Not taking new families to keep husband safe in Sacramento County

Provider:

I have a small family daycare out of my home. I have five kids. I have two little girls that are sisters. She's almost eight and she'll be eight next month. So say seven and a half and a 10 year old. Then I have my three grandchildren here. My youngest one is four. The middle one is seven and the oldest one is 12. Through the pandemic I kind of decided just to stick with what I had plus I'm older, so I'm not going to pick up any new kids right now. I did close the month of April. I was just kind of scared like I think the rest of the world and did not want to take any chances. So I did close for the month of April, but I opened back up in May. My husband is 73 and he has a heart condition and stuff so it kind of scared me to bring her the girls in not knowing you know, where they've been and what they've been doing. Just the unknown of everything in the beginning in May, I decided to open back up. I did follow all the guidelines and stuff with the hand sanitizer, taking their temperature, and kind of talked to the parents about, you know, if they could kind of like stay out of the limelight a little bit, you know? We did okay, so I kind of just stuck with it because it's worked. The pandemic really kind of scared me and I was on edge a little bit. So yeah, I did have a few families and through the school and stuff that people had called, but I just didn't feel comfortable picking up total strangers that I didn't know. There were a few times, like one family did venture out and it did scare me and maybe I missed a day or so here and there with that. That's all and all because they're great. Actually, the two girls live with their grandparents. The grandparents have custody of them, and the grandmother has diabeetus so they kind of stayed in unquiet, too. So they did both work through it. She works for the state and they have a lot of people at her office. So I felt comfortable with that because she was around. I mean when you were around the same group of people, you know what I'm saying? And not a lot of exposures out and about. So yeah, we did. We did good.

We still are doing distanced learning. I did not feel comfortable with the kids going back to school, especially the weirdness, they went back to school. I mean, we did start in April back to school where they went, or they go and they started off two days a week, like three hours a day. My parents didn't feel good about that nor did I feel good with the running around and being around the other kids. So we just stayed with the distanced learning. We've done good with distanced learning. I think the kids have learned a lot. I think they're pretty much staying on track. So, we'll wait and see what happens this fall, they say they're going to go back.

Interviewer:

Can you talk a little bit about the adjustment of having to assist with distance learning?

Provider:

Oh, my goodness, it's been a challenge! It's been a challenge. I know last year, when they did the distanced learning is what they did, I think they did it for May. I think it was either like four or five weeks, it was a mess, it was very difficult, because I really struggled with that. I think that teachers struggled with that as well as the kids. And as a person.. as an adult trying to help the children. It was very difficult, very difficult. But I do believe now that distanced learning since we started in September, August. Whenever we started, I don't remember, the teachers are more aware, they've got a better structural plan. As a person that kind of is in charge of that, we've gotten the kids on a routine, and they seem to be doing really well with it now. And that was one reason why we didn't want to, like break up what was working, you know going back to the thing, when this works, don't mess up or mess with that. So it was working and the kids were learning and so we felt that it was a better choice to go ahead and let them finish out the year like this and then start off next year, which is probably more than likely back at school the way that it looks. In between, I have gotten both of my COVID shots. My husband has got both of his COVID shots.

Interviewer:

Were there any changes you had to make?

Provider:

Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Yes, my internet, my house internet could not take it because I had the four Chromebooks and then my oldest grandson is here once in a while and he's in college too. It was a mouse. So the school actually offered me a hotspot that works for Chromebooks, which is perfect. So I was using my hotspot on my cell phone, and I was using up all my data and it was blowing my phone up. So I talked to the school and they did offer me a hotspot and I got a hotspot from the district office. We don't seem to have a problem anymore with the internet, we seem to be doing well. I mean, there are mornings like that have happened to the lights, whether they call it the home page or the Google, whatever is down, but it's not just down for us. It is down for the whole district, that we've seen. We seem to do really well with it now. I did actually increase my home internet. Because I was hoping that would work, but the area that we live in, of course, is older, so they don't offer the high tech in our neighborhood. So even when I increased it, it didn't do any good.

Interviewer:

Were there any other additional expenses that you had?

Provider:

FOOD, FOOD! It's crazy. Because I never had to provide, you know, they usually came to me in the morning and ate breakfast and then we did an afternoon snack. So now you know, we have, of course, they eat breakfast at home, but then they all come and they still have to have that mid afternoon snack and then we have lunch. A whole lot of my life has changed for sure. I feel like I'm the teacher, the janitor, the daycare provider, so my role has changed a lot for sure. I do feel at the end of the day that I am probably due to my age as well more worn out, mind wise from sitting with the kids, my eyes have gone bad. I had to go. In fact, I just went last weekend. I'm getting glasses because of looking at computer screens all the time and, you know, those are things that I didn't do before. I mean it is a challenge. I have a first grader, a second grader, a fourth grader, and a sixth grader. They at first tried to, you know, pull the strings and do just the bare necessities and, and I have a good rapport with the teachers, they all have my cell phone number, I have their cell phone number, so we're in contact all the time. When the kids mess up, they let us know we're gonna get them back on track. Like I said, this year, it's been much better. The first grader and the second grader have been a total challenge. My second grader because of missing out the last few months of first grade, she did lose some reading and you know, the skills that they need to move on, you know, so it took a lot of extra time working with them like I said, but we're doing really good right now. All three of them do tutoring in the afternoon after we get out of school. So, sometimes we go to school till 3:30 in the afternoon, which is quite different from helping with just homework in the afternoon for sure and then I have my four year old too that, you know, sometimes I feel that he's left out. So I've been doing preschool too. We got him on track, too, so now it's a routine and, and they don't fight you on it because you know, how kids are because once you get on a routine with kids, they adapt, you know? Like I said, it has been a learning experience. But we survived and I believe the kids have prospered and moved on, you know, they have learned so I feel that that's a good thing. I want to pat myself on the back because I feel that I've done pretty good, but the days are much longer. They feel like that even though they're the same hours, but I can't get that break when they're at school.

Interviewer:

Have you been getting paid more because they're in your care more?

Provider:

Yes, I have. Because I have them for a full day, instead of just a few hours. I used to get them at 6:30am in the morning, and then you know, they would go to school at eight. So we'd leave here around 7:30am or so and then I wouldn't get them back after two and then they usually are picked up by 5:30pm. That's the latest. So yes, I have them for the full day now.

Interviewer:

And so you said that you got some requests for some referrals, throughout this time, so you didn't want to take new families. Is that something that you think you would have done before the pandemic, would have taken the new children?

Provider:

I may have, I really may have if they would have fit into my schedule, you know, age wise, school wise, you know, because I do transfer back and forth to school and stuff. So, yes, I probably would have done that, but because of the pandemic, I just didn't. And it's not that, you know, I think everybody in the world is bad. It's just that, you know, I have had in my lifetime, I've done daycare, and I've done daycare, since my daughter was born in ‘82, so almost 40 years. I have had bad experiences, but I've had great experiences. I've made lifelong friends doing daycare, you know, but I have had bad experiences. I just felt with the pandemic, that it didn't want to take that chance and it's hard to tell people. I have been told by the state and from Child Action, that, you need to interview your parents, and you need to tell them that they need to make sure that they don't come into your house, and they don't touch things. To me, that's impersonal and that's not the way I've ever done things, you know, so to put stipulations on people’s lifestyle, to fit my lifestyle, I didn't think that was fair. It was very scary. In May, when I take the girls back, I was very wary and I was very worried and the worst thing I think, sort of this whole pandemic has been the social media, because you see what your families are doing and your friends with social media, and then you're like, Oh, my God, do I like the back of my house? Do I love my back at my house? You know, and you're trying to explain to the kids that you can't be all over each other because as little ones, I mean, they've all grown up together. You know, they want to be all over each other and is that a good thing? Is that not a good thing? Well, today, it's not a good thing. Now we're teaching them completely differently than we taught them before, you know? They don't understand at first and then like I said, I was a little paranoid at first and we've got hand sanitizer. Everybody knows now when they walk in the door, they have to hand sanitize and you know, I'm always telling them to wash their hands and tell me a billion times, “do we really have to wash them again?”, “Yes, you do”. You can never wash them enough and it is so cute. I mean, it's the basics that we should have been teaching them all along that we kind of like got lackadaisical. I feel as Americans as human beings, that now is so important in life.

Interviewer:

Can you talk about cost, like increased costs or time or procedures?

Provider:

Toilet paper was crazy. I still tell them today, only a few squares of toilet paper because when the toilet paper thing was going on, it was like oh my god, we went through so much toilet paper. You get through a lot of paper with kids anyways, so yeah, toilet paper was a big thing. Hand sanitizer, definitely hand sanitizer versus going online and I got ripped off more than one time by hand sanitizer.

It was hard to find cleaning supplies, it was crazy to find cleaning supplies. Just kind of took it easy on what you did have and tried to do your best, a lot of lysol spray, which I always use lysol spray anyways. I’m kind of a clean freak and when you have kids, you know, their hands are everywhere. So I do use a ton more Clorox wipes than I ever used to, but kids always have to clean their devices and stuff, especially like their Chromebooks and stuff. I make them clean their own areas. I'm a clean freak, but the cleaning supplies were a huge thing, but I'm pretty much so stocked up on cleaning supplies now and child action did help me a lot. I did get ripped off on a thermometer, one of them because it's so much easier doing the one that they do on their forehead or online because I couldn't find it at the store. You know, it was a learning experience for me too, because I had never shopped online before, which now I feel that I'm pretty good at it, but it was very difficult. It definitely was a difficult few months of getting things because I mean, cleaning supplies, you basically picked up when you were getting empty, you know, It’s not that I kept a ton of cleaning. So it did struggle with cleaning supplies. I'll be 62 next week and have never shopped online. If I wanted something, he jumped in the car, and he went and bought it, you know? And that all changed. Then it was scary to go to the stores and stuff. So yeah, it was all scary and like I said, it was a change in learning how to buy for all day for the kids. I mean, you always do that through the summer or when they're off track or on vacations or whatever, but that is completely different to do it all the time.

Interviewer:

You spent a lot more money getting cleaning?

Provider:

Oh, yes. I still think now that I'm spending more. I think all of that stuff has gone up in price for sure. Yes, I spend a lot more on cleaning supplies. If I had my figures, which I don't have in front of me for my taxes. If I remember correctly, I spent like three or $400 more last year on cleaning supplies than I ever had before. They did pay me for the month of April when I did close down. I didn't expect that, so that was a huge bonus. But, yes and then that was another reason because they had told me if I didn't open up for May they would not pay me. So that was another reason why I did go ahead and take the chance to open up because I mean it is a financial burden when you have a regular income coming in and then all of a sudden you don't. My husband is retired, so he gets a social security check and then we have my income.

Interviewer:

Is there any other impact the pandemic has had?

Provider:

It's definitely opened my eyes to a lot of things. Like I said, a lot of other people in the world have gotten very lackadaisical about what is very important, like, you know, hand sanitizing, cleaning, making sure the kids are, you know, not touching each other and being in each other's face. If the kid had the sniffles, come on over. Now, the kid has the sniffles? You're not coming over, you know. It did open my eyes a lot and made me more aware of things that I never worried about that I do worry about now. I think it's added more stress. I mean, it's not as stressful now as it was last year at this time. Last year, at this time, it was like, “Oh, my gosh, you know, are we gonna survive? You know, is everybody going to be okay?.” And I do feel a little more relaxed that we have the COVID shot

Interviewer:

What would you say has been the hardest part of being a childcare provider during the pandemic?

Provider:

Worrying about everybody, you know, wanting everybody to be safe as well as my own. As a child care provider, when I have kids, they're like my kids, they're my grandkids. When I take a child in, I love that child, just the same as I love my own. So I worry, like I said, I do and I still do too. Just last weekend, I was worried about them, their grandfather played in a band and they went to a restaurant. I was worried, you know, are they going to come back sick? Are they going to be okay? Just the chance of that happening? I think that once they start vaccinating the kids that will help with that. I was worried about the kids going back to school, like my first graders always putting things in his mouth and you know, sneezing, wiping it all over. You know that’s just how kids are, are they going to bring it back from school because that could happen.

Interviewer:

Has there been anything that's helped you get through this?

Provider:

Praying a lot. I love having the kids around, it does relax me. It did put me on edge having my kids around. I was very worried about that, you know with my husband, but basically, I think I would be fine if I got it, but who knows. But I’d be more apt, if something would have happened to my husband. I’d feel really bad about that, or, you know, any family member? Child Action was a huge help in answering questions and helping me through things, like the state and the licensing board and stuff. They answer them, but ya know, it took them longer to answer my questions because the state gives you all kinds of rules and regulations you had to follow. and it was just an email. So, it was very difficult, it was difficult, and I would be lying if I said it wasn’t difficult, but ya know, I worked through it and they did help me. So, we made it through it!