I worked at a daycare for 5 years, nannied for 5 years and have now been a SAHM for 5 years. AMA.
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Anonymous
Not op, but pp above who worked in a daycare. There are many annoying behaviors, but the worst one is the parent that stays and hangs around forever chatting with you. And giving you million instructions. Sure, many are valid, but day in and day out, they tell you the same thing! Yes, we know, your kid eats nothing and here is the food. Yes, we did give it to him. No, he did not eat it. But, he ate all of the food the other kids ate. There was one couple, very Christian, lovely people. They insisted their 2 year old can't wear a swim suit due to decency rules when we had water time outside. Guess which kid loves the water more than all others? Their girl! So, they give us a change of clothes, sure. But poor girl is soaked in jeans! At 1000 F outside, dripping and goes to the water, loves it. Finally towards the end of my time there, they brought her a one piece swim suit. Though, I am still not sure if that was for their own kid's comfort, or bcs of the mess a plastic bag with soaked clothes made in their car. First they tried to have us prevent her going for water. We have 12 kids to two of us! |
Anonymous
 Above is an example of super-annoying things that parents do.
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Anonymous
| Thank you for starting this thread. DDs are 10, 12, and 14 now but it is still quite interesting. Potty PP, I had trouble with oldest DD but failed to understand that sometimes the emotional dynamic plays a role. Your palpable anxiety about the "lack of" progress will not help things along. Kids do master those skills, eventually. I so wish I had been able to calm down about many milestones for my children's good. |
Anonymous
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My only question have you had an affair with one of the Dads?
I recall the joke why is the Nanny’s room in the basement? So your wife won’t hear you on your two am bootie calls. If not you have you heard of this? |
Anonymous
I am not OP but just wanted to say how cute it is that you never learned how to google. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/nannied |
Anonymous
| No question. Just feel really grateful for the loving women who've cared for my two kids. We used an in-home daycare that had a great ratio of adults to children and both my boys benefitted greatly from attending. |
Anonymous
Not op but work in daycare. One of the most annoying, and hardest things is when families don’t prepare their infants for daycare. For example, they don’t bottle train them and when they hold them all day long, it’s a very difficult adjustment for the babies. |
Anonymous
Bringing their kid in filthy. Snotty nosed, crusty eyes, dirty diaper, unclean. Not when it just happens once, when parents are running late or the kid poops in the car but some parents were notorious for bringing in dirty kids. Some kids I bought an extra set of clothes for and would bath at work because they came in filthy. Similarly, parents who ignore our concerns. As a nanny my employers always took my concerns or comments seriously. When I worked at a daycare center it became clear that most parents think of you as a warm body to keep their kid alive and nothing else. An example would be a toddler with severe diaper rash and chronic diarrhea. I bought up the idea of a dairy allergies or sensitivity for months and was brushed off. Finally moms per suggested the same and switched to soy and all issues stopped. Always bugged me. On the flip side. Please don’t send your kid to daycare in expensive designer outfits and get angry when they get dirty. Daycare is for cheap play clothes. Your kid will get messy. Save the $$$$ outfits for pictures. |
Anonymous
Absolutely not. I know of a handful of nannies who have but that’s not common at all. |
Anonymous
I’m the OP. My mom started working again part time when I was 4 and I went to a home daycare we loved. Mrs. Cheryl is like family. I feel like that would be the choice I’d make for my kids if I had to work, but it would have to be the perfect home. |
Anonymous
| What did you do/avoid to help your two younger kids become good sleepers? |
Anonymous
| What do you do with your kids during the day? |
Anonymous
Gentle sleep training. No CIO but at 12 weeks they went to their own room and slept in their crib for naps and nighttime sleep. Pretty strict nighttime routine and sleep schedule. They may just be easier going kids too? My DD is so sweet but an anxious child. We had her in our room till she turned one and I feel like that was a mistake. She wakes up every other night still at 5. Younger two sleep 7:30-7/8 every night unless sick. |
Anonymous
Pre-COVID we had a moms group we hung out with several times a week. Museums, zoos, aquariums, parks, play dates etc. We got out of the noise at least 2/3 times a week unless the weather was bad or we were sick. On days we’re home all day we mostly take it easy. My oldest went to preschool 3 mornings a week and the younger two would just run errands with me. Now it’s a struggle. Some days we do activities, some days we play outside, some days we watch movies. My oldest starts in person school in the fall and DS will do preschool 3 mornings a week so it will just be my youngest and me and me and we’ll probably do some classes (gymnastics?). They’re really good at self entertaining. We set aside time during the day to play one on one but I truly hate pretend play with kids. So glad they can do that with one another. I don’t mind running around at parks but I hate being bossed around by toddlers because I’m not building blocks right so not one to come for with great ideas for activities at home. |
Anonymous
| What do you do about toddler tantruming? I feel like my almost 2.5 yo just....cannot ever want things that he can have. He only wants things he cannot have. He screams and cries so intensely more than a dozen times a day because he can’t get what he wants (usually something unsafe or impossible). What do we do when he’s melting down continuously like that? We are all so rattled from the non stop screaming. As a family we are at the end of our rope. I dont enjoy any of the time I spend with him, it’s like a countdown always to nap or bedtime. |