Six Minutes is Too Long To Drive

[Happy Hearts]

My home daycare is eight kilometers from town (population 4000)..... six minutes.... two songs! But, alot of potential customers don't want the drive to bring their kids here or even come have a look. I'm so frustrated!

How do you change the mentality of people who are so used to driving only a few minutes to get anywhere? Jiminy, living in a city takes at least 20 minutes to get anywhere! How can six minutes of driving,(no stop lights, no stop signs, little traffic) be that bad!?!?!?

Ugh!

[Cradle2crayons]

My home daycare is eight kilometers from town (population 4000)..... six minutes.... two songs! But, alot of potential customers don't want the drive to bring their kids here or even come have a look. I'm so frustrated!

How do you change the mentality of people who are so used to driving only a few minutes to get anywhere? Jiminy, living in a city takes at least 20 minutes to get anywhere! How can six minutes of driving,(no stop lights, no stop signs, little traffic) be that bad!?!?!?

Ugh!

Wow that's terrible!!! I have a mom that drives an hour one way here.... Then 40 minutes back to work....then rinses and repeats...

[blandino]

Wow that's terrible!!! I have a mom that drives an hour one way here.... Then 40 minutes back to work....then rinses and repeats...

I would be so sad if I heard that from a parent. I have a few families who drive 30 minutes here, turn around and drive back in the same direction another 30 minutes to get back to work. But I did talk to one woman who lived & worked 20 min away - and thought that wasn't convenient for her.

[Luna]

Perception is everything. They're driving "out of town" so in their mind it is too far.

[cheerfuldom]

are you sure its the drive parents are objecting to?

[Happy Hearts]

are you sure its the drive parents are objecting to?

Oh yes, I'm sure. I have a spotless reputation and am very respected and liked in my town. I heard it so many times even when I was trying to sell my house. Even the realtors call my house 'rural'. What?

There's a kind of mentality from the locals around here that if you're not 'in town' then you're just too far out. It has never made sense to me.

I know that once my daycare is more established (been doing it since June, been licensed and advertising for a month) that people may begin to venture out here. I need ideas on what to say to get them to realize that it's worth the drive.

[DaisyMamma]

Figure out another way to say it.

For example, I'm 10 minutes off the highway but I advertise that I'm 1 mile off Route 1 (a main road through town).

[Laurel]

My home daycare is eight kilometers from town (population 4000)..... six minutes.... two songs! But, alot of potential customers don't want the drive to bring their kids here or even come have a look. I'm so frustrated!

How do you change the mentality of people who are so used to driving only a few minutes to get anywhere? Jiminy, living in a city takes at least 20 minutes to get anywhere! How can six minutes of driving,(no stop lights, no stop signs, little traffic) be that bad!?!?!?

Ugh!

I hear ya! I really had no problem getting children for years but when the economy tanked my provider friend (who lives in my neighborhood) and I have been getting almost no calls. We kept wondering why our other friend who lives only 5 minutes away gets tons of calls. The houses in her area are a bit pricier but ours are just fine but maybe not as fancy. A good, safe middle class neighborhood though.

She was out sick and one of her parents brought their baby to me for a backup. When I told her she could use me for a backup anytime in the future she said "Well it is kind of far to come here." When I asked my friend about it she said "Yeah she told me that they would have to get up 10 minutes earlier in the morning." Wow!

I have advertised using the name of the other city as we are so close and are on the border. My ad would say something like OtherCity/OurCity AREA.
How about "Only 5 minutes from city!"

Laurel

[Preschool/daycare teacher]

I ran across this problem, too. A mom from where I used to work (daycare that shut down) drives waaay out of her way to get to me. About 40 minutes from work to pick girl up, then another 30 minutes back home, in another direction. But yet I can't even get ONE other child from my own town to my house which is 4 miles from town. I have a good reputation in my town, but no one would drive "that far". So that's why I gave up trying to do it in my home and looking to do it in the next town over in a rented building.
I hope families start coming to their senses soon, though, and realize you're worth the 5 minute drive. I mean these same families drive that far out of their way to get to the gym daily, or to pick up their pizza, etc but won't do it for good childcare for their most prized possession. Makes no sense to me :confused:

[Blackcat31]

Perception is everything. They're driving "out of town" so in their mind it is too far.

I think this is really truthful.

I too live about the same distance out of town and no way would my child care have been successful had I ran it from my home.

I know this because year after year providers open up for business a few minutes from town and all of them close within a year's time due to lack of interested clients.

People want convenience and even though you are only a few minutes out of town, the perception is still "out of town" so not something they seem to want to do.

I am sorry if that isn't very helpful but I just wanted to say that it is the same way in my community and my community population is around 10,000 people.

[AmyKidsCo]

I don't know, but I do feel that for many parents the two main considerations are "What do you charge" and "Where are you located" Some times I feel like you could be the #1 best provider in the world, but if you charge more than they think you should or are a little out if the way, they'll go for closer and cheaper instead.

[Cradle2crayons]

I don't know, but I do feel that for many parents the two main considerations are "What do you charge" and "Where are you located" Some times I feel like you could be the #1 best provider in the world, but if you charge more than they think you should or are a little out if the way, they'll go for closer and cheaper instead.

Absolutely.

Where I live, people are used to driving a long way to get to where they are going. Walmart is 35 minutes away. A grocery store is 25 minutes away. Heck the school is 15 minutes away. To get to a shopping mall of any type you have to drive an hour.

My address is actually not the town at all. I live in a community, not a town. But because the closest post office is X town, that's my address. But people out here usually have family that watch their kids. Even though I put where I live approx on CL, people will call me and ask where I live, when I give them the city name, they'll ask WHERE???

Those people I gather live in a city a few areas over . And since jobs are only west of here, most of my business are people that live east of here even farther from civilization than I do.

[momofboys]

I can definitely sympathize with you! It sounds like you are still very close to the community! I can't understand but as OP stated try to spin it in a positive light - are you a little more in the country, if so that could be a good thing in my mind.

To some of the OP who stated their DCP drive 30-40 min+ out of their way to come to you KUDOS to you but wow with gas prices - that is a lot of extra driving! It is a great testimony to how much they love you!

[DaisyMamma]

Someone on here suggested once that she might offer transportation for those that thought it was too far. I'm not sure if it worked out for her, but it's something to think about.

[Happy Hearts]

Someone on here suggested once that she might offer transportation for those that thought it was too far. I'm not sure if it worked out for her, but it's something to think about.

I have no wish to do any transporting, ever. I'm a home bunny.