saving money.

Children who are hot or cold when everyone else is fine. I mostly blame the parents, though. Like it's 20 degrees out, I have the HEAT on. I don't know why parents are sending their children to me in long johns, a t-shirt, stretch pants, jeans, and a sweater. The way my heating and cooling system works, I can't turn the heat/air off/up/down in just one room. These are children who ride in a car. I had to term on little girl this summer, because she kept complaining about being cold. She was a little witch in general, though. I'm just waiting for the winter "I'm hot!!!!"s to begin.

Parents or some family member who want to hang around all day. I've noticed it's mostly the "Aunt Jenny is here for the week and lives in Nevada and never sees Suzy. Can she spend the day here?" types. WTF? No. Keep them both in your home. The other students are just going to love seeing Suzy being smothered in attention while they miss their bio families. I did have one grandmother try this everyday. I ended up terming. I think because she didn't speak English, the family thought she could hang around and learn English. Not only was it annoying, she always demanded snacks and food. Um, no. The best was when I termed the mother was like "She wants to eat the lunch and snack, because she sees you eating it". I was like "I bought it!"

Siblings/relatives. It leaves me with two spots to fill when they leave and I've noticed the sibling/relative rivalries come with it. I noticed the older sibling/relative tends to encourage the younger one to do bad things. In a few cases, I've had the older sibling want bottles or diapers or something the younger one had.

Parents who cook the books so to speak. I take part timers, but I always tell them and sign the contract that they pay for the full time/full week price. On the other hand, they don't have to ask me to switch to full time and they never have to worry about something taking their spot. I've had parents who switch their children to full time or be late and claim, they don't have to pay me because I was getting over paid. "We pick up Suzy 2 hours before closing everyday. The fives minutes were late yesterday you got paid for". Um, no.

[hope]

The parent that sticks around at pick up even when I tell her that I need to leave at closing. She will look at me and ask how her child was today. When I say good she looks at me confused bc I'm not giving her a response that is conversation worthy.

The parent that looks for a problem with their child. Is that a bump, a limp, a lazy eye, developmental delay.....your child is fine. Please enjoy them!

Any attempt at negotiating over my rates

Passive aggressive parents.

[Unregistered]

The parent that sticks around at pick up even when I tell her that I need to leave at closing. She will look at me and ask how her child was today. When I say good she looks at me confused bc I'm not giving her a response that is conversation worthy.

The parent that looks for a problem with their child. Is that a bump, a limp, a lazy eye, developmental delay.....your child is fine. Please enjoy them!

Any attempt at negotiating over my rates

Passive aggressive parents.

I don't mind negotiating, because it's a sign I won't sign that child up. I hate parents who just blindly agree to everything (including price) and then a month or so in are like, "Well..." Well, I'm just going with the next person on the waiting list. I don't feel bad, because there are a lot of centers around here. I think I'm more rigid/strict than others on here. I saw too many things I did NOT agree with when I worked for someone else. I feel you give parents an inch they will hang you with it.

[Jamey]

Having to even mention the issue of payment. AMEN to that!!!

Yes amen. Having to be told that they paid all their other bills and have nothing left to pay you!!! Ummmm I should be the first bill paid. I am the reason you can go to work at all!! I have almost quit due to parents and the payment issues.

[Msdunny]

These days, the main pet peeve that comes to mind is the moms who say "I know I shouldn't rock her to sleep, but...". Leaving me to deal with the child who cries themself to sleep, and than only naps for 45 minutes because they aren't being rocked.

[Flowerchild]

Patents bringing kids in sick not acting like they are sivk. Or bringing them back thinking they are not sick and get away with it. Like bringing kids in with fever and lying or thinking were stupid and won't catch it

[CeriBear]

Co-workers who treat 4yos as if they are toddlers. Pre-k kids are capable of wiping up their own spilled water and putting on their own coats. If not we are supposed to be teaching them instead of doing everything for them.
Co-workers who use threats and yelling to get the kids to stop doing something. I’ll raise my voice if a child is doing something where he or another child could get hurt but yelling at Tommy to pick up his toys or else he’ll go to time out gets no results.