Doing Time: What It Really Means To Grow Up In Daycare

[Bridget]

Has anyone read this book yet? Downloaded it from Amazon last night and it really has me thinking. Written by a mom who was a daycare provider. Says she loved the kids, worked in excellent facilities but she has a lot of stories to tell.

http://www.amazon.com/Doing-Time-Really-Daycare-ebook/dp/B006UYCWGA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328629773&sr=8-1

[Cat Herder]

I hope more and more people read this. lovethis

I would LOVE to be put out of business by Moms and Dads staying home with their kids during their tender years. I know it sounds hypocritical, but it is how I feel...

I try really hard to bridge the gap, but I know it will never be the same... I feel guilty knowing what the parents are missing out on, too. You never get a second chance .

I rationalize it because it is what allows me to be home with my own....BUT the guilt stays, nontheless...

[Country Kids]

Is this available in book form? I don't have a Kindle but would really like to read it!

[Country Kids]

I think also we miss alot of things with our own children. Even though we are home and doing this doing this to be home with our children we still aren't with them but maybe 50% of the time. I know I have missed out on alot as they have been getting older. My kids feel sometimes that the daycare kids are more important than them-

[greenhouse]

I hope more and more people read this. lovethis

I would LOVE to be put out of business by Moms and Dads staying home with their kids during their tender years. I know it sounds hypocritical, but it is how I feel...

I try really hard to bridge the gap, but I know it will never be the same... I feel guilty knowing what the parents are missing out on, too. You never get a second chance .

I rationalize it because it is what allows me to be home with my own....BUT the guilt stays, nontheless...

I agree with this 100%- I have these same feelings...I've become very anti-daycare! I'm going to go buy this book now.

[Cat Herder]

Is this available in book form? I don't have a Kindle but would really like to read it!

I don't think it has been published, yet...it is REALLY new.

"A Mother's Job, The History of Daycare" (Elizabeth Rose) is a worthwhile read, too... For some reason it is $60.00 this week :confused: It usually runs about $7

[MrsB]

my own kids

I think also we miss alot of things with our own children. Even though we are home and doing this doing this to be home with our children we still aren't with them but maybe 50% of the time. I know I have missed out on alot as they have been getting older. My kids feel sometimes that the daycare kids are more important than them-

I have heard this complaint from my kids too on occasion. Like I have a more difficult time going on field trips, helping out in the classroom, or getting him/her to a 4:30 practice.

But then again when I was working outside the home and the kids were in daycare I got gruff about that.

Then I get the complaint too from my 13 year old that since I am home I am always in her business and that she thinks that if I worked outside of the home she would have more responsbilities. Like I wouldnt be hovering over all her homework, chore lists, etc.

It is the "Grass is always greener" concept. Your kids are going to have to seek therapy for some kind of issue that they blame you for anyways right? Will it be this one?

I think it goes back to no one solution is better than the other all the time. You have to outway the good and the bad and do what makes you the "happiest" not necessarily the "richest". Although it is much more difficult to live with a single income family. I think people dont realize it can be done still.

[Blackcat31]

I agree with catherder about it being ideal that being put out of business by parents staying home would be awesome! However, I don't see that ever happening in this day and age where parents find having a dual income as being the only way to "keep up with the Jones's" and such...

Anyways, here is an article about the book and talks about some of the messages/ideas the author is talking about.

Scroll down to the part where it discusses some of the highlights of her book. While I agree daycare has become a modern day necessity and a part of today's parenting, I do not agree with all of them....

http://www.nationalreview.com/home-front/289853/will-america-ever-be-ready-truth-about-daycare/suzanne-venker

[MsMe]

YAY it is also an Amazon Prime book. I am going to download it for FREE tonight when I get home.

Count me in on wanting to go out of business bc all Moms get to stay home.

I love daycare and I do it so the kids I care for get a wonderfull place to go each day, but I have SEVERAL who are here WAY too many hours each week.

[blessedmess8]

I hope more and more people read this. lovethis

I would LOVE to be put out of business by Moms and Dads staying home with their kids during their tender years. I know it sounds hypocritical, but it is how I feel...

I try really hard to bridge the gap, but I know it will never be the same... I feel guilty knowing what the parents are missing out on, too. You never get a second chance .

I rationalize it because it is what allows me to be home with my own....BUT the guilt stays, nontheless...

I agree with this soooo much! I try to be what the kids need while Mom and Dad are at work, but sometimes you are just spread thin. I will say, having worked in various centers from small, privately owned to large, tribally funded - and now having a home daycare, I belive child care homes are a much better environment than centers are, as far as being close to "the way it should be." I belive in family child care!

[Unregistered]

Doing Time

I took this right from the book:

Most people have not spent days and weeks inside a daycare center. They do not know how hard the staff works and how much is still left undone at the end of each day. They do not know how many hugs were not received simply because two staff members cannot hold, love and nurture twelve children the way parents can love their own children. Even though this seems logical, it is not clear until one witnesses this on all kinds of levels for a duration of time before the truth sets in.

AMEN! Everything I have read so far is very realistic. This is coming from someone who has worked in big day care centers.

Bridget

[MyAngels]

Is this available in book form? I don't have a Kindle but would really like to read it!

You can download the Kindle app for PC (or whatever device you have) and read it that way.

From my own perspective I agree with Catherder, but this whole subject puts mothers in particular in a situation that's fraught with guilt, no matter which side you end up on.

[cheerfuldom]

These points are one of the reasons I no longer take infants. I love infants. But they need their parents and it goes against my heart to be a part of a system that allows so much time away from a parent during that important bonding time. I only take children over 12 months, only take 4 children tops (most of the time it is 3) and do not have them here more than when their parents are at work. I still feel bad for my little ones that are still here so much but this is the best scenario I can figure out for my family and my daycare families. I have no idea how people can feel comfortable dropping off in a class with 20 or more kids and just one or two workers. My friend worked in a 3 year old class that regularly had over 25 kids and no aide (an aide was supposed to be in there at all times but they could not keep staff long enough). the dynamics of money with childcare changes A LOT of things. you can't be sure what your daycare is telling you because they dont want to lose that income. very very sad IMO

[DBug]

I'm buying this book. It looks very intriguing!

I had a newer mama rush to pick-up by closing when she was about a hour late one day. Her little one is in care about 9 hours/day, but she keeps him home every chance she gets. He has lots of appointments too, and most times she keeps him home all day for them. Anyway, she was so surprised to find the same group of kids still waiting for their parents as when she dropped off in the am. She was so amazed and taken aback that they would be here for that many hours each day.

I told her she's one of the good ones , and that alot of parents just don't get it.

I can't wait to read this one! I'm hoping it'll help with how I interact with parents on the provider side of things too.

[CheekyChick]

This book is hogwash. I know (from experience) that MANY children get more of what they need at daycare - than if they were at home.