A MINUTE in the life of family child care...

...The soup is boiling over on the stove, you accidentally close Susie's finger in the door as you come out of the bathroom from helping Johnny, and you knock over the pitcher of juice you just made, on the way to the stove to rescue the soup!

AN HOUR in the life of a family child care ..

. . . The phone rings five times, Josh carries playdough into the living room while you answer the phone and usher Jennifer to the bathroom. You wash your hands, find Josh and start helping him clean up the playdough when the phone rings again. Meanwhile Jennifer has done her duty in the toilet, added a bar of soap and a half a roll of toilet paper and decides it's time to flush. You hear squeals from the bathroom as you finish changing the baby's diaper. You rush to the bathroom to find water all over the floor as the phone rings again, and you find Jennifer trying to mop up the water with her clothes! You throw towels on the floor as you assess the situation and assure the kids that lunch is on the way. You change one more messy diaper, answer the phone again, and head for the kitchen just as George dumps out all the blocks you just picked up in the playroom!

A DAY in the life of a family child care...

...The baby you care for arrives an hour and a half early, another client informs you that their check to you bounced; halfway through the morning Julie throws up and you try to contact her parents. You discover you have no hot water when you go to clean up Julie for the second time, and lunch burns while you're checking the hot water heater. Still you try to reach Julie's parents. The rest of the kids are no longer waiting patiently for the lunch that burned but are now wrecking the playroom you just picked up. You finally have lunch completed, kids down for nap and manage to catch up while the baby naps for forty-five minutes. As the baby wakes up, your school-agers arrive with a new swear word at snack, which the toddlers are now repeating. You SMILE as you give them crackers and juice for snack, and hope that the day will soon be over...when a parent calls to inform you that they will be late picking up their child tonight. You try to reach Julie's parents one more time. Every child runs to another room when their parents come in and your husband comes in happily asking, "What's for dinner?"...Evan's older brother arrives with his mom and begins to play with everything you just put away and refuses to go home when mom is ready. Julie manages a miraculous recovery thirty minutes before her parents arrive and you feel frustrated and confused. You finally manage dinner and realize you have to go to the grocery store before care tomorrow. By the time shopping is finished and groceries are put away you crawl into bed at 11pm and dream of a better tomorrow!