Welcome to this year’s A to Z Challenge! This year I’m talking Child Care. I’ll be blogging topics related to my many years in the family home daycare profession. I hope you can find a tidbit of information that is useful in caring for children whether you’re a parent, grand or another important person in a child’s life. And to end each post, I’ll share a bit of my creative side/relaxation time. Taking time for yourself is good for your health–both yours and your family’s 😉

You could guess what generation I’m from by the title but it fits kids’ tall tales. With their sometimes outlandish stories, you’ll need to do a little observation to determine fact from fiction. It has certainly helped having a retired law enforcement detective in residence to help know the basic human signs of fibbing that can’t be hid. I say, use it all to your advantage.

Some things I hear are during interviews from prospective parents in search of care. Some discussions I’ve had during these meetings go like this: Do you leave? Do you have indoor/outdoor pets? Does your tv stay on all day? Do you watch Sponge Bob? Do you smoke? and one I found troubling was the Story of “I walked into the daycare, the sitter was sleeping in the recliner and didn’t know I left with my child”. Yikes! Nope I don’t take naps. And another tale, “I walked into the center and my child/or another persons child (I’ve been told both), was tied up to a chair with sheets”. The later (of seeing another person’s child) was told to me twice by 2 separate parents from 2 separate centers. I won’t divulge identities. But these, I’m happy to say, were reported to authorities and investigated. Bottom line, not everyone should be in this profession.

I also have my own set of questions for interviewees. Do you mind if we say a prayer at meals? Can you give me names of anyone who will possibly pick up your child–in writing. And I ask for ID’s. Are both parents ‘in the picture’? Do I need to have concern about estranged ex’s? My husband is retired law enforcement; are you ok with that? I can’t count the number of interviewees that never returned, or didn’t even show for the interviews during my husband’s years on the force. His patrol car parked out front may or may not have been a bit of an influence on that. 😉

Afterthought: There are so many directions I could have went with this whole subject so I decided to hit a bit of each. Maybe in the future I will elaborate more on the tall tales section of the kiddos. It truly would be disertation worthy. lol It makes me so curious to what paths their lives take. And I don’t mean that in a bad way at all. I just wonder for instance, if any of them will be famous authors? One can hope at least.

Sewing a lot every day but nothing fancy to share. Sorry folks. Maybe with the rainy weekend here I’ll be forced into more creativity. But my eldest cooked dinner last night and it was a new recipe. Here’s a little peek at our delish meal and the recipe. Our ingredients were changed up a bit, using home canned tomatoes versus fire roasted, plus it included all the tomato juice. Need our vegies, right?!

Hope you’ll take time to check out other A to Z blogs in the month on April. Click here to find the list. Click here for the Official A to Z blog. Have a great day and stay safe!!