Since I started my home daycare in July of 2023, I have found myself exploring and researching different topics relating to the field of Early Childhood Education. These interests go beyond the coursework and relate to what I have witnessed and experienced in direct relation to the children I care for in my home.
The first topic I have found a great interest in is Outdoor/Forest Schools. My children had the opportunity to attend a forest school this past fall, I saw a huge difference in their overall behaviour and attitudes toward school. They were excited to share what they learned that day and came home tired, but not burnt out. This led me to research more about the benefits of outdoor learning and how it affects not only children but adults and people who are neurodivergent. I then had the opportunity to research more about this topic in one of my courses, here you can read about what I learned.
The second topic that I am interested in is how home daycare licensing agencies are founded and work. I have been reading both the Ontario Home Daycare licensing manual and the childcare centre manual extensively to learn what is incorporated into both and what their differences are. This directly relates to my overall goal to open more licensed childcare spaces in my area. Right now in Minden/Haliburton County, there are only two licensed centres and unlicensed home providers. The need in our area has grown substantially, especially since more remote work has opened up since COVID-19. I have contacted many home licensing agencies in our area and came to find out that no agency has licensed anyone in our area, WeeWatch in particular didn't have the resources to travel this way for inspections. I also contacted our MPP Laurie Scott, and Human Services at the City of Kawartha Lakes. Although I have received replies, nothing has come from the contact yet.
This gives me another purpose in pursuing my Early Childhood Education Diploma, with that I hope that I can start an application to open my own home childcare licensing agency, to help families access subsidies and CWELCC funding. There are currently 49 spaces available at Compass - Minden and Haliburton Wee Care having very limited space for children under 18 months. Right now in the county, there is a wait-list with the average time to receive licensed care being around 4 years.
With a unlicensed home care provider being able to take 5 children with stipulations, such as only 3 under 24 months or counting your own children under the age of 4 years. It is hard for parents to reenter the work environment after their paternity leave. Before I even set out to open a home daycare, I saw the effects of this within our community, with seeing very little movement on the child care waitlist and priority given to siblings of families.
I would like to see a overhaul in the way that child care is approached. I love the new integration of How Does Learning Happen?, and the holistic approach to education, but the system as a whole is failing families and childcare workers. There may be judgement on what a unlicensed provider ultamitly does, that we just sit around and collect "massive amounts of income" because we charge so much per day. It is unfortunate and I wish that I didn't have to charge the amounts I do, I understand that childcare is expensive, but I want the service I provide to families be something they can be proud of, most of what I make goes right back into the daycare or my education to further enhance the service I provide.
It makes me look at places across Canada, and even into the United States to see how they fund and operate daycare centres, home daycare providers and family care centres. While each place has a different set of expectations, one thing I have noticed is that in other places licenses are set out by premises and that there are opportunities for different ratios of children in a home care setting.
I am unsure what would work in Ontario, but I know that if there was a way for providers to care for additional children, that it would benefit more families. Now I am not saying do away with regulations or rules, but if there was a more accessible way for providers to hold a license, to be inspected and provide additional spaces, it would be wonderful.
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