This is a minor point, but on your website you use apostrophes for plurals when none are needed. For instance, the plural of "Monday" is "Mondays" NOT "Monday's." (This problem is in the meals section.) No apostrophe is needed. Since I'm a teacher by profession, I'm a little biased, but unnecessary apostrophes would turn me off from your website. Best of luck with your home business!

It's legal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I do. Like family. Wouldn't trade them for the world.

That is insane. Is it even legal to have that many children in your care?

Depends on where you are. Fairfax County allows 5 children with 2 being under the age of 2 and one caregiver plus any own children - so yes, it might be legal.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I do. Like family. Wouldn't trade them for the world.

That is insane. Is it even legal to have that many children in your care?

Yes, I do. Like family. Wouldn't trade them for the world.

Anonymous wrote:WOW - I have adjusted my hours and will be adding some home pictures. Busy getting the pizza garden into the ground. I guess I started the business casually, because someone asked me to since I was staying home with my children and it grew from there. Both of my children are in school which is a five minute drive. Parents have the option to bring after drop-off if that works with their schedule - but it is almost impossible to walk with five toddlers and two of my own in all kinds of weather. But I don't have to explain.

Do you really care for 5 toddlers plus your own two kids without any help?

WOW - I have adjusted my hours and will be adding some home pictures. Busy getting the pizza garden into the ground. I guess I started the business casually, because someone asked me to since I was staying home with my children and it grew from there. Both of my children are in school which is a five minute drive. Parents have the option to bring after drop-off if that works with their schedule - but it is almost impossible to walk with five toddlers and two of my own in all kinds of weather. But I don't have to explain. One of my first clients had this to say: "I'm happy to tell you about our experience with Caryn. She started caring for my son when he was about 6 months old and had him continuously until he was 4. I really can't imagine a more attentive, loving childcare experience than the one she provided for Seth. She has really been a second Mom. Seth napped consistently for her practically from day 1. Caryn is very hands-on - we had left another childcare provider who wanted to just take our baby and put him in a swing and pick him up periodically to feed or change him. Caryn gave him the attention he needed and got him on a consistent schedule with meals and naps that made him a very happy baby. And so it went through crawling and walking and potty training and learning the ABCs - she gave him the love and care and structure that babies need. Another of her clients calls her the "Baby Whisperer" and I think it's apt.

It's sort of a side benefit, but since Caryn is a professional photographer, we have tons of beautiful shots of Seth from those years. It always made it a bit easier for me missing Seth during the day to e-mail Caryn and ask for a picture - she always came through with several! And she always responded to whatever concern I had via e-mail or text in a very timely way.

She accommodated any special request we had, that I can remember. There were late pickup days, times she kept him over the weekend. We used "G-Diapers" and she had no objection to using them for Seth as well. When my husband had a stroke one morning four years ago, she came to our house to pick Seth up for care. She does whatever it takes, period.

There are too many special times for me to describe them all. She took the kids to pumpkin patches, to nature centers, to the BEACH! (Sandy Point State Park). Never asked for any extra money - just permission. There were Mother's Day gifts, crafts of all sorts (we still have monogrammed soap that the kids made!) and photo mementos that we treasure.

She is one special lady. If you have any specific questions that I haven't covered, please give me call. I can't recommend her highly enough."

So with all those negative remarks about SAHM's doing it just for the money - I agree, that's wrong. But obviously, it is not what I'm trying to do here and will try not to take offense to it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A few things...

*you serve juice with every snack
*you offer brownies as a snack choice
*you close at 5pm
*it doesn't appear (at least it's not noted on your page) that you have a bachelors or associates degree
*there are zero photos of your actual daycare on the website
*there are tons of useless info on your website. I don't need to know milestones of children by age, recommendation by usda on when and what to feed my child. When I go to your website, I want to know about YOU and your home daycare.

I agree with this.

I would also want to know what your daily schedule/routine looks like, and that you do not use TV - ever.

I must say, a daycare provider, while she is someone who can teach the children their basics, do not require a bachelors or associates degree. She is not a Teacher, in the sense of one who is in a school teaching. Why is anyone so stuck on thinking they should have some kind of a degree to provide a safe and learning environment for the children in their care?

Really, I do not need my infant care provider to have a college degree. My provider did have one from her home country but I think her experience as a mother and a DCP of 10 years, training required for her license, and the annual inspections provided by the county were more relevant than her degree in psychology.

PP here (not a provider). It is a larger problem with our economy. 50 years ago, a high school education was the bare minimum required for success. Without that, most skilled labor jobs would be unachievable for you. These days, it is a college degree. Students are graduating with 4 year college degrees, saddled with MASSIVE debt, and often end up working at Target, Pizza Hut, and maybe as an admin assistant. Do you need a college degree to do those things? Hell no. But the economy is what it is - we have enough workers that we are able to demand workers with those inflated qualifications (inflated in the sense that they aren't necessary for the job).

I, for one, was fine using a provider without a 4 year college degree. Formal education was not at the top of my list of requirements when looking for childcare. I wanted a safe, loving home for my children. The provider needed to have experience caring for infants, be fully licensed and certified with all required training, and offer an enriching environment for the kids to flourish.

If she happened to have a BA in Philosophy, I didn't really give a crap.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A few things...

*you serve juice with every snack
*you offer brownies as a snack choice
*you close at 5pm
*it doesn't appear (at least it's not noted on your page) that you have a bachelors or associates degree
*there are zero photos of your actual daycare on the website
*there are tons of useless info on your website. I don't need to know milestones of children by age, recommendation by usda on when and what to feed my child. When I go to your website, I want to know about YOU and your home daycare.

I agree with this.

I would also want to know what your daily schedule/routine looks like, and that you do not use TV - ever.

I must say, a daycare provider, while she is someone who can teach the children their basics, do not require a bachelors or associates degree. She is not a Teacher, in the sense of one who is in a school teaching. Why is anyone so stuck on thinking they should have some kind of a degree to provide a safe and learning environment for the children in their care?

Anonymous wrote:A few things...

*you serve juice with every snack
*you offer brownies as a snack choice
*you close at 5pm
*it doesn't appear (at least it's not noted on your page) that you have a bachelors or associates degree
*there are zero photos of your actual daycare on the website
*there are tons of useless info on your website. I don't need to know milestones of children by age, recommendation by usda on when and what to feed my child. When I go to your website, I want to know about YOU and your home daycare.

I agree with this.

I would also want to know what your daily schedule/routine looks like, and that you do not use TV - ever.

Oh come on, PP. You were being rude and inappropriate when you referred to the provider as a "SAHM who wants to charge premium rates so your kid can tag along while she cares for her own kids." I'm not a provider, but I DO respect women who operate their own businesses. It takes a tremendous amount of work to get certified, get your home approved, and go through licensing and learning and adhering to all the relevant standards. Not to mention courage and bravery to make a go of what is essentially a small, private business. Have some respect. Fine if you don't want to use a provider like that, but don't be such a dismissive jerk.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, that's precisely why a lot of people aren't interested in home providers who have children in the home. I'm not interested in a SAHM who wants to charge premium rates so my kid can tag along while she runs errands and cares for her own kids. I'm interested in a professional, and professional home daycare operators I've met limit car trips to pre-approved field trips.

And that is where you are wrong. I have owned and ran my own daycare for a long time. I have always ran it professionally AND had my own child included in the daycare. I never had issues with any of my clients. We went on field trips, did many activities in the home and along with other providers either at their home or in local parks. I am sure there are some SAHM who want to just make money while staying at home with their child, but dont be ignorant enough to group all in home providers like that. You make yourself look stupid when you do

I believe I was pretty qualified in my statement about the type of provider I was referring too. Your defensiveness makes you look unprofessional.

Anonymous wrote:Well, that's precisely why a lot of people aren't interested in home providers who have children in the home. I'm not interested in a SAHM who wants to charge premium rates so my kid can tag along while she runs errands and cares for her own kids. I'm interested in a professional, and professional home daycare operators I've met limit car trips to pre-approved field trips.

And that is where you are wrong. I have owned and ran my own daycare for a long time. I have always ran it professionally AND had my own child included in the daycare. I never had issues with any of my clients. We went on field trips, did many activities in the home and along with other providers either at their home or in local parks. I am sure there are some SAHM who want to just make money while staying at home with their child, but dont be ignorant enough to group all in home providers like that. You make yourself look stupid when you do

^ No, I still work, but I wouldn't if daycare cost as huge of a portion of salary as I would imagine daycare-teacher-who-sends-kid-to-other-daycare's does.