State to Mom: Stop babysitting neighbors' kids

[katty]

more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090930/ap_on_re_us/us_baby_sitter_backlash_mich

By JAMES PRICHARD, Associated Press Writer James Prichard, Associated Press Writer – Tue Sep 29, 9:41 pm ET

IRVING TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Each day before the school bus comes to pick up the neighborhood's children, Lisa Snyder did a favor for three of her fellow moms, welcoming their children into her home for about an hour before they left for school.

Regulators who oversee child care, however, don't see it as charity. Days after the start of the new school year, Snyder received a letter from the Michigan Department of Human Services warning her that if she continued, she'd be violating a law aimed at the operators of unlicensed day care centers.

"I was freaked out. I was blown away," she said. "I got on the phone immediately, called my husband, then I called all the girls" — that is, the mothers whose kids she watches — "every one of them."

Snyder's predicament has led to a debate in Michigan about whether a law that says no one may care for unrelated children in their home for more than four weeks each calendar year unless they are licensed day-care providers needs to be changed. It also has irked parents who say they depend on such friendly offers to help them balance work and family.

[Speck Tater]

1. State officials agree the law is stupid, taking steps to correct the situation.

From the same article:

"We want to protect kids, but the law needs to be reasonable," she said. "When the governor learned of this, she acted quickly and called the director personally to ask him to intervene."

State Rep. Brian Calley, R-Portland, said he was working to draft legislation that would exempt situations like Snyder's from coverage under Michigan's current day care regulations.

The bill will make it clear that people who aren't in business as day care providers don't need to be licensed, Calley said.

"These are just kids that wait for the bus every morning," he said. "This is not a day care."

[SPedigrees]

2. How in hell is she running a daycare service if she's unpaid? nt

[JonQ]

3. Wow

just wow.

Heaven forbid parents get free day care from a caring friend.

Instead you should have to pay strangers to watch your, and 30 other, children.

[Why Syzygy]

9. And the state even thinks it can define PLAYDATES

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/33068650/ns/today-parenting_and_family

Snyder also asked if the kids could come to her house for playdates. She was told that if the children’s parents were at home during the playtime it was OK, but if they dropped the kids off to play and then went to the store or out to dinner, it was no longer a playdate — it was day care.

***

Something has got to CHANGE. Power grabbers have gone wild.

[Jack Rabbit]

4. This law is so stupid that only a business lobby could think of it

However, I have never heard of licensed day-care providers being such big business that they would use legislation to eliminate competition from friends and neighbors.

So, who's behind this bullshit? Is anybody coming forward to defend this nonsense.

[eilen]

5. I read that a neighbor blew her in.

reported she was running a daycare without a license.

[katty]

7. nosy neighbor w/nothing to do but 'presume' and not just go

over and 'talk to the neighbor' FIRST (as if it's any of her business). get a life, neighbor.

[AllHereTruth]

6. Laws like this

give credence to the libertarian movement. And get me thinking...maybe they've got a point.

Guarantee this gets on Glenn Beck.

[Why Syzygy]

8. It made

Alex Jones. And it is STUPID. WTH are people THINKING???