Potty Training At Pamm's House

 

This is the handout I give to parents when they are interested in potty training their child . . .

If you are a child care provider, please feel free to use this flyer, just change my name and the information to suit your needs.

Here's more information . . .

Family Style Daycare

What does "Family Style Day Care" mean? It is care for your child, but in my home. My home consists of me, a mom, and my family including pets.  Our family is similar to your family. As a mom I care for your child's basic needs, loving and playing with him in my home.

Family-style daycare is an advantage over a child care center because:

♥ INDIVIDUAL ATTENTION: As your child's caregiver, I will get to know your child very well. I am not one of a staff of people who will be caring for your child, but your child's primary caregiver.

♥ FAMILY ATMOSPHERE: Your child will be exposed to a family each day, while he is in my care. We eat our meals together, play together, learn together, etc. Additionally, there is lots of supervised free play, just like home!

♥ HEALTH: There's less chances of germs being passed around. I can't promise that your child will never become ill, but the less people your child is exposed to, the less likely your child will become ill.

♥ SAFETY: Care homes are safer than a center. The caregiver to child ratio is kept low. Our home is checked often for safety hazards, inspected by the fire department, and cleaned often. There are specific safety guidelines I must adhere to.

Communication & Technology

With so many ways to communicate, I feel it necessary to make it clear where you will find information about your child while at Pamm’s House.

INTERNET -- A Green Way To Communicate & Share

Pamm’s House Blog:  In the blog I share recipes, photos of the children, slide shows, parenting information, announcements of upcoming events such as parties, etc. Pamm’s House Blog serves as a “green newsletter”. Blog posts will be emailed to you.

Pamm’s House Google Calendar (sample below):  I have a Google Calendar set up for each child in my care. The calendar is private, password protected, and by invitation only. This is where I record times I give your child medicine, any minor injuries (bumps, scratches, bruises), behavior problems, generally how your child’s day is going, lunch menus (for those old enough), cute things your child might do or say, etc. Although I will discuss these things with you at the time you pick-up your child, the calendar is a record you are able to read and/or print. I encourage you to add doctor appointments, vacation dates, medication notes, and other information you share with me.

Digital Photos:  I do my best to get a few photos of each child each week. Each photo containing your child will be emailed directly to you about once a week (from there you are welcome to print or forward them to your family and friends). Some photos are added to the blog and occasionally, photos are used for art projects.

Online Payments:  Pamm’s House accepts cash or online payments through PayPal (a green way to pay). Payments may be set up to be automatic or one-time payments.

COMMUNICATIONS

Talking In Person, Written Notes, and Your Child’s Cubby:  Each day I will verbally give you a brief update of your child’s day. Occasionally, I will have a note you will find in your child’s cubby along with any dirty clothing or other items to go home. Please check your child’s cubby daily; take home dirty clothing and replace with a clean clothes the next day.

Telephone, Texting and Email:  For communication that needs to be done quickly during the work day like asking you a question, I am able to either call on the phone, text, or send an email. You can communicate with me using any of these methods. Keep in mind it is not always practical for me to answer the phone, return a text, or reply in email immediately, but I can almost always get back to you in a few minutes (like I’m sure happens at your job). In an emergency, you will always tried to be reached first by phone.

SUMMARY

Please communicate :). Keep me up to date with what’s going on with your child and family. Let me know if you gave your child medication, if he/she had a rough night, or anything else. I can’t fix a problem I don’t know exists, so please bring any concern you have to my attention. I am approachable, easy to work with, and want to work with you to do what’s best for your child.

I’m working to let you know what goes on at my house through photos, blog, calendar, and other updates.

Pamm's House Program

I used this handout to explain to parents how my program works.

Pamm's House Calendar

Before there were daycare apps and other tools, I used Google Calendar. This method can still work today. It's simple and free!

Sample Menus and Activities

Before there were daycare apps and other tools, I used Google Calendar. This method can still work today. It's simple and free!

For each family I care for, I make a Google Calendar that is private between me and the parent. I fill in the calendar with updates of what the child has done during the day, any medicine given, what was served for meals and snacks, and anything else noteworthy. Parents can check the calendar at work to see their child's progress. I don't always get to update throughout the day, so I let parents know I will update by nap time for sure. This has helped parents who like to check on their child daily.

Developmental Checklists

 

For a long time, I saw no reason to ever use a Development Checklist for children. My philosophy has been that children develop at their own pace and should not be expected to hit "milestones" at any certain age.

But, then I had a child that seemed slow to develop. Not just slow, but super slow. Thankfully, her parents noticed it, too, and had her evaluated and she got the help she needed. I saw a positive change in this little girl very soon after she started getting some outside therapy. She was back on track for hitting those milestones not too far behind her friends of the same age in my daycare.

I saw how not measuring up to basic developmental milestones was a red flag for a child who is not meeting most of those targets. I began to see that a checklist was not to measure the children against one another or against someone's idea of when a milestone should be accomplished on a timeline, but it can be used for a tool to alert you, the parent or caregiver, when something should be checked out.

As parents or caregivers it's not our job to diagnose, but to know when it's time for a professional to be contacted. I am including these Developmental Checklists for you to use as a tool. I have included different types of checklists so you can choose what works best for you.

From ECDC

From The Arc

From Foundation Years

You can also check out Assessment Forms from PreKinders.

Raising Your Child Care Rates

Raising rates is never easy and when I knew it was time to raise mine, I went to my online friends and asked what was the best way to do this. I got some great advice that I'd like to share with you:

* Don't go on and on about how prices on everything has raised. The prices have raised for them, too, and it won't help to remind them.

* Highlight the programs, materials, and services you offer.

* Tell what you do to keep your child care going: Trainings you attend and stay in compliance with the Health Department, Licensing, etc.

* Mention that in order to maintain the quality of care you provide you must increase your rate.

* Let the parents know that this is a hard decision for you.

How do you fit it all in?

How do you fit it all in?  This is the question I hear from just about everyone.  The answer is simple:  Prioritize.  Here is a response to an email from Juli who asks:  Is there time for everything?

I have to constantly and consciously make time for the most important things. When there are lots of things to do, I usually make a list, prioritize, then go down the list one by one.

DH stays home and we run the daycare and homeschool together, taking turns doing each and giving each other breaks. We all work together as a family and that's most of our family time.

I get up early, often, to read email.

My personality requires alone time daily. After daycare and after family dinner, I usually go to my room and spend an hour or two reading the Bible, preparing lessons, writing letters, reading, or ? Our kids are teens and they spend that time with dh, internet time, or in their rooms listening to music, doing homework, out with friends, or doing whatever. The late evening, DH and I spend together, just the two of us...sometimes it's hours, sometimes it's a few minutes.

On Saturday our daughter and I do the grocery shopping as well as hit the thrift stores and browse for items for her room, daycare equipment, and whatever. We have lots of fun without the guys and we go out to lunch. Our son and DH stay home and work on guy projects (cars, carpentry, etc.) We usually bring them a special lunch home.

Sunday, we have family worship (our kids go to a youth group on Wednesday nights and we worship at home the rest of the week). I spend the whole day in my p.j.s. After worship, I usually spend the day on the internet, napping, cooking something special, or? I do relaxing things....a day of rest.

A little game I try to play during the week is to do as much of the house work as possible during daycare hours. I will ask our own children, "Do you want to switch the laundry or read the daycare kids a book?" or "Do you want to load the dishwasher or play Ring-Around-the-Rosie's with the kids?" or "Do you want to cook dinner or do art with the kids?" That way, if our teens are tired of toddlers, they have an option to do something different and the housework gets done.

We have a VERY relaxed view on homeschooling. We cover the basics with formal curriculum, but most of the schooling is life....they read library books, look up things on the internet, watch PBS programs about lots of subjects, and of course, lots and lots of child development is happening right here at home.

I started out with a ridged textbook schooling, but quickly found out it wasn't going to work for us. When I went to no school at all, our son taught himself to read, add and subtract, etc. I found playing games and answering their natural questions they learned way more than from a text book. Gradually I've added more and more required reading and writing.

Something that is also important to us is that our children are productive members of society....they can do laundry, dishes, cook, care for the dog, watch kids, etc. We started at a young age with these things (both dh and I were not required to do these things as children). I really feel this is just as important as academics.

I hope that answers the question.
~ Pamm

Child Care Tips Handout

 

Here's a printable handout.  Feel free to print and keep or pass along.

New Day Care Provider Checklist

I get a lot of email asking for a list of things to get started in daycare.  Because the needs of each child care is unique, state licensing requirements are different in various areas, and there's a different set of needs if you have toddlers than if you have 4-year-olds, it's impossible to have a "Standard List" that suits everyone.  This is a guideline to get you started.