[speaker001:] okay do have yep
[speaker002:] are you there okay okay
[speaker001:] there okay had to mess with my phone here um do you have children
[speaker002:] yes I have one
[speaker001:] oh okay I have three yeah yeah uh do you work
[speaker002:] how about you  oh my goodness yeah I do I do I work and and uh Brian's in a day care center he's uh he was two in December so he's not quite two and a half yet he uh I put him I'm
[speaker001:] okay oh uh-huh
[speaker002:] kind of had different different ideas from what probably the majority of people have I put him in a day care center from the very beginning he started in day care when he was eight weeks old
[speaker001:] uh-huh oh no kidding
[speaker002:] and I just I don't know I have kind of the opposite opinion of most people I have had this real problem with a a private individual I mean I I kind of looked at it like
[speaker001:] really uh-huh
[speaker002:] if you take him to a home with a with private individual when the door shuts
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] that one person has total control and I always figured at least in a day care center there are other people around and if you get one bad apple there's are at least other people that can see it they can watch and I just kind of always felt that the chances of something happening were less
[speaker001:] yeah yeah yeah yeah um-hum because there's
[speaker002:] you know how can you help depending on the day care center you know you got to
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] when you hear about all the horrible things that happen in day care centers have you ever noticed they're always like a family owned center where the mother and the daughter and the son run it you know kind of thing I mean it's it's a
[speaker001:] it's like a family thing
[speaker002:] yeah yeah you never hear about it really in the big ones so that's what I did and I have had just excellent luck I have been just so happy he's
[speaker001:] yeah oh good oh good I was just going to ask you how it you know if you liked the the but obviously you do or you wouldn't have him there I know but
[speaker002:] right right well he was in he was in the same center for two years for the first two years and uh it was wonderful and I loved it and I was so happy there and the woman who owned it sold it
[speaker001:] uh-huh yeah oh gosh
[speaker002:] but I thought okay I'm going to keep an open mind here and the people who came in it just wasn't it just wasn't the same and their their attitude and philosophy was just completely opposite from mine and I
[speaker001:] right wasn't the same uh-huh uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker002:] left him there for about a month and just decided I can't do this anymore and I moved him which was an extremely traumatic experience but but he's done well he's been there a couple of months now and I just feel so lucky yeah
[speaker001:] yeah was it yeah good oh good that's great that's good well I got to stay home with my kids for the first ten years my oldest one is ten and a half now
[speaker002:] how about you do you work or do you get to stay home with them wonderful
[speaker001:] or she's I guess yeah it's was about ten years so I yeah I I was really happy that I was able to do that but I that's what I wanted to because I uh you know I just couldn't wait to have kids and so if I was I was so anxious to have them and I couldn't wait to have them it would be kind of silly you know to go back to work as soon as I had them so so it it it it was really great by the end of the ten years I was really ready
[speaker002:] right right yeah I bet
[speaker001:] to go back to work and my youngest was only uh two and a half I mean she was already two and a half so it wasn't you know she wasn't an infant
[speaker002:] uh-huh uh-huh he didn't leave the baby yeah
[speaker001:] yeah yeah so I felt real good about that but uh boy I tell you with summer coming up I'm just pulling my hair out in terms of what I'm going to do I I guess I went back to work about a year and a half ago and uh I worked full time all last year and now I'm going to school part time and uh graduate school and I'm working part time and so I'm still yeah I'm still going full time but I only have half time salary
[speaker002:] I know how it goes uh-huh yeah
[speaker001:] and uh when school lets out I just don't I haven't I have no idea what I'm going to do because I certainly can't afford what we did last year
[speaker002:] right right did you have them in a center or something last summer
[speaker001:] which was well we did we tried we had all different things we sent them to camp one first month in June they went to summer school then the second month they uh one my daughter went home to visit my Mom for a while and my son uh went to camp and there we had uh I don't know some forget what else we did but it was all uh really expensive
[speaker002:] yeah that stuff is expensive it really is
[speaker001:] so now they're a year older and I my daughter's eleven going to be eleven this summer and my son will be nine and a half and so I'm not I think I can leave them home for a if I can work part of the day you know I'm going to leave them home right
[speaker002:] are these yeah yeah I was going to say they're getting to the age where you should be able to trust that a little bit yeah
[speaker001:] right yes in fact I'm doing that right now with their afternoons when they get home before I do you know that's okay but the four year old now I have I have had her since I went back to work or before I went back to work really in a home day care
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] situation and uh we've just been really thrilled with it too we were what actually we it took us two or three different people to find
[speaker002:] to find the right one that's what we have to do though
[speaker001:] yeah right but I wasn't embarrassed to shop around you know so the the person we found it through the there's an association here in town of professional home care providers or something like that in Plano
[speaker002:] no no where do where do you live Plano okay
[speaker001:] yeah and they have a number you can call and all these people are registered with their association and you know go like our our uh I don't want to call her a baby sitter she's doesn't like to be called that
[speaker002:] care provider
[speaker001:] care provider right she goes to seminars and uh she gets home visitations by this state uh uh I don't know the state boards I guess some of them and then some by the association and they
[speaker002:] oh that's wonderful
[speaker001:] have weekly meetings and everything and so it's just really really well regulated
[speaker002:] that's great
[speaker001:] and she's just great in fact uh she's all upset because Galen is going to go to kindergarten next fall and she says this is it you know I'm not going to have her anymore and I said oh no don't count on that after noon classes she's going to be here because she's going to morning kindergarten so
[speaker002:] right right
[speaker001:] but we we've tried we've tried everything and one year I guess last year when I went back to work I had my son was eight at the time just barely eight and uh we put him in Amrein's Day Care after
[speaker002:] uh-huh I've heard that they were very good
[speaker001:] after well that's why we picked it because they were were supposed to be real great and you know I think they were fine but the thing is he was in school all day
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] in second grade in in Plano it's open classroom situation where they don't have walls so there is like a hundred and twenty second graders
[speaker002:] uh-huh oh
[speaker001:] in the same area with no walls and uh and then he'd get on the Amrein's Bus to go to Amrein's and then there would be a whole ton of other kids all in the same room you know you know what fun they had with these computer games and then they'd go outside for awhile they had snacks and story time and everything but it was just like going to school until five thirty at night
[speaker002:] yeah poor kid was in school all day yeah yeah
[speaker001:] instead of being able to get home at two thirty yeah because he was always around with a crowd of kids and he just really missed being able to be by himself and having some peace and quiet or you know
[speaker002:] uh-huh uh-huh even at that age they need that time we all need that time
[speaker001:] yes yeah
[speaker002:] just some quiet time to wind down from the day
[speaker001:] right that's exactly it so another thing that we tried to do I I know your son's too young right now but we're trying we tried to sign him up for after school scouts and stuff like that and
[speaker002:] yeah yeah I think that's really important and we've already started about you know I mean how young can they start T ball and soccer you know I mean I just you know we both think of that that as just so important to get him involved in stuff like that and
[speaker001:] yeah right right yeah it is it is and
[speaker002:] you could hardly wait I mean he's he's so much fun now he's really he's really starting to get lots of fun and I can't wait until stuff like that starts happening you know and you know we did the Easter egg hunts which was really the first year he was really able to
[speaker001:] yeah I bet yeah uh-huh
[speaker002:] and to know what we want know what he was doing you know and enjoy it and it was so much fun and gosh he went a couple of weekends ago and rode an elephant and God he got up on this elephant all by himself and Lord I couldn't believe it they had so much fun
[speaker001:] yeah  right oh my gosh you are kidding you're kidding oh that's great
[speaker002:] I bought us tickets and stood there in line and I thought I'm going to end up on this elephant with him you know he did it by himself so stuff like that is starting to come along where it's really getting fun you know but
[speaker001:] well good for him uh-huh uh-huh yeah
[speaker002:] day care has just done just incredible stuff with him and he like comes home with something new everyday you know and so I know I know they're working with him and he's
[speaker001:] well that's great that's so good
[speaker002:] excited to get there in the morning and just doesn't even want to kiss me good-bye it's just like bye and he goes running you know and he's always having fun when I pick him up so you know yeah this this day care is is
[speaker001:] uh-huh he's out of there yeah uh-huh
[speaker002:] it's Bright Steps in Louisville and whenever you say Bright Steps everybody goes oh I've heard that's the best day care in town you know and it's it's one of those that's very hard to get into and they have
[speaker001:] uh-huh yeah good uh-huh
[speaker002:] this this this woman owns three day cares two in Lewisville and one in Irving and she had to open the second one up in Lewisville because her waiting list was just like
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker002:] you know like a year old it was ridiculous and she's got two day cares within like three blocks of each other yes so its I mean she's
[speaker001:] oh my gosh no kidding she knows something right that she needs if
[speaker002:] she knows what she's doing all the teachers like about half the teachers are degreed teachers and oh it makes a huge difference
[speaker001:] yeah that makes such a difference that's the way it is at my daughter's nursery school too and I think that really makes a difference they're in it because it's a profession not because it's a job they could get because they didn't qualify for anything else you know
[speaker002:] uh-huh yeah that's right that's right  that's right and his old day care as much as I loved it you know and the owner I really liked her and she worked really hard to get good people but the people that she got
[speaker001:] uh-huh yeah uh-huh
[speaker002:] were there because they weren't qualified to do anything else you know and and I got lucky and all of his teachers were very good
[speaker001:] uh-huh right because because right some sometimes that's fine that's great you know sometimes it isn't you just have to well is it real expensive then
[speaker002:] yeah but then sometimes you know yeah um it just went up the first of this month I'm paying uh seventy nine dollars a week for now
[speaker001:] uh-huh wow yeah
[speaker002:] so it's a little high but but it's you know it's like where he was before I was only paying sixty three so there's quite a little jump there but I looked all over Louisville
[speaker001:] right right
[speaker002:] I looked in every day care there was in Louisville and you know and there were places that were cheaper but is it
[speaker001:] uh-huh no yeah
[speaker002:] you know your peace of mind is worth a little bit of money you know and I have peace of mind where he is and some of those other places I wouldn't have
[speaker001:] yeah uh-huh that's exactly it see we do the same thing since Galen goes to nursery school we pay our our home care provider for our day care provider full time for a whole week but she she's gone three mornings Galen just doesn't go there three mornings a week but I said to her I said you know it doesn't matter if
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] for whatever reason when school holidays come around I used to have such a problem with that they wouldn't have anything to do I'd either have to
[speaker002:] uh-huh uh