Today is my birthday, yay! I'm 24 today and I supposed I'm excited about it. I'm a birthday person, though. I think I'll always be happy to be another year older. That may be because I'm still young, but see no reason to dread getting older. Fear of becoming a medical and personal nuisance maybe, but I hope to be living lively until I die like my grandmother did.
Anyways, I had to go to work today because we just don't get days off at my job. Not really. I'm what we call a floater, which is to say, I fill in for the regular teachers when they get some vacay time. Which is also to say that I am there most of the time. I did get a few days off a couple weeks ago because my aunt and cousin came to see me. So I have no complaints, really.
Today I was in one of the infant rooms filling in for another teacher's lunch. One of the breastfeeding mamas came in and was waiting for her daughter to wake up. I've seen this lady often. She's a health inspector and we usually talk about which restaurants to go to and which ones to avoid. Well since I've had this obsession with cloth diapering lately I brought it up in casual conversation. She starts talking about how she wanted to breastfeed and CD and all that, but she couldn't handle it working two jobs and having a two-year old. I completely understand that. I brought up my idea about a home daycare and, omg, why did I do that? She had horror stories about how the inspections are a joke and this woman that found out that her child was given McDonald's and sat in front of a tv all day (the horror!).
So she (the inspector lady) decided that she would feel safer in a more controlled environment like a center. I can understand that, but I just disagree. I feel like child care centers are more sterile and uninviting than family child care homes, and I said so. I didn't even realize I was in an argument until she asked another caregiver in the room what she thought. She was very diplomatic and said she could understand where both of us were coming from. It was all very comical to me.
I went on to emphasize that I understood how she felt and all, but it was more of a personal choice. I feel like a person interviews a home daycare just like they should a child care center; get a feel for the staff, the facility, and see whether or not you think it is a good fit for you and your child. I've always thought myself to be a good judge of character. She got very snooty when I said so and basically said I'd get bit trying to use my own judgement. I was offended, but decided to end the conversation there and change the subject before I got in trouble.
My husband picked me up and we went to lunch. I told him about most of the conversation. He said that people that really know me would know better than to argue with me about something that I've decided that I like. I am not a woman of many strong likes and dislikes, there is a lot of "meh, it's okay." to me, but when I do decide that I like something, there's not really any reasoning with me. I do usually become obsessive about stuff so that means I do a LOT of research. If, after all my digging, I still think it's worthy of my attention, I will argue the point with anyone that tries to convince me otherwise and I may even try to convince a few other people, if they ask. I just thought it was funny that my husband knew that about me and he also said I sometimes end up in arguments unintentionally because of that quality. I don't mind, as long as people aren't rude and condescending.
I think that I look at home daycare from a caregiver's point of view. I love children and I love working with them. I would never do anything to harm a child or their development. It doesn't matter if I have three cameras in the room watching my every move or not. But I can completely understand why some more control/safety/cleanliness obsessed parents would have concerns. It makes sense for a health inspector to be obsessed about how often her child's caregivers are washing their hands. I just don't appreciate her being so condescending about my choices.
What are your thoughts? Child care center, family child care home, or just SAHM?
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