So this is actually the same place as the “racial stereotyping” story. The child I was seeing was 1 of 2 children in the daycare at the time - all the other children were sick. I’m filling out my billing sheet (we work with the child for 45 minutes and then spend 15 minutes doing the billing) and all of the sudden I hear snoring. The kid was sitting on the daycare “teacher’s” lap and she fell asleep within 3 minutes!! When I was done writing, I tried to make a lot of noise to wake her up, but no such luck. I shuffled my feet over to her to get her to sign the sheet and she finally woke up. This was last week.

Today she did it again. WTF

I no longer see this family because the child has aged out (when a child turns 3, they lose our services). But I will never forget them.

The child also had an 18 month old sibling (the child I saw was 3 months shy of 3 years old) and every time I came over, the mother insisted that he did better with her not there so she was never around. One time when I was working with him (which soon became more like babysitting), his younger sibling came into the room from the kitchen, where mom was, with a chicken leg bone hanging out of her mouth. A CHICKEN BONE. This same child also has emerged from the kitchen with a bag of raw carrots.

From babies with chicken bones to grandpa’s in boxer briefs our day to day jobs can get pretty “hairy”!  Imagine 5 days of visiting 20-30 different families with children all under the age of 3.  I have seen, heard and been asked to do things I  would have never imagined.  I fuel my day with gasoline for my car and coffee for my body, I sit on floors in homes and childcare centers, I have been puked on, peed on, bitten, pinched and hit in the face with a puzzle piece (I mean on of those large knob, Melissa and Doug puzzle pieces).

Here are some samples from the last year and a half;

I have been asked to stay to “watch” a child drink their milk, “He drinks more when your here”, I find it hard to believe a child consumes more milk because of my presence in the home. I am sorry, what?

I have been asked to make a noise like water to help a child pee, “could you swoosh like the sink, I think he is nervous to pee-pee”  My response, “why don’t we turn on the sink”, we were in the bathroom with a sink less than a foot from the toilet.  I am sorry, what?

I have been told that a child’s toys were thrown away because he behaved “badly”.  Mom then preceded to explain that she couldn’t get a moment for herself and all he wanted to do was watch TV.  I am sorry, what?  -THE CHILD HAS NO TOYS, no way to entertain himself!!

I enjoy my job, I enjoy these families and I enjoy telling the stories…

Today I was seeing a child in a home childcare (a woman’s basement). She has about 5 or 6 children a day that come to her home. It is a heavily Hispanic populated suburb; all of the children that come to this home are Hispanic. I was working with the child and 2 other children (about 4 or 5 years old) were playing restaurant. The girl said to the boy “I am going to be the server and you be the clean up guy when people are done eating.”

This is the blog of 2 therapists who see children in their own homes or child care centers between the ages of 0-3 for therapy services.  We come across some amazing/funny/interesting people and moments in our profession so we decided to share these instances with the public. Obviously we won’t use the families real names or towns. But they’re some pretty amazing stories.

Something you should also know: if we show up to child’s house or child care center and they are not there, we do not get paid for that. We can use PTO, but part time people do not have this PTO to use. Enjoy!!