Before and After School Care: Is it worth it?

[mamac]

I was originally planning on offering before and after school care but now I am having second thoughts. Some questions to those of you that offer this:

Does it interfere with your maximum capacity?
What do you do when/if it does?
Do you term the B/A care client?
How much do you charge and how? (hourly, daily, weekly)
Is it REALLY worth offering or should I stick with FT and PT slots?

[CedarCreek]

I have no advice but i'm itching to see responses!

I'll be lurking...

[rmc20021]

Personally I do not like taking sa kids...It's much harder to keep them entertained on days they don't have school and it definitely interferes in the entire atmosphere of a toddler/preschool based setup.

I have 2 (who will be leaving when school gets out and I won't be taking any more) and I make less for those two put together than what I would for one full time dck. They don't come every day so I adjusted their rates and even though I make much more hourly with them than I do FT kids, it's just not worth it.

Yes, they do count in your numbers. So if you have a sa child and don't charge a full time rate, you are losing money.

[MNMum]

This is what I have found:

1. Very little pay. Not worth having to get them off/on the bus (even though my own kids are riding the same bus, I feel I should do the bus stop walk because of my dck, not my own.) It's annoying having to get dck fed and 8 kids out the door.

2. Not worth the extra germs coming into the house - this is the #1 reason I will not do SA care anymore. He's here for 45 minutes, just long enough to share his germs with everyone else.

3. I've never had a SA dck in the summer, so I don't actually have experience with this. But I imagine it would be a lot of work. I feel very comfortable having my own SA kids roaming the neighborhood, but I wouldn't have the same comfort level with a dck.

[Unregistered]

It's worth it to me but only for a few reasons.
I have alot of teachers kids.They are here to pick up by 3:30p.m.,the bus arrives at 3:35p.m. and I have 4 school age kids that are here until 4:00p.m.-4:30p.m.
I charge $10/ day per child,so I make an extra $800/month.
I have had these children since they were born so it makes a big difference.I would never take a school age child that had not been in my care since they were little.
That 25-45 minutes is the longest time of day

[Blackcat31]

This is what I have found:

1. Very little pay. Not worth having to get them off/on the bus (even though my own kids are riding the same bus, I feel I should do the bus stop walk because of my dck, not my own.) It's annoying having to get dck fed and 8 kids out the door.

2. Not worth the extra germs coming into the house - this is the #1 reason I will not do SA care anymore. He's here for 45 minutes, just long enough to share his germs with everyone else.

3. I've never had a SA dck in the summer, so I don't actually have experience with this. But I imagine it would be a lot of work. I feel very comfortable having my own SA kids roaming the neighborhood, but I wouldn't have the same comfort level with a dck.

What she said^^^^

For what little time before and after school you have the SA kids, it is ALOT of work and unless you charge a huge rate, it is RARELY worth the money.

I have found that the SA kids require far more time, attention and supervision than any of the little kids do. Mostly I figure it is due to them being in school all day with someone telling them what to do at all times and when they get out of school they see daycare as a free for all to get all that pent up energy and sassiness out.

I also think the SA kids are really really rough on things and for some weird reason they seem to be drawn to the toddler and preschooler toys so they are constantly touching (and breaking) them.

I also had days where I was done or off the clock a little early but a SA kid was scheduled to arrive so I had to wait for them and that always made me frustrated because it was usually just for the hour after school. Or I take the littles to the park and have to rush back to meet the bus for a scheduled SA kid.

All those little schedule things seemed to conflict with everything else I had planned or going on and for some reason Never worked in my favor.


Unless someone paid me ALOT more than what I charge per week now, you couldn't convince me to ever take SA kids again....at least not while I have anyone younger than SA present.

[MarinaVanessa]

I personally prefer the 0-5 age group (before they start school) but I have been known to make an exception for the "right" child. A child that was already enrolled with me, knows how I work and isn't much trouble etc. For example right now my nephew is in pre-school and enrolled in my daycare and he will be starting transitional Kindy (like pre-K) in the fall and I will continue to care for him even though I don't usually keep kids that in school. I also have a sibling group (2 sisters) one is in preschool (same class as my nephew) and the other is in first grade. I originally enrolled the younger sister and then took care of the older one once as an emergency drop-in and she was great so I agreed to keep her too.

Does it interfere with your maximum capacity?
I'm in CA and our ratios go like this: I am a small FCC with a capacity of 8 but in order to have the maximum of 8 only 2 can be infants (which I already do anyway, I don't like to have more than 2 under 2 years old) 4 can be between 2 and 5 (before they start school) and the other 2 have to be in school (one has to be at least in Kindergarten and the other at least age 6). If I didn't have SA kids and kept only kids under age 5 then I'd only be able to have 6 kids so SA are extra income for me and don't interfere with my ratios at all, they benefit me.

Do you term the B/A care client?
What do you mean?

How much do you charge and how? (hourly, daily, weekly)
I charge my SA clients a flat weekly rate based on how many hours they need me for each week. For example, if a child gets out of school at 2:30pm and they sometimes need me until 6pm then I charge them $3.50 per hour x the number of hours they need each week. An after school child that comes Mon-Fri would be charged $70.00/week only for after school care for coming 3.5 hours per day (I charge for the full hour) even if the child gets picked up early on any of these days.

On school days off like when the school closes for holidays and breaks, summer vacation etc. the client pays my daily rate of $40 per day (what I normally charge my PT clients for a full day.

Is it REALLY worth offering or should I stick with FT and PT slots?
That really depends on you. I personally don't like to care for SA kids because I find that the older they get the more food they eat, the more supplies they use up, the more supervision they need, they more bored they get, the more trouble they get into, the more sassy they are etc.For me when I do take a SA kid then I'm making more money than I could usually make if I didn't have them. But for me it's only worth it if I have that "right fit" child. Otherwise I say NOPE.

[daycarediva]

I take SA kids, but I am VERY, VERY picky. I prefer the older sibling of a child already in care but will make exceptions for the right kid. I currently have a child who aged up, and her younger sib and a dcb who has no sibs in care.

I watch them from 7:30-8:30 (bus picks up in front of my house bc I have enough kids for them to consider it a bus stop, so neighborhood kids all come and wait in my front yard)

from 3:30-5:30 after school. Snack, homework and 30 minutes of reading, then my state allows them to play outside in the fenced in backyard until their parents pickup with intermittent checks (every 15)

3 hours a day, regardless of days used, my rate is $75/week
1/2 days of school are movie days here/during nap and my rate goes up $15/day
full days off of school and breaks my rate is the same as a FT toddler, $175

I am in NY and my ratio is 6 under 5 PLUS 2 SA kids, so it never interferes with ratio. I even have a drop in SA who comes 1-2 days per week when her afterschool program is closed because I have an under 5 kid picked up before 3:30/when the bus lets out. So technically I COULD enroll another SA kid, but never for half days or when school is out.

[Play Care]

I was originally planning on offering before and after school care but now I am having second thoughts. Some questions to those of you that offer this:

Does it interfere with your maximum capacity?
What do you do when/if it does?
Do you term the B/A care client?
How much do you charge and how? (hourly, daily, weekly)
Is it REALLY worth offering or should I stick with FT and PT slots?

I have two school aged boys. My license allows for me to have the two spots in addition to my other spots (depending on the ages of the children in my care that could be 5 or 6). I do have a situation coming this Fall in which I will have a 6th spot as all my dc kids will be over 2. I am planning on offering that spot to my current FT boy who is off to Kindy with the understanding that if any thing changes (I get a child under 2 which means I "lose" the spot) he has to go. He would then come after school and maybe some school days off (parents are teachers so that won't be often) I charge $25 for a full day and $5 per child per hour for B/A.

In all honesty I am NOT a school aged provider and plan on phasing it out now that my own kids have really outgrown dc. It was nice when they were in K and First to have friends to walk to the bus stop and play with after school. But now they are starting to have more homework and having the kids here is more of a pain. I also find that when I just have FT kids, my day feels like it's winding down at 3:00PM, but when you have the school kids getting off the bus, it's as if the day is starting all over again I also think school agers tend to be rougher on toys, need way more direction that you would think and have the potential to eat you out of house and home.

[mamac]

Do you term the B/A care client?
What do you mean?

I understand that I have to count the SA child as I would any other child. I was wondering how often (if at all) the SA child overlaps with your pt/ft slots. Do you term them or "let it slide" if it is just a short time. (I know- not a smart thing to do, but...)

For example: If your SA's bus is routinely late or just happens to come just after all your other clients arrive what do you do?

I guess this wouldn't happen very often, if at all, because I'm sure not all clients will be arriving at the same time so I shouldn't go over capacity. I'm just trying to figure out all the possibilities before I start advertising. From what I've read so far it's not likely I'll be offering this service though.

[MarinaVanessa]

I understand that I have to count the SA child as I would any other child. I was wondering how often (if at all) the SA child overlaps with your pt/ft slots. Do you term them or "let it slide" if it is just a short time. (I know- not a smart thing to do, but...)

For example: If your SA's bus is routinely late or just happens to come just after all your other clients arrive what do you do?

I guess this wouldn't happen very often, if at all, because I'm sure not all clients will be arriving at the same time so I shouldn't go over capacity. I'm just trying to figure out all the possibilities before I start advertising. From what I've read so far it's not likely I'll be offering this service though.

Oh I see, if it was a ratio problem with their schedule then I would not take on this client. If there was even a remote chance that this one child would make me over capacity it would be deal breaker for me, SA child or not they are treated like a normal client.

For example if I had a full load of kids and it was in the summer (no school) and one SA child needed care during this time and was to be picked up at noon and another was being dropped off at noon I would say no because of the potential for the child to be picked up late and for me to go over capacity until that child was picked up. I would make sure that I left enough gap between two clients just in case they would be late.

If late or early drop-offs or pick-ups happened then I would seriously contemplate termination if it meant me being over capacity, no matter how frequent or infrequent it happened or whether the child or the parent has control or not over the circumstance. I have to look out for my business.

[melilley]

I don't take any SA kids, not even before and after school. I have thought about it, but I really only take children 2 mo-5 years. Plus all of my kids are here until around 5:30 so I would be over ratio and I also think they would be very bored coming here! Most of my daycare stuff is geared for preschool aged children and under.

[nannyde]

I don't like school agers. They are WAY too much work.

[mema]

No school agers. The only way I would take them is if they were the only age, even then, don't think I could do it.

[Christina72684]

I didn't read anyone else's responses so this could be repetitive. But it's my opinion and every situation is different.....

Does it interfere with your maximum capacity?
It hasn't yet. I can have 15 kids (12 during the day, a total of 15 after school). Right now I have 7 full time preschoolers and 9 after schoolers but they don't all come on the same days.

What do you do when/if it does?
I just added my 7th preschooler today so if I was to get another preschooler I'd be over ratio. With only 3 weeks left of school I'm not worried about being over, but if it was say middle of the school year I would get rid of my part time after schoolers since I don't make a much with them.

Do you term the B/A care client?
I would but haven't had to yet.

How much do you charge and how? (hourly, daily, weekly)
Because capacity isn't an issue in the morning, if they come in the AM before school I charge $5 only for the days they attend bc the longest they'd be here is an hour. After school is $50 a week, regardless of the number of days they come because the spots are so full we are the only daycare on the bus route.

Is it REALLY worth offering or should I stick with FT and PT slots?
I DO NOT like after schoolers I know that sounds bad, especially since I have an elementary education degree/license. But they totally mess up the day, they're rowdier than my preschoolers (of the 16 kids I have enrolled, 10 are boys!), homework is difficult since I have kids in 3 different grades, and I think my preschoolers behave worse when they "big kids" are around. I do not suggest it until you are struggling to fill spots and it's the last resort.