STARTING/OPERATING A HOME DAYCARE

DUAL ROLES: BEING BOTH A MOM AND TEACHER AT THE SAME TIME


DUAL ROLES: BEING BOTH A MOM AND TEACHER AT THE SAME TIME Many daycare owners will offer their workers discounted or free child care if space is available. Therefore, If you work at a daycare center and have young children, you likely bring them to work with you.  Home daycare owners also have their children at work with them since their business is run out of their own home.  While having your children with (or near) you all day can be comforting, many challenges exist:

1.  Your child may become jealous-

Your child may have a difficult time understanding why they can't have all your attention and time like they do during other periods of the day.  Your child may not like to see you hugging and caring for other children.  If you work at a center, you should avoid being in the same class as your child.  You may still be able to visit them during different periods of the day, but it will be easier on both you and your child if you are not in the same room together all day.  If you operate a home daycare, try to give your child the status of "helper."  You can teach your child a lot of valuable lessons including: how to share, help others, and have empathy. 

2.  Parents and other staff may feel as if your child gets special treatment-

No matter how hard you and other staff members try to treat your child as "one of the kids,"  it may  be difficult to do so.  Even if your child isn't getting special treatment, a parent might be convinced she is.  Again, this problem is minimized if your child is in a different classroom.  Parents might not even be aware your child is related to you if she is not in the same classroom in which you work.  If you operate a home daycare, this is less likely to be a problem because there are not twenty children the same age in the same classroom.  The other children in your care are likely different ages and have different needs anyway.

3.  You may not like how other staff members treat your child-

If you were working a different job and dropping your child off at daycare, you would probably not be informed of every detail of your child's day. However, because you are working in the same center your child attends, you may see or hear about everything your child does including all interactions with his teacher. You may judge every move your child's teacher makes and find yourself getting frustrated from time to time.  Try to avoid checking in on your child every few minutes and criticizing other staff member's actions unless you believe you believe there is a legitimate concern.

4.  You may compare your child to other children her age-

You may have a difficult time not comparing your child to other children in her class.  You see your child and twenty other children the same age playing together everyday.  Try to remember that children develop at different rates.  Unless your child is noticeably behind and you are worried there is a problem which needs to be addressed, you don't need to be concerned about what your child "is" or "is not" doing compared to the other children.  Home daycare owners are not likely to have several children the exact same age so this is not as likely to be an issue.

5.  You and/or your child may become sick frequently-

Daycare teachers and children enrolled in daycare are likely to get sick fairly often.  If both you and your child are sick at the same time, you may decide to take a day off of work.  However, you will not always be sick at the same time.  If your child is sick, you will likely have to find an alternate care arrangement for her, but you will still have to go to work. Children chew and suck on toys, don't cover their mouths when they cough, and are therefore much more likely to spread an illness than adults.  You will usually still be able to attend work (depending on your illness) because you are able to take extra percautions of which children aren't capable.