Wow, that amount of money for child care is mnind boggeling. Thats more than my mortgage. I know I know all things are relative when it comes to cost but still. When I did homeday care I got paid about $20 a day. for a 9 to 10 hour day. $50 would have been so nice.
I was 22 when I did home daycare, my dd was 9 months old and I was totally sold on all aspects of AP. So I am kinda coming from the same place as you.
I would not use you because you have your own baby at home. I have done daycare with my baby and it was awful. I could not tend to anyones needs up to my standards. I really had to relax my standards for everyone. And I only had one or two other children at any one time.
all my AP standards went out the window. At least for other peoples kids. Mine got priority when she was hungry, or wanted mama. She just did. I would be hesitsant to go with a child care provider who promised as much as you are promising. It is not very realistic to promise all that in a home daycare setting with so many kids and just one provider. I would wonder where the holes were going to be and if my child would fall in them. I would prefer a childcare provider who was more realistic and had lower standards. Lets face it...no one is ever dissapointed when providers go above and beyond but if you promise me the moon and I pay for it I better get it. I would rather have a child care provider who is realistic about what she can offer my child.
Also your general lack of references and experiance would be an absolute no for me. In this situation I would be scared that I might be left suddenly without childcare because I would have freaked out if I started with such an ambitious undertaking.
Also I had no idea what a child older than mine needed. I did not have appropiate toys or activites for the four year old I babysat. She was bored out of her mind and my expectations were way too high and way off. Your lack of experiance in parenting in general would be a turn off to me. Also if you take older children it will mean a large expense for toys and activities that would entertain them. It is unrealistic to think you could entertain six children at one time all the time. There is going to have to be enough stuff to keep them all self occupied every now and then (especially if you are going to be cooking healthy organic meals and soothing everyone to sleep and nursing your baby for 15 minute chunks every 2 to 4 hours or more.....). Honestly, as a parent I would like you to have some videos. At least my kids will be safe and entertained while you were tending to other children etc.
One more thing to keep in mind is not everyone wants these things. I serverd organic home made meals that none of the kids would eat. Then their parents were grumpy and started bringing jubnk food because their kids liked it better. They brought videos their kids wanted to share and the next thing I knew the TV was on first thing in the morning because my dd was still asleep but the kid I was babysitting had been promised the video and was going to make sure everyone was misreable if she didn't get it. You also have to have slear discipline practices in place. People want to know not only what will happen to their child if they act up but what will happen to someone who victemizes their child or is just a bad influence.
I would recommend starting with one kid. See how it goes. then add one more. If you start with one or two and offer more focused care you could easily charge above the standard rate in your area.
I was 22 when I did home daycare, my dd was 9 months old and I was totally sold on all aspects of AP. So I am kinda coming from the same place as you.
I would not use you because you have your own baby at home. I have done daycare with my baby and it was awful. I could not tend to anyones needs up to my standards. I really had to relax my standards for everyone. And I only had one or two other children at any one time.
all my AP standards went out the window. At least for other peoples kids. Mine got priority when she was hungry, or wanted mama. She just did. I would be hesitsant to go with a child care provider who promised as much as you are promising. It is not very realistic to promise all that in a home daycare setting with so many kids and just one provider. I would wonder where the holes were going to be and if my child would fall in them. I would prefer a childcare provider who was more realistic and had lower standards. Lets face it...no one is ever dissapointed when providers go above and beyond but if you promise me the moon and I pay for it I better get it. I would rather have a child care provider who is realistic about what she can offer my child.
Also your general lack of references and experiance would be an absolute no for me. In this situation I would be scared that I might be left suddenly without childcare because I would have freaked out if I started with such an ambitious undertaking.
Also I had no idea what a child older than mine needed. I did not have appropiate toys or activites for the four year old I babysat. She was bored out of her mind and my expectations were way too high and way off. Your lack of experiance in parenting in general would be a turn off to me. Also if you take older children it will mean a large expense for toys and activities that would entertain them. It is unrealistic to think you could entertain six children at one time all the time. There is going to have to be enough stuff to keep them all self occupied every now and then (especially if you are going to be cooking healthy organic meals and soothing everyone to sleep and nursing your baby for 15 minute chunks every 2 to 4 hours or more.....). Honestly, as a parent I would like you to have some videos. At least my kids will be safe and entertained while you were tending to other children etc.
One more thing to keep in mind is not everyone wants these things. I serverd organic home made meals that none of the kids would eat. Then their parents were grumpy and started bringing jubnk food because their kids liked it better. They brought videos their kids wanted to share and the next thing I knew the TV was on first thing in the morning because my dd was still asleep but the kid I was babysitting had been promised the video and was going to make sure everyone was misreable if she didn't get it. You also have to have slear discipline practices in place. People want to know not only what will happen to their child if they act up but what will happen to someone who victemizes their child or is just a bad influence.
I would recommend starting with one kid. See how it goes. then add one more. If you start with one or two and offer more focused care you could easily charge above the standard rate in your area.
And actually, I have 4 preschoolers with me every day and I find that if I want any of them to sleep they need to all be in separate rooms. I'm fortunate to have three bedrooms and a couch, so it all works out. But if you think kids are going to sleep when their best friend is right next to them, you might be surprised! If you can do separate rooms, I suggest that, but if you don't have room, how about mats or crib mattresses on the floor in the same room but not near each other? Plus, I do think parents would think it's weird if you all slept together. But you could ask when you take on a new client about how the child sleeps best. Alone in a dark room, or with another person, or bright as day in the middle of the floor? All kids are different.
