Helpful Mom Accused of Running Outlaw Day Care

You have to be kidding! My friends and I swapped baby sitting my entire married life and I used to babysit for fifty cents an hour when I was a preteen and teenager! Was I a criminal? Hardly. It has been done forever and will be done forever. I am a single working mom and could NEVER afford licensed day care for my kids. I paid friends and friends kids to watch my kids. The government should regulate and watch over licensed day care providers who are being paid for professional services and receiving subsidies from the government. But-- to do friends a favor so they can go out in the evenings or to keep an eye on each others children for safety sake is non of the governments business! For heavens sake, are our tax dollars seriously paying for this?

I don't think it's an issue of safety at all. There is a difference between neighbors/friends babysitting each others kids for a little while and running a full-fledged day care.

As a parent, you accept risk every single time you let your kids go to someone else's house, in someone else's car, etc. Accidents happen, whether a person is trained in first aid/safety issues or not. If you don't trust your neighbor/friend to watch your kids, then you don't let them go there, plain and simple. This situation seems like a mutually agreeable one.

This woman is simply a babysitter. She's only watching them for less than an hour at a time, and she's not receiving any compensation.

To me, a daycare involves meal/snack preparation, organized activities, and is run as a business where you seek new clients to maintain a specific population to maintain a steady income.

What about a parent who volunteers to watch her friend's kids while the parents go out to dinner and a movie? If the kids come to her house is it a daycare? What if she goes to their house and watches them in their home? Is it babysitting? In reality, what difference does it make?

The only thing I can possibly think of that might make her a "daycare" vs a "babysitter" is the number of kids she watches at a time. I can see setting a limit of 3 or 4 kids - any more than that would probably constitute a daycare.

The people upset by these babysitting situations are the same ones who think kids should have a permit to set up a lemonade stand at the end of their driveway. Why must everything be regulated out of fear?

Oh yes! Thank the Lord that our blessed, wonderful government stepped in to fix this terrible problem! Those kids should be standing outside in the rain with umbrellas, NOT being supervised by one of their friend's moms. Where do their parents get off letting a responsible adult keep an eye on their children as a neighborly favor? Next thing you know, people will be borrowing cups of sugar and lending out garden tools. Without a license OR government permission. All Hell breaking loose! Let us all praise the State - the Government is your friend - they are here to help us! If we just follow their rules, we will be safe and we will never have to think again!

Sally,

You have got to be joking or the dumbest person on the planet. How is a license going to stop her from being sued if "something goes wrong?" It won't. This is a case of government gone crazy. With all of the stories of kids getting abducted while waiting for a bus, I applaud this mom for stepping up and letting these kids stay at her house until the bus comes.

Every minute of a child's life is an issue of safety. An hour in a school-age'd child's life does not need to be regulated by the government. Besides, surely this woman's house/yard is safer than the classroom / schoolyard, or the bus stop / school bus. The only reason to require a license for this level of service is to collect taxes.

I wonder if there is a daycare provider in the neighborhood who wants to actually be paid for watching these kids, and this is how she thinks she'll make it happen. Or maybe this woman is getting paid under the table, and someone thinks she ought to come clean and pay taxes. Or maybe some parent has a grudge against this woman. Either way, this law is over-broad / poorly written. If it stands, then most of the parents I know (and many of their friends) are criminals too.

So its better that they stand in the rain with umbrellas, or whatever the weather may be, and possibly get kidnapped, raped, never seen again, or killed? Great Idea, It must be wonderful for you to know that the government is taking away all of our freedoms and rights little by little. Think before you speak, accidents happen but i would rather leave my kids with a trusted friend than alone or with the government who will teach them that the wrong way and forget the history lessons.

Sally,
How is this any different than if a child came over to play and got injured. If your friends would sue you when you are doing them a favor, you need new friends.

so you must have never used a friend to watch your child(ren) while you ran to the store or hired a baby sitter for date night with your hubby, or let your child(ren) have sleepovers with their friends right?