“If you love what you do, you won’t work a day in your life.”
My name is Lisa Doyon and I am a family child care provider on a quiet dead-end street on the East side of Manchester, New Hampshire. I have been doing this for more than twenty-five years. The saying above is accurate, and I could not see myself doing anything else.
My family
I have been married to my wonderful husband Tom for thirty-five years. He is the bookkeeper, the grocery-store runner, the computer IT guy and Mr. Fix It. He always supports and encourages me when I want to have one of my day care children over after hours — he knows how important it is to me to keep those relationships. I seriously never let them leave me.
I have two sons. One is married, so I finally, finally have a daughter, and they have two wonderful young boys — both of whom are in my day care. So I am now a grandmother to two awesome boys who spend their days here. The nest is not completely empty either: there are two fur babies in this house as well.
Why families stay
Some of the families who write to me have been doing it for twenty years. Children I cared for as infants send me messages as adults. One of them is twenty-two now and still in touch. That is not a marketing line — it is the actual shape of this work, and it is why I have never wanted to do anything else.
Lisa was practically my second mother. Now being 22 years old and still having contact with her shows how loving and caring of a person she is. I will always look back at my daycare days with Lisa and smile.
Licensed, trained and inspected
The unglamorous part, in full, because parents deserve to see it:
- Licensed family child care provider, State of New Hampshire
- Six children in care at one time, maximum
- Licensing visit — unannounced, yearly or more often
- Fire inspection — every three years
- Health department inspection — every three years
- Fingerprint and background screening — every three years
- Child and adult CPR — certified
- Early childhood development training — 21+ hours every year
- CACFP food program participant
Twenty-five years, and the training hours still happen every single year.