How Involved Should I Be??

My son's sitter also does the journal thing. It started out with things that are really important with a small infant such as how many ounces he ate, wet and dirty diapers, etc. The sitter just made up a little form that she fills out and gives to me each day. I'm religious about reading it because she lets me know of things that she doesn't get a chance to tell me when I pick him up. I have saved every paper that she has given me and keep them stacked in order. Now it's been over a year since it started and I love to look back at what he did and when. It's especially nice because I'm not always good about writing in his baby book myself. Best of all is that I feel like I have a good record, and we will read them together when he is older. I'll probably make a book out of them some day.

i agree with Beth...maybe once a week come early or try to stay a few minutes more....you can find out more about what your child did and also get to know the provider a little better. i also get notes for my daughter too about nap, eating lunch, toliet and injuries...they also seem to tell me about every time she cries or throws a fit (she is 2 so it happens about once a day)....this can be tmi, but i guess they feel comfortable telling me the good and the bad.

When my daughter was younger she was in alot of different daycares.And I felt like I was missing out on alot too. Most daycares are good about giving you a paper or daily report sheet with how long they napped, when they had a bowel movement etc., If they had any concerns they would write it in etc.. But that never satisified me. I wanted to know everything, I wanted to chat with the providers and hear about the majority of her day etc.. Reality is they don't have time to chat and you usually I didn't either. So I would drop my daughter off earlier than I wanted some days to give me a extra few minutes to check up on my daughter. That's how it mostly went otherwise my daughter started a Montessori school at age2 and they didn't talk at all, just gave a daily note. But they did do confrences every few months and really informed me of alot.

K. ~ I see that you have many responses, but I'd like to give you an answer FROM a daycare provider's point of view. ;) All of the mommies here had great suggestions as far as the journaling goes. For me personally, I only do daily reports for infants (under age 1)....simply because I care for a total of 8 full time kids, and 2 pt kids (3 are my own). So time is an issues when it comes to paperwork.

I do have families that pick up earlier and have a few minutes to chat. I usually give the parents a verbal run down of the daily things that happened. How many times they popped (I've got 3 potty training now, so I use stickers to help remind me AND make it fun for the kids...LOL), what they ate (I give monthly menus on the 1st Monday of the month), and I also provide a calendar of special events in the month (holiday parties, birthdays, payment due dates, etc.).

I would just talk to your provider and let her know your concerns. If she's anything like me, she has an open door policy and WANTS to know that you're concerned and would like to know about your dd's fun things she did during the day, what time she slept, etc.

HTH!!!

J.

If you feel like you're missing out, let your provider know. See if there's anything she can do to help. Can she journal for you. Can she give you a run down of the accomplishments your daughter had for the day. Is there something your daughter seems to have trouble/issues with? If so, does she have any suggestions? IS she acting differently than normal? If so, can you and she figure out what might be leading to is. See if there's anything she talks to the other parents about, that might pertain to you and your daughter. These are things I talk to my provider about.

My provider journals for the kids. She writes, what they ate, when they slept and how long, when they were changed and were they wet or messy. My oldest isn't journaled anymore because I have a 6 month old and I'm pretty familiar with the older ones routine. It's nice to see what their daily routine is. IF your provider doesn't journal, I guess I'd just ask. How did she do with lunch, how long did she sleep. Was she crabby, was there anything non typical that seemed to be going on.

My provider also makes sure to advise us if say one kid hits our son and she says "I checked for a mark, but didn't see one. So let me know if you see anything."

Sometimes if my kids end up with rash and their poops are different than normal, she'll ask if they had extra juice or if they ate anything different recently. It helps her and it helps me.

Just things like that. I also have conversations with my provider, she just talks about her day...sometimes says what issues the other kids had. She's got 5 kids, 2 are mine, one is hers, and two are two different parents kids. I'm familiar with their parents and their kids, so that's probably why she talks about the other kids.

My DC providor e-mails me during the day while I'm at work. She'll usually tell me how the day is going with the kids or if she has any questions. I'll also e-mail her if I forget to tell her things or if they're getting picked up early some time.