I refer to the work I do as a service. I do not spend time judging whether the request is reasonable or in the best interest of the child. My role is to agree to provide it or decline the offer to provide it. There are situations that arise where the parent does not ask and the request for services is mistakenly assumed as a task or event I should host.
For example, a child may be punching, scratching and biting his mother at my front door. The parent may believe it is my job to allow this on my property. In these situations, I have to define the parental wish and then declare whether or not I provide the service. If you want to allow him to be violent you must leave. I do not provide the service of hosting violence. It sounds wordy, but there is not a nice way to tell parents that you do not want kids being wicked to their mother on your land.
I do not have an opinion; I just confirm whether or not I provide the service. A parent may want to hang out before or after their scheduled daycare day. They often believe they have the right to be in the home any time there are kids in the house.
What are the pitfalls of running a child care centre?
I have to tell them I do not allow parents in the playroom, parents parenting their child on my property or parent conferencing beyond the paid daycare day. I understand a parent wanting these services, but I do not provide them. If they need that in their daycare relationship, my services will not meet their needs. This approach works beautifully in defining a provider as a self-employed, service provider. It allows issues to be brought up and addressed without judging the parental want. I do not try to tell them what to do.
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I just tell them what I will do for the fee they are contracted to pay. Childcare is intangible and does not net them anything other than they do not have the child with them for ten hours a day. They often believe the job is easy for the provider and the expense to the provider to have the child in her home is very small or nonexistent. Their child is small, does not eat much, does not take up a lot of room or need much.
They believe the provider already has to pay for her house, car, equipment, etc. This same parent brings their child to childcare every single day they are off work because the child is too difficult to manage while running errands and relaxing around the house. They convince themselves that for them caring for the child is hard, but for the provider it is easy. This mindset leads them to feel cheated every week. They want something for their money other than the easy care of their child.
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They want something more for themselves out of the deal. This parent wants additional time with the provider and if they can work it out, time with the provider before and after daycare hours. This desire to get more for their money usually manifests itself by them wanting time and attention.
The provider does not set fees with excessive parent conferencing included. She calculates in a few minutes a day at drop-off and pick-up and an occasional meeting to discuss the child. She never considers having the parents hanging out long after the kid is off the clock. She does not charge for texting and weekend communication. When the parent requires communication outside of the daycare hours, they feel they are getting what they are owed and the provider feels like she is working overtime for nothing. The best thing I have found to put a stop to being roped into additional services is to define and address them as services.
I am charging you for the hours of seven to four and I do not allow parents in the playroom. If a parent boldly states they are your boss and they expect you to do as they say, you can offer to agree to that arrangement as long as they are willing to take on the financial aspects of being an employer. Once they realize they have to take on the part of the boss relationship that costs them way more money and time, they will quickly reconsider.
Being the boss is not all it is cracked up to be unless you get to be the boss for free.
Home daycare: Are you cut out for the job?
And, again, I do not provide that service. Have confidence in that. Be understanding that a new client may view the relationship differently. Businesses do not allow customers to be the boss. Just because the services are about children it does not mean their parents get to assume the boss position because they have a child at stake.
Other businesses that offer services and goods geared toward children do not allow it and neither should you. She began her childcare career while in nursing school as a live-in nanny to support herself while going to college.
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Upon graduation, she worked as a medical surgical nurse for two years. She returned to her previous career as a private nanny to prestigious families in New York City and Bloomfield Hills, Michigan until she returned to Iowa where she worked as a school nurse for three years. In , she began a home childcare in Des Moines, Iowa serving families seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day for the first four years.
For sixteen years, she worked both day and evening shift five days a week. She cared for children birth to five years for the majority of her career and celebrated her twentieth anniversary in home childcare in It is a high traffic area and features a parent area and space for cubbies.
Activities that occur in the wet play area include art, water play and eating. The dry play region has two areas i. Activities for the quiet area include: In the active area activities include: Two year old classroom:. For each of these age categories different furnishings and equipment are required. You need to know the licensing requirements for your child care small business.
Steps in obtaining your State License.
Home daycare: Are you cut out for the job?
Regularly communicating with your Licensing Program Analyst LPA will help you to be clear about what the requirements for your center are. The roles and responsibilities of the licensing agency will also be explained. Being thus informed you can make a decision to either proceed with starting your child care center or terminate your plans. Topics covered will include daily operations, center accountability, forms, criminal record clearances, staff qualifications, and ratios.
The guidelines in the previous section will help you to find an appropriate site. Additional visits may be organized if other corrections and changes are required. Once the LPA confirms that this is the case you will receive your child care center license. You will need to get your child care center accredited.
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Earning this rating is in most cases a 2—3 year process but in most states getting started on it is enough to get your center listed. This should be sought once your center has developed a well thought-out curriculum. Ten 10 standards and criteria will be assessed including: The fact that just one in 10 preschools around the country has this accreditation goes to show how rigorous the process is. Parents will naturally be impressed if your center is on the list. Finding and hiring staff for your child care small business.
Planning the program for your child care small business. Explaining these policies in a section of your child care contract documentation will help ensure that parents will read and understand them before signing up. Naturally, parents are always eager to find out what their children have been up to during their absence. They, of course, want to hear something positive and developmental.
Not only will this provide a platform for meaningful interaction and engagement, parents will appreciate and respect your perceptions and efforts. You can certainly develop a curriculum if you have the requisite experience. If not, you can consult your area child care licensing specialist, local child care resource and referral agency, and relevant professional associations, for guidance in having one prepared for your center.
Purchasing a curriculum is another option you can explore. It may be the case that parents will want to give this approach a try. Marketing and advertising your child care small business. Having created a strong marketing message, you should find the most effective ways of getting it to the target market. The following information marketing message must be provided in whatever advertising media you choose to go with:. Some of the more cost-effective advertising options are:. Understanding what parents look for in a child care center and preparing accordingly.
In choosing a child care center parents are more concerned about the quality of service provided rather than the price. The timeline for starting your child care small business. Going with the former, your timeline and activities will likely be as described below:. You must be logged in to post a comment. About me Achieve thought-leadership through entrepreneurship writing Resources Contact me.
Your child care small business should not only focus on caring for children but educating them as well Modern child care is no longer just about keeping watch over children until their parents return to pick them up. These range from the size of physical space and the number of meals and snacks served, to policies on cancellation when the provider is sick. Most provinces are pretty demanding. Licensed homes are monitored by provincial authorities or by child-care agencies, depending on the province.
Providers licensed through an agency get a lot of help both with setting up their business, and with day-to-day concerns. Other items on the checklist include background references and criminal reference checks, a safety inspection and first aid and CPR training. Program staff will work with the care provider to set out lunch menus and activity plans, as well as daily schedules that include outdoor play and rest time.
At the federal level, there are tax rules to learn. Home daycare providers are considered self-employed, which means you must declare earnings, but you can also deduct business-related expenses such as food and supplies. Equipment, however, is only partially deductable, as a capital cost allowance. You can also deduct part of the costs of running a home, such as utilities, property tax and interest on your mortgage.
Parents getting into this line of work will already know about basic baby proofing: Karen Sowman, a mom of two teens and a twentysomething in Barrie, Ont. She found her network by enrolling in an evening course on child development , aimed at home daycare providers. The course was optional, but the people she met helped her make some key business decisions from the get-go. This was intriguing to her. I quickly learned that if you have a quality program, oh yes, they will. Sowman also learned to be strategic about the ages of the five children she takes in.
Some providers like their children to be around the same age so that they can play with each other, but Sowman takes in kids of different ages. While Huff says she has no regrets, and finds the job rewarding, she warns parents considering this type of business that it can be pretty tough. She cares for five children ages one to five, five days a week, plus her toddler daughter. Managing her fellow parents, and their differing child-rearing and discipline philosophies, is another big part of the job.