I also find the TV rule sad. When I worked in childcare, it was a rare occasion when we had a “movie day.” Once a month, tops?

My personal feelings regarding television have changed over the years. When I would babysit 8 or 10 years ago, I saw no problem with allowing the kids to watch TV — I viewed it as a special treat on a night where they had a babysitter.

Now, however, I’ve realized that most kids watch TV so often that it’s not really a treat. I almost never turn on the TV when I am babysitting now, and the kids I watch regularly don’t even ask anymore. Without the temptation of TV, they seem to have more fun playing, anyway.

I should have clarified my post. At the time, the rules for in-house daycare and licensed centers were the same except that licensed daycares had to be in a separate building not attached to a home, for example you couldn’t turn your garage into a school and call it done.

I went and looked today’s rules up for the state. Daycare centers licensed with VT with no more than 59 children must have a director or head teacher who holds a teaching degree. The ratio of children to daycare providers cannot exceed 10:1 for those under Kindergarten age or 13:1 for those over kindergarten age. So it’s really no better here than it was back in the 90s.

I find another rule pretty sad. More than 1/3 of the day cannot be dedicated to watching movies or television. That means that if your kid is in the center for 9 hours, for three of those hours the child may be sat down watching TV. Now by no means am I a perfect parent or surrogate mom, but usually I cut off my best friend’s toddler after two 1/2 hour shows and have him to play with me or we’ll go outside and wander around the neighborhood. Now I know why he’s so addicted to the television and throws a fit when I only let him watch Dora and Diego and nothing else.

For the record, I was talking about ratios in daycare centers, not in-home daycares. I don’t know what the rules are for those here, but I think they gauge it by the size of your house (or the size of the area you intend to have the kids in).

I’m glad we sacrificed a lot to make sure I was home with both of our kids. Just seeing the difference in them today is well worth it. Meanwhile, the families here who put their kids in daycares or gave them a key and had them stay home alone after school. It’s depressing.

There are five girls in this neighborhood who had kids before their 19th birthday. One more is due next month. A 16 year old is about to become a dad. One died after getting into a fight at a high school party. One is in jail for drug crimes and another is heading that way.

I live in a quiet, family neighborhood, so this has been a wake-up call to me that it might not just be poor or city areas where things like this are happening. I think lack of parental involvement is the key issue.

The ratio (in Colorado at least) is 5 infants/one-year-olds per teacher, 7 two-year-olds per teacher, 10 three-year-olds, or 12 four-year-olds. Daycare for school-agers is 15 per teacher, but at one center I worked for they were able to bump up the kindergarten room to 25 per teacher simply by making it a “private” kindergarten program.

Those ratios are high enough, but unfortunately many daycares bend the rules a little…or a lot. At one center I worked for, I had 20-some 3-year-olds all by myself every morning for about an hour (more if the second teacher was late).

Yes, but Switzerland is known for very high-quality care. And at least the price is determined on your income. Many American families, particularly single parents, can’t come close to being able to afford $600 a month!

All I can say is, they get what they pay for.

And, Phil, I agree with you — too many parents see daycare as an alternative to raising their kids. I saw some really sad things when I worked in childcare.

Re: Nasty letters:

Well, I have to admit, until I saw the mention of the nasty comment on another site, I thought that was me Deb was talking about. LOL.

I have to say that although I never would have written a nasty note over $25 per 500 words — which, as people have already pointed out, can be pretty good depending on what your hourly ends up being — I have been known to give the $1-per-article clients a piece of my mind from time to time. I usually just skip over that kind of ad on the job boards, too, but I’ve had it happen where there is no rate posted (or a different one), and when I apply I get an email offering me a buck per 500 words or something equally ridiculous. In those cases, I usually do write back and tell them in no uncertain terms that their rates are insulting.

My emails to such clients usually go something like this: “Thanks for your response. Unfortunately, as a professional writer, I do not work for lower than…” It’s not blasting, but I think it gets the point across just the same, if not better.

I do agree that if you do that too frequently or with the wrong people you could get blacklisted. However, usually the clients offering $1 per article are not really “in the business” to blacklist you, anyway. Joe Schmoe thinking he’s going to get rich on Adsense does not qualify as someone you need to worry about.