If You Do Daycare On A Different Level Of Your House

[AnythingsPossible]

I am moving daycare to the lower level of my tri-level. I am trying to decide if i want them to take coats and shoes off in the entry way or set up cubby areas downstairs for that.

I am curious what others do. Drop offs and pick ups are the big thing I am questioning with moving the daycare to the lower level. If anyone has ideas to share I would love to hear them. Thanks in advance!

[MommyMuffin]

I will be moving my daycare downstairs this weekend as well. It has been so rough having it in my personal space. I cant wait to finish it.

I have a split level home. I think I will have a mat where they remove their shoes and place them in the foyer. Then I will take them downstairs and remove the rest of their belongings (coat, mittens). The reason for this is; I dont want their shoes going down my stairs and ruining the carpet (also faster arrivals). I will have the coats downstairs because I dont want to clutter up my foyer. When a parent arrives I will grab their things and bring their child to the foyer.

I am getting a camera system so that I can see all daycare areas, including the front door so I will get a heads up who is arriving.

From one of my dc rooms I can see the foyer. I will put a gate at the bottom of the stairs and that way when a parent arrives I will lift the child over the gate and bring them up. That way I can still see most of what is going on with the other kids without them tugging at me during departures. (I'm stoked!!)

My daycare area that you can see the foyer from is going to be used for eating, reading and quiet times. That way we will clean the big daycare area where all the toys are about 15 minutes before departures. Then I will bring all the kids to the other dc area where they can read and wait for p/u.

No kids leaving a mess, no crying to stay and play when parents arrive!!!

Good luck!

[cheerfuldom]

I have daycare in my walk out basement. I met parents at the door upstairs and then go downstairs with the kids. Parents rarely go downstairs. Cubbies are downstairs. I help kids unpack myself otherwise it turns into a fight with the kids and parents.

[boysx5]

I do daycare down in my basement but they use my front door upstairs to come and go I leave their shoes and coats upstairs less for me to carrry up and down each day. I have the parent come in and then let the child go up as the parent waits at the top of the step

[DCMom]

Our old house was a split entry and I did daycare in the lower level.

I started with coat hooks and a boot tray in the actual entryway, but it eventually got so congested in the entry at pick up time that I moved all the coats and cubbies down to the foot of the stairs. The kids still took their shoes off in the entry, though. Winters were the worst!

I had a swinging gate at the bottom of the stairs and handed the kids and thier stuff over the gate at pick up. We also covered the lower set of stairs with that plastic carpet runner to protect the carpet, because the parents NEVER, EVER took off their shoes.

Now I have a two-story house with a walk out basement. The walkout has a separate entrance, now they don't go into my personal space at all. I love it.

[sahm1225]

We use the lower level for daycare and I have all arrivals through the main house and then departures through the lower level. The main reason I do this is because my 2 kids are sleeping on the upper level until about 8am and my dcks start arriving at 6am. During nap time, I gather all of their coats and shoes and take them to the lower level. I have a little bench set up by my main level that stores their shoes and coats. Then on the lower level I have a kids coat rack and one of those rain boot trays to stick the shoes in.

The only thing that ****s is that during the winter months (we get tons of snow here) we either have to shovel the entire walkway to the backyard and stairs to continue pick ups at the lowerlevel or we switch back to the main level. Still trying to figure that one out

But I wanted to add that switching the daycare to the lower level gave me my house back! I still have a playroom on the main level (which my kids use too) but my house no longer looks like a daycare (except the lower level of course!). ITs awesome

[Unregistered]

Mj2nyp

My daycare area is downstairs (including their bathroom-we only go upstairs to use the kitchen for meals and really messy projects) in a remodeled garage, there is a door directly off the street and I have an industrial mat just inside with a shelf for their shoes. Coats hang on a rack on the back of the door leading to upstairs (it's a 1/2 door). They know not to come any further in than the mat without taking shoes off and the sign in sheet is accessible while standing on the mat so parents are not walking all over with shoes when dropping off.

[wdmmom]

I do daycare on my main floor and lower level. I have dedicated rooms on each floor. I greet parents at the front door, take childrens shoes off, coats off, etc and we proceed with our day. Pick ups are the same...get children's shoes on, coats on about 5 minutes before their departure time and they are ready to go.

I found a great over-the-door hanging piece that has 10 hooks and works great for the daycare kids. They all have their own hook.