Quick Poll--Who is at Capacity?

[Unregistered]

I'm getting ready to open my daycare. I was wondering if I should not count on working at capacity? (Meaning not count on the money).

Who's at capacity?

Who's not at capacity? by choice or not by choice (I can have 6 kids, but I'm thinking of taking in only 3 at this time until I get my feet wet).

Thanks! :-)

[MarinaVanessa]

That's what I did and I'm glad that I did it that way. Actually I started with 1 (an infant) and then added 2 more 2 months later. Eventually I added another 2 and then when I felt comfortable I thought "What's one more" and been full since then... I'm full capacity now 6mo, 10mo, 18mo, 2yo(almost 3), 5yo and 9 yo.

[Greenshadow]

I started with one child and got a call pretty quick for a second. Within two weeks, I had four! I can legally have 6. I have a 2 year old of my own so I have 5 full time now but have two more starting in the Fall. (One that I have now will be leaving in the Fall for preschool so I'll still be legal with 6).

[Anna]

I have four and am allowed 6. I just opened in January and only wanted to have four. I now wouldn't mind taking in another but haven't had any calls in a while.. I noticed that all the home daycares in my area are heavily advertising so I feel like no one is currently looking for care but I am the only licensed one so I am hoping that works in my favor.

Good luck to you!!

[Momma In MT]

I think it depends on how you get along with the kids. I am not licensed and so I have no limit legally, but I have 5 full time and 8 to 10 part time and I get 2 to 4 calls a month. I actually have a waiting list and I never advertise. It is all word of mouth. I figure parents going to give my name to somebody they don't want their kids playing with. So far I have had great luck with this method.

[Anna]

I am not licensed and so I have no limit legally

Your state doesn't have a law on how many children you can watch without being licensed?

I think it depends on how you get along with the kids.

Not to be confrontational but I disagree. I guess it depends on the area. Here there are a ton of Daycares. There are three in my neighborhood alone and a countless amount in my city. I get along with children great (hence being a childcare provider) and I don't have people lining up at my door. I think if you live in a small town word of mouth would work great but not on an over populated island.

[My4SunshineGirlsNY]

In NY if all are over 2 years old we can have 6 plus 2 school age. If any are under 2 that drops a slot so we can have 5 plus 2 school age. If we have any kids of our own under school age they count and take a slot.

Right now I have 1 spot open but will be full in the summer with a part timer.

I have an 18 month old, 2 year old, 4 year old, 6 year old, and 9 year old...my own 4 year old counts so that's 6 out of my 7 slots.

I also have my own 4 kids...all girls....age 13, 10, 6, and 4 (as mentioned above).

So I'm pretty busy! I liked it better when I wasn't running so full, but the money is nice. Summer is going to be CRAZY, but I'm taking a week to myself in Aug. I can't wait! I would suggest starting out small to get the hang of organizing and getting things running smoothly. Good luck!

[momofboys]

I think it depends on how you get along with the kids. I am not licensed and so I have no limit legally, but I have 5 full time and 8 to 10 part time and I get 2 to 4 calls a month. I actually have a waiting list and I never advertise. It is all word of mouth. I figure parents going to give my name to somebody they don't want their kids playing with. So far I have had great luck with this method.

Wow! That's a lot of kids!! Do you have helpers?

[laundryduchess@yahoo.com]

I have 10 full time and 3 school agers, I have a waiting list of 4 seperate families and when my one full timer goes to school this fall I have a mommy preg to replace him.

[momofboys]

I can have 6 in my state, well actually only 5 because one of my own kids is under 6. We don't have to be licensed in my state though. I currently just have 2 kids that I care for (I have 3 kids of my own). So yes, I could have more but I am happy with that number & don't wish to expand.

[QualiTcare]

Your state doesn't have a law on how many children you can watch without being licensed?



Not to be confrontational but I disagree. I guess it depends on the area. Here there are a ton of Daycares. There are three in my neighborhood alone and a countless amount in my city. I get along with children great (hence being a childcare provider) and I don't have people lining up at my door. I think if you live in a small town word of mouth would work great but not on an over populated island.

most states do have a law on how many you can watch without being licensed. in TN you can have four and then you have to get licensed if you have more than that. if there were no laws, there would be no need for anyone to be licensed. of course having a law and following it are different things.

[MarinaVanessa]

in TN you can have four and then you have to get licensed if you have more than that.

Wow, that's nice. In CA we don't have a number limit but can only watch one family's kids at a time. So if she has 10 kids we can watch 10, if she has only 1 kid then we can only watch the one kid. Unless it's family, then we can watch as many of our own families kids as we want to (nieces, nephews, cousins, grandkids etc) but then can't watch another families kids at the same time.

[professionalmom]

In 2007, I was planning on doing daycare. I was doing all the investigating, planning, etc. Then I found out I was pregnant. So I spent my pregnancy (when I wasn't at my office job) jumping through all the hoops to get licensed. I opened when my DD was 5 weeks old. I only took on a 6 mth old and 2 sisters (13 mths & 3 yrs). The sisters were super easy and the 6 mth old was just as easy. Counting my DD, I had 4 for almost a year before I decided to grow. But it gave me time to adjust to full time motherhood, nursing, running a business, etc. Then once you get into a groove, it's much easier to add another child to the mix. You do get to a point where you think "what's one more?"

There have been times when I had 10 DCKs, but a different times and on different days so I never went over capacity. But I also had extended hours and worked 7 days a week. Then I had to scale back a bit to prevent burn-out.

Now, pregnant with twins, I'm going back to being cautious of taking on too much because I know it will be a big adjustment to add 2 new people to our family. So I am scaling back a bit and am not at capacity (but I will be when the twins get here!).

[Unregistered]

Thanks for everyone's response.

It sounds like one of the benefits to owning a daycare is the flexibility. I can have a smaller group or run at capacity depending on where I am at in life.

Thanks for all the well wishes. I'm so excited and I can't wait to get started!!

[MarinaVanessa]

So I am scaling back a bit and am not at capacity (but I will be when the twins get here!).

It's nice to work things out and get ready for the babies isn't it. I'm due in late November so even though I'm at capacity now when the baby comes I'll still be ok since one of my infants will be over age 2 and not counted as an infant anymore (we have a 3 infant maximum) and the 9yo will be 10 so he won't count towards capacity anyway. I'll have 7 kids but the 9yo is only here for a few hours after school and then does his homework on his own and then just plays with the other kids anyway so he's more of a helper than anything.