Anyway, everybody knows creeps don't have access to the INTERNET
Wednesday, September 2, 2009 at 6:31AM I've spent the last couple of weeks trying to find part-time daycare for my son. It's like tracking down the last fucking unicorn or comfortable pantyhose. It does not exist. He's been on the list for a couple of daycare centres for over a year and a half, but they don't take part-timers his age. And everyone else I've called either has no room, no room for his age, or they don't take part-timers either.
Or they just don't ever fucking call back. Which presumably means they don't have a spot, but I've spent a lot of time checking my cel phone, sitting by my cel phone, compulsively checking my email, thinking well surely they're busy with children it'll take a day or two, thinking but they seem perfect, surely they're going to call and offer an interview, for the luvva god why don't they call why don't they like me I'm likeable please please like me WAAAAAAAHHHHH!
Ahem.
Anyway, I've been searching a lot of home daycares on a local classifieds website. Dayhomes seem to be abundant and occasionally one will call me back. The Office Ninja was bemoaning her own daycare woes, trying to find somewhere to stash her 7-year-old after school, so I suggested the website (and dayhomes) to her.
She looked at me like I'd suggested her kid turn a few tricks while he waited.
"Just...somebody's house? Off a classifieds website??"
"Uh...yeah."
"That seems....really weird and creepy," she informed me, with a look of utter disdain.
"Oh? My brother and I did that all through elementary school. A woman who lived close to the school, we just went there for lunch and after school," I offered.
"And did your mom find her off a classifieds website?" the Office Ninja demanded, with about as much disdain as a person could feasibly cram into one sentence.
"Uh..no. She found her when I fell off a jungle gym in the playground and cracked my head, and I was crying so the daycare lady came out and took me into her house to call my Mom. Which, in this day and age, WOULD be creepy. But I'm sure if the website had existed back then with the dinosaurs, my Mom would be looking on it. Where would YOU look to find home daycares?"
"The newspaper," she informed me with a sniff.
Oh. Well, naturally. Because pedophiles who can afford the 30 bucks for a newspaper ad are so much less creepy than the ones who post on website classifieds?
(Does anyone even READ the newspaper anymore?)
Reader Comments (39)
Uh, so long as they are licensed and all that I don't see the weird factor. How else do you find babysitters?
LOL! I'd say her logic may be a little off there. We found a great childcare person who does it out of her home. Ethan LOVES her!
Now, I'll admit, I interviewed some people who were more than a little strange in my quest for the perfect sitter. One woman had the infants (she kept 3 infants and 7 kids) in their carseats sitting on the floor in a tiny ass living room with rambunctious boys running around the coffee table. Uh, seriously? Yeah, I don't think so. But she said, it's small, but I'm cheap. And I thought, "Hmmm....if I didn't love my kid, maybe!" :)
Good luck!
LMAO! I have no answer for anyone's daycare woes - hey that's why I stay at home. But yah - to me everyone is creepy. You dont ever really know anyone....
Just yesterday I found out an ex boyfriend is now a sex offender. Say wah? So... yah. Everyone is potentially creepy, sick and perverted.
I agree with Erin, everybody is suspect and everyone is creepy.
When our son went to Sunday school, we sat it on the class so any attempts to smack him would be thwarted. I don't trust anybody with my gold. One prospective sitter (found in a newspaper!) told me she potty trained by spraying their ass down with the garden hose.
I don't think there is anything wrong with finding childcare on the internet, as long as you trust your instincts when you visit/interview them, and they meet your safety/ nutrition/activity requirements. If they have their own kids and are similar age to your own, I think that's a plus.
And these people are running businesses? Calling back a couple days later because you're busy is one thing, not calling back at all is just bad business practice.
How does she expect to find a babysitter if she doesn't look on the internet? Babysitters don't just magically fall out of the sky. And no one reads the newspaper anymore. No one even places ads in the newspaper anymore! I will occasionally read a few interesting articles out of our local paper... online. xD
My sister is a daycare provider who advertises on the internet, and she is not creepy. She's actually a licensed recreational therapist who has worked with kids for years. Often, my brother in law is also home with her and the kids. He's a paramedic and firefighter. Point: high standard of care, good resources should anything go wrong. I'd put my kids there (even if she weren't my sister) before traditional daycare.
My aunt has run a daycare from her home for YEARS. She's got a great reputation in her community, and many very faithful parents. If my son were younger, I'd much rather have him in a home daycare situation than in a center. In the home situation, he'd feel much more comfortable, and I'd feel less like I was shipping him off to the corporate world...
I'll watch X for you but I'm a loon.
I'd volunteer but the commute is a bitch. Of course, it may be worth it cuz he's so damn cute.
Good luck with the search. These are the times I don't envy you... And maybe the office ninja just needs to get a grip...
"I'm a creep. I'm a weirdo. What the hell am I doing here."
Hey Keely? Radiohead's Creep happens to be MY theme song.
Not all creeps are bad. Just sayin'. *smile*
AND...Keely? Have you played Plants vs. Zombies? I LOVE IT! I'm addicted to it. I figure it's good prep for when the big ZA happens.
What's wrong with your plan? As long as the provider gives you a background check, arrest record, blood test, and complete geneology dating back five generations, you should be good to go, right?
Seriously. Does she think you are just going to call them up, drop him off and not even check it out? She's the one that is weird.
That's exactly how we found childcare in California. Our town had a childcare switchboard, and you called them and told them what you needed, and they gave you some names to check out. We found an in-home place for Laura and she stayed there for 2 years. Of course, you know this, but your gut instinct and their references will be your guide. Good luck!
Hmmm, I got my list of potential providers off the internet. The newspaper? I'd think that's worse. Then you've found yourself someone who is stuck in the last century. And god know if they even know CPR has been invented.
For the ones you're on the waiting list, have you asked if they have any recommendations? Our daycare keeps a list of people/centers that take kids short term until a spot opens up.
I have been lucky seeing as the Ape is a SAHD but we have nanny agencies that actually come to your home to care for your child that way you know the environment that they are in...i don't envy you here because we wait until our kids are 3 and can enter the preschool - but that is also because they are special needs and are allowed into the public school system then.
We have a lady on our street that run home daycares. I assume she's normal, I've met she and she seemed ok....although it is weird that yarn is delivered in the morning and afghans and knitted hats are taken away each evening.
I haven't found a job yet, I'll watch him. Does he like grilled cheese?
One of the sponsors at BlogHer this year was a website called SitterCity. Have you tried there?
No, you're totally right. Newspapers are a waste of time. I only use websites to find my johns...er...plumbers. I'd totally watch your kid, but you'll have to be okay with my having company...(well, and drinking during the day, but that goes without saying in dayhomes, right?)
Good luck!
You tell her! Newspapers were around before internet anyway so she should just shut the hell up. Ok, now I'm saying that newspapers have creepy people in them, I'll shut up now...
I am so glad that my kids are in school full time now. Day care is a pain in the ass.
one idea ... check with your local elementary school to see if anyone has posted or if they know of any parents in the area that have a daycare ... or potentially to see if any teachers have left positions at the school to do daycare while their children are younger.
schools and teachers always seem to have knowledge of good daycares in the area.
I have a hard enough time leaving my darlings with a teen sitter so I can go out with my hubbie, I can't imagine someone else watching them every day!