Thinking about starting a Home Day Care . . .

[selena09]

Can anyone offer any insight in this area? I want to be able to earn money and not have to leave my daughter to "go" to work. Before her birth, I was a teacher. And although teachers have great schedules and off time and all of that, it's really a job that demands a ton of time outside of the school day -- planning, grading, etc. So, I thought of taking care of kids in my home. A friend of mine is also interested, so that she can quit her job and SAH too. I've gotten as far as going to DCFS and picking up a licensing packet. I'm concerned about a few things. *will I be able to give my own child the time and attention she may need with all those other kids to care for, *what about nursing, *my child is not vaccinated, and I don't know if I will have problems when DCFS inspects files and all of that in my home.

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Neth Naneth]

There is a daycare providers thread in the WAHM Well section.

[Neth Naneth]

Here's the link to it,

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...ycare+proiders

Good Luck!

[Oriole]

You must meet certain requirements to be allowed to post/view that thread
Otherwise I'd be there myself!

[Oriole]

Access to Forums

*The Trading Post, Talk Amongst Ourselves, Parents As Partners, News & Current Events, Spirituality, and Work at Home Moms require a member to have 50+ posts and be registered 60+ days before they can access them.

[KimProbable]

I would strongly suggest looking at how it would impact your daughter. I started looking after a friend's 1-year-old in February and the very week that I started, DD began having issues with hitting and being aggressive. I tried to chalk it up to a developmental stage but it was too much of a coincidence that the behavior ended six weeks later when I stopped babysitting (not due to DD's behavior but unrelated outside circumstances).

DD was used to having me to herself all day when the guys were gone to work/school and it was a huge upheaval in her life for me to be carrying around a clingy babe who spent many hours crying for her mom. She wanted to nurse constantly and I can't blame her as there was suddenly another child in her spot. By the end of 10 hours I was tired and grumpy, and not much fun for DH and DS to be around. During my "off" days I'd have to make up for all the housework I was unable to do while babysitting and while I'm sure I'd have adjusted better with time, it was still tough.

I also worked as a nanny when DS was young and he acted out a fair bit with rough behavior. At the time I'd chalked it up to his personality, but looking back on it I'm sure that it was worsened by the stress he went through in sharing me and being in someone else's home. I do think that learning to share Mommy with a sibling is an extremely valuable experience, but sharing her with a child from outside of the family is a different experience.

With what I've said about my experiences, I wouldn't outright say that nobody should babysit when they have little kids. I would just encourage you to take a long look at it from your child's point of view to make sure you can compensate for what she'll be experiencing.

[jeteaa]

I did a "montessori influenced" home daycare before my kids were born. when dd1 was about 6 months I closed my daycare. I feel its improtant for a caregiver to NOT show favortism (sp?) but how could I not with my own baby. And I certainly don't shelter my kids from germs. But with kids, they are contagiuos befroe they show symptoms. So dd1 got sick alot. And her naps were horrible becasue of all the noise the other kids would make. And dd1 had to CRO sometimes, not becasue I was letting her, but becasue I was busy changing diapers, cleaning barf etc. BUT, now that dd1 is 3 and dd2 is 11 months, I started caring for 1 little boy same age as dd1 and its alot of fun for all of us. Also, I HATED having the state invloved in my home life. Inspecting my home, unannounced check ups. I would recommend just caring for one kid or maybe siblings. Keep it "under the table" with just an agreement between parents.

[mbhf]

i tried caring for one other child when my second was about 8 months old. it was very part time, one full day and two hours two other evenings.

i hated it.

i don't know, i think a lot of it was the particular child i was caring for, but i can't be sure. he was always sick, and just seemed very unhappy. his parents parented much differently from me, and i was left with the very difficult choice of doing something i vehemently disagreed with or going against his parents wishes. after a while i decided i couldn't do it any more. it was too taxing for my family, and we didn't really need the money.

anyway, if you find the right family i think it could be great. but definitely ask questions and try to spend some time with the child before you start. the little boy i watched had been to three or four other nannies by the time he came to me, and he was only 10 months old when i had to send him on to someone else. it must have been very hard on him.

[dinade]

I ran a home day care for 2.5 years and loved it. I was a former teacher as well. I had a structerd play environment and some good curriculum that we did daily as well as circle time, etc. It was so much fun. The down side was being tied to the house and having a hard time finding a sub if I needed to take someone to the dr. etc. I had strict guidelines for my parents and got a week off with pay and they got a week off without paying me for a week during the year. Some days I really miss it. Plan and try it and see.

[kaliki_kila]

My mom had a home daycare growing up - from the time I was 2 until I moved out at 18. From the point of view of a child, I LOVED it. I always had lots of other children to play with and when I was older, I loved helping out and planning little parties or just gathering a bunch of toddlers around me and reading to them. That really influenced who I became and my desire to continue working with children.

[KimProbable]

Originally Posted by kaliki_kila

My mom had a home daycare growing up - from the time I was 2 until I moved out at 18. From the point of view of a child, I LOVED it. I always had lots of other children to play with and when I was older, I loved helping out and planning little parties or just gathering a bunch of toddlers around me and reading to them. That really influenced who I became and my desire to continue working with children.

See, and I hated that my mom babysat (I was age 3-16). The kids would come in and disrupt our home and my Mom would be busy with the kids and then the parents. Maybe I'm just more the jealous type or something but I resented it.

[MissPriss]

Just want to chime in and say I THINK THAT IS A WONDERFUL IDEA. There is a local mom in my area that has a home baseday care that is very AP... she and her assistant wear babies in slings, feed all organic snacks to the olders kids, follow the babies cues.... I would suggest looking into RIE www.rie.org as well and blending it with AP tools for a good balance.

Couple of things ~ Follow your child's cues but also give you dc time to adjust it honestly may be good for them... and start VERY SMALL and then grow so it is not a total shock for you or your dc.

Good Luck!!!

[2Sweeties1Angel]

My Granny ran a licensed home daycare for something like 30 or 40 years. She retired in 2004, then died in 2005 so I can't ask her about specifics.

Mom, my aunt, and my uncle all grew up with the daycare. I asked my mom how she felt about that and she said it was nice to always have someone around to play with but it also sucked because she NEVER had any time alone with her parents. When she was a teenager she was expected to help out with watching the kids.