Hi, my name is Stacy Deys. I have been a day home provider for 11 years. I knew that I wanted to work with children from a young age, and that is the path I have consistently stayed on. As an elementary school aged child I would go directly from school, to a day home on my block to help with the children. After a while the lady started to pay me $5 a week, but I enjoyed it so much the money was just a bonus. After high school and before College, I was a nanny and thoroughly enjoyed that as well!
I took Child and Youth Care at the Lethbridge Community College and from there worked as a family support worker for Family Ties in Lethbridge, before being hired as a Child & Youth Care Worker in the Palliser School division for 6 years before having our first Child. In this position, I really enjoyed developing programs to cater to the needs of children who struggled socially and emotionally in varying ways. I was able to work with the general student population through a school wide bully prevention program that I developed, visiting classrooms to give presentations based on monthly themes related to bullying. I was also able to work with children in small group settings to support development on skills identified as lacking by parents and teachers. These included anger management, friendship skills, and social skills to name a few.
I have been at home since having our first child twelve years ago and am the proud mom of three awesome kids, age 12, 10, & 7. I have a wonderful husband who supports the crazy busy atmosphere of having so many little people in our home and I am so grateful for that!
It is important to me that the children who come to my day home know that we are a day home family. We have family meetings when there are conflicts, or to do planning for activities. I look for opportunities to encourage compassion for each other, and to be a cheer leader friend (encourage each other, give compliments on each other’s crafts etc.). I like to offer a balance of free play, and organized activities, and can recognize when it is time for that transition. It is also important to me that the children in my care feel loved, celebrated, and treated fairly – just as I want my own children treated by grownups who interact with them outside of my home