What Is Your Self Imposed Limit?

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

How many children can you handle (without losing your mind)?

I am not putting an age group on this, because I know there are many of us here who deal with varying age groups.

I have 7 Preschoolers certain days, and I feel like that is my self imposed limit since I care for them and teach them by myself. If I had an assistant, I could handle more.

[familyschoolcare]

It depends on the environment. I used to teach 20 kindergartners in the afternoons.

In my home environment my limit is 6 because of my licsense. If I did not have that limit and all of them where school age per-k or older then I think I could handel 10 if I had the space. 6 is a good number for the space I have in this house.

[akpayne]

I have 3 dck and my own 2. That is my limit. Its probably smaller than most but any more and I wouldnt feel like I was giving them enough attention or have enough time to plan fun things to do.

[AnneCordelia]

It really depends for me too!

Right now I have 4 1yos and that is good for me. That is not including my own 4 children (range from 18mo-8yo). I am comfortable with this group.

My legal limit is 5dcks. I could add one more and be fine. I am advertising the spot now.

[MrsB]

It is much easier to handle higher numbers if they are all closer to the same age groups. I have never had all school agers, nor do I ever want to, but with having a mixture of 5 to 6 infants and toddlers, ANY school agers are too many. I am licensed for 8. My one 18 mos DD reduces that to 7. I dont know exactly how many would be my limit but with my current 7 the ONLY time I have felt overwhelmed is when I add a shool ager to the mix.

Now for infants. I am a teeny-tiny baby type provider. I wish I could have more infants and just do infant care. But our state only allows 2 per care-giver. I could easily handle 4 infants by myself if I didnt have toddlers or school agers. Seems silly I can only have 2 considering the Daycare centers have higher ratios than 2 to 1 in the infant rooms.

I think it is kind of messed up thinking that infants require more than say four 10 year old boys.

[cheerfuldom]

I can have up to 7 (including my own kids). I like to keep it at 6 kids here at one time. I feel okay with 7 or even a few more than that but only if I have enough space for them all the sleep happily and if my assistant can be here more often. I am not licensed right now so no matter what, 7 is the max.

[MarinaVanessa]

I live in a townhouse condo so in my limited space I choose not have more than 4 during the day (including my 1yo DS) and once my DD gets out of school at 2:30pm I'll have 5 total. Sometimes I'll have 6 but that's usually only once a week and that's a 5yo SA that's only here for 3 hours and one of my DCK's goes home at 4 anyway. I'm allowed to have 8 total.

[Lucy]

I have, at times, had 10 here during a summer. Age 18 mos to 10 yrs. It wasn't fun. At all. That was my worst summer EVER in 18 yrs of daycare. I won't do it again.

During the school year, I have 6 total, 3 of which go to school, so I have them 1-2 hrs morning, and 1-2 hrs afternoon. That's really comfortable for me. I can handle 6 during the summer too. Probably won't do more than that.

[daycare]

I have 6 kids under 5. thats it for me....I do 2 weekly field trips and teach, so even if I wanted more, my car is not big enough.....Thank goodness...

[AmyLeigh]

I have my 3 home full time, and 4 dcks, all 3-4 days a week. Some days my 3 are too much, then there are other days I think I can handle a couple more. I think it would have to do more with the children's personalities and how they play together more than the sheer number.

[Ariana]

My limit is 4 including my own kid. Right now I have 3 and it's perfect. I can't stand chaos and I like a more calm and relaxed atmosphere. Everytime I've gone over this limit my stress levels immediately go up as well.

[Christian Mother]

It is much easier to handle higher numbers if they are all closer to the same age groups. I have never had all school agers, nor do I ever want to, but with having a mixture of 5 to 6 infants and toddlers, ANY school agers are too many. I am licensed for 8. My one 18 mos DD reduces that to 7. I dont know exactly how many would be my limit but with my current 7 the ONLY time I have felt overwhelmed is when I add a shool ager to the mix.

Now for infants. I am a teeny-tiny baby type provider. I wish I could have more infants and just do infant care. But our state only allows 2 per care-giver. I could easily handle 4 infants by myself if I didnt have toddlers or school agers. Seems silly I can only have 2 considering the Daycare centers have higher ratios than 2 to 1 in the infant rooms.

I think it is kind of messed up thinking that infants require more than say four 10 year old boys.

I am not lic. so I can only have 4 children in my home. I won't allow more in my home anyway. All mine are boys under 3 yrs of age. I have 2 children that are in school but when their out of school for breaks that makes 6. I can handle 6. But, it depends on the group I have bc some children are part time and I've learned that when you have part timers, the day is much harder. I also have a couple of infants that come odd days sometimes together. One is 11 mos. and the other is 5 mos The 5 mos is teething big time. The 11 mos is learning to walk...hmmmm makes for a hard day...hahah!!

[spud912]

It depends on the group. Right now I'm at 6 (including mine), but I have to admit that I run more smoothly at 5. We are fine, but I like to have more flexibility in my schedule and with 6 I have to be fairly regimented. I also like to devote 5-10 minutes individual time per child for "school lessons," and with 6 it becomes very tedious.

In a perfect world where money wasn't the issue, I've found that groups of 3-4 four year old and younger children are ideal for me. We can walk easily, go on field trips, and generally have a lot of flexibility.

[Blackcat31]

I have 10 kids everyday....for the most part by myself. The youngest is 8.5 mos and the oldest is 5. Two days a week, I have 12 kids with 2 additional kids who could have gone ot Kindy but didn't.

All my kids arrive by 9 a.m. and the first pick up starts around 2:30-3. All but 2 of my kids come 5 days a week.

My kiddos also ALL nap from noon until 2-2:30 every day as well.

99% of my DCK's have been here since birth. We have a wonderful daily routine and RARELY stray from our normal schedule so consistency plays a huge part in how easy it is for me to handle 10-12 kids on my own.

[MizzCheryl]

I have 5 unless school is out. % is all we can have. I am in awe of you ladies that do 7 and 10. I used to have 10 in the summer counting my own schoolagers. Boy that was rough. 5 preschool and toddlers and 5 school age