Assistants/How Many In Your Childcare

[Mary Poppins]

I seriously don't know what I would have an assistant do! With only six and being in one room it's not like there would be alot for her to do. When we go outside, I really don't want to pay someone to stand around because when we are outside, I just let them go for it and Play.

I have a feeling we would do alot of bumping into each other-::.

I'm fortunate in that we have the entire downstairs (1200 +/- sq feet) for daycare. There are two playrooms, a bathroom and a arts&crafts/preschool room so we definitely don't bump into one another.

I am also fortunate that my helpers are my older teen children who I don't have to pay a set wage, they each were given a car and are getting college paid for in exchange for helping me. I homeschool so one is finishing highschool (and earning dual college credits) online while the other is doing a lot of his first year college stuff online so this works brilliantly for us.

As far as not having anything for them to do, here is how it works for us:

Right now I have an 8mo, a 10mo, a 2.5yo, a 3yo and a 5yo (he is in kindy in the mornings). We all do breakfast and then I assign one helper to tend to the littler ones while I do circle time, music, etc. with the older ones in our larger playroom. My other helper is cleaning up after breakfast.

Then, when the noisy stuff is over, it's time for the babies to have morning naps, so we put them in the smaller playroom to sleep and one helper stays in there to keep an eye on them while myself or the other goes down a long hall to our arts/crafts room to do quieter stuff. While the babies sleep, the naptime helper can use their laptop to do schoolwork. Whoever isn't in the other room gets a break.

When our kindy guy comes, at 11:30 the babies are usually awake by then and two of us go outside with all the kids while one stays in and takes a break and sets up for lunch.

After lunch is naptime, so the one who didn't do morning nap goes with the babies in the smaller room and does school work while one of us goes into the larger playroom while the preschoolers nap and the other takes our older guy (who doesn't need a nap) into the arts/crafts room to do quiet stuff.

My dcks leave between 2:30 and 5 so the rest of the day is really easy for us.

I am quite spoiled to be honest. If I had to hire outside help I wouldn't do it, and would find a way to make it work with just myself and the children alone but my program would not run nearly as smooth and I would feel much more stressed and burned out by the end of the day.

When it is just me, and someday it will be, I probably won't take more than 4 kids at a time.

[AmyLeigh]

CA has licensing for a small home daycare: Capacity 6 - no more than 3 infants or 4 infants only. Capacity 8 - no more than 2 infants, 1 child in Kindergarten or elementary school and 1 child at least age 6. A large daycare requires an assistant and capacity goes up to 12-14, with age limits that I can't remember since I have no desire to go that big anyway.
My 3 children take away from my capacity until they are 10 yo, so I can only have 5 more dcks. Financially it would be tough to get a good assistant, especially a full time one. It just wouldn't make sense for me.

Now, if I could be paid for the other 3 spaces, then it would be doable.

[MNMum]

I'm hiring my mom to come in 2 mornings per week. I think it will help with the hardest part of the day which is during lunch prep and having a second set of hands for outside prep time. That way I can also get some cleaning done while she is here. She will be fresh and ready to interact with the kiddos. Then when I need her to substitute for days I need off, the kids will all be familiar with her and she will know the routine. This will take 10% of my income, but possibly save my sanity. Totally worth it for me! On the days she is coming I have: 6 mo, 15 mo, 21 mo, 2.5 yr, 3.5 yr, 3.5 yr. The other days of the week I do not have the youngest.

[wdmmom]

My staff assistant works about 20 hours a week, is paid weekly and is equivalent to one of my full time child. While she is here, she is supervising children, changing diapers, serving up lunch, cleaning the kids after meals, assisting with daily activities, outdoor play, daily walks, crafts, putting away toys and sanitizing the equipment each week. She also runs an occasional errand for me.

About half of my kids are Monday through Thursday only so I don't have my staff assistant here on Fridays unless we are doing deep cleaning. I had her come in last Friday for 2 hours. She sanitized everything, swept and mopped the floors and wiped down the fronts of the cupboards.

My families love me having a staff assistant. If I'm dealing with an inconsolable baby, I can take the baby into another room and take care of her in there without the other children getting stressed out and they still have supervision. Being a parent of 5 of my own helps too. I've been a parent for 16 years. Parents know what I'm doing.

I could do everything I do without an assistant. It just makes it much easier to have one. Not only can I afford it but I enjoy having someone to help me out. It keeps me more on an even keel than getting stressed out.

If I didn't hire an assistant, I'd be hiring a housekeeper. They cost about the same.

And, yes, my staff assistant's income is that of one of my full time children. And it's worth every penny!!!

[Country Kids]

May I be real nosey and ask what your minumum wage is? Ours is right at $9.00 an hour so even 20 hours a week would be costing me $180.00 a week! That would be more then a full-timer for sure for me. At the end of the month that would be a good chunck of income.

[Meeko]

I can have a maximum of 8 by myself with no more than 2 children under age two years. Or I can have a maximum of 6 children if I have 3 children under age two.

I can have up to 16 children here at any given time (no more than 4 under age two) if I have my second helper (my son) here.

We have 20 children on our books as some come while the bigger kids are at school.

[wdmmom]

According to what I can find on Google, the lowest minimum wage is $6.65 per hour and the highest is $9.04. I pay right in the middle (for a starting wage with someone with no experience.)

They are also given raises accordingly and have paid holidays and receive an exceptional Christmas bonus.